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Uncharted and The Last for Us developer Naughty Dog has responded to claims made by an ex-employee regarding sexual harassment.
Former environment artist David Ballard publically released statements on Twitter on Friday night. Ballard claims that in late 2015 he was sexually harrassed at the developer, saying, "my work environment became extremely toxic afterward."
In late 2015, I was sexually harassed at Naughty Dog by a lead. My work environment became extremely toxic afterward. 1/
— David G. Ballard (@DBal) October 14, 2017
Ballard goes on to say he had a mental breakdown and that, following a meeting with HR with both Naughty Dog and Sony PlayStation, his employment was terminated and was offered $20,000 to sign a letter of non-disclosure, which he refused to do.
Naughty Dog responded to the allegations on Sunday on their website. The statement reads:
"We have not found any evidence of having received allegations from Mr Ballard that he was harassed in any way at Naughty Dog or Sony Interactive Entertainment. Harassment and inappropriate conduct have no place at Naughty Dog and Sony Interactive Entertainment. We have taken and always will take reports of sexual harassment and other workplace grievances very seriously.
"We value every single person who works at Naughty Dog and Sony Iinteractive Entertainment. It is of utmost importance to us that we maintain a safe, productive workplace environment that allows us all to channel our shared passion for making games."
Mr Ballard said he was speaking out now because of recent events in the Film and TV industry that has seen many people on Twitter come forward and speak about sexual harassment in those industries.
