ZENITH 2020

HUMAN RESOURCES- ADVANCED

WHAT’S IN A GAME?
Quantum Force is a French video game developer and publisher based in Paris.
Founded in May 1997, the Company has developed five video games namely:
The Nomad Soul, Fahrenheit, Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls and Detroit:
Become Human. The Company is known for promoting interactive storytelling
with founder David Cage as the primary creative force.
Quantum Force is known to be highly successful in the video game industry as
it has sold over 3 million copies of each game, bringing in millions in revenue. It
has also established a partnership with Sony in order to enhance its market
and reach a wider audience. It has won more than 250 awards for its games
since 1997. The Company has 200 employees employed at its Head Office in
France.
However this success has apparently come at a cost. A recent investigation
conducted by a well-known French daily highlighted the toxic work culture
which is prevalent in the company. In the article, an unknown member of the
company allegedly exchanged controversial images among the colleagues.
These images had employees of the company morphed in sexual positions and
adorned with homophobic or sexual slurs. The images also depicted some of
the employees in Nazi Uniforms. The images were also circulated in emails to
David Kane and Guillaume de Fondaumière. When the head of the IT
Department brought this matter to the notice of the HR Department, he was
apparently fired. He is now suing the court for ‘wrongful termination.’
Further, a lot of the employees of the Company have also complained that
they give up their ‘right to sue’ when they join the company. If an employee
has a dispute, they are forced into arbitration by the company. After 5 ex-
employees filed a motion to sue the company, they were forced by Quantic
Dream into private arbitration.
David Kane, along with several members of the top management has been
accused of indulging in homophobic and racial jokes with the employees of the
company, much to their disgust. When reached out, David Kane said that he
had ‘no comment’ on these allegations.
The Article also contained information which stated that employees of the
company are forced into an arduous “crunch time schedule” wherein they
regularly work 60 hour weeks along with regular weekend working hours. This
is clearly in violation of the French labour law which stipulates a working week
to consist of 35 hours. These work time schedules were draining especially
before new game launches where employees inform that most of them ‘lived
in the office’ in the weeks leading up to the launch. They were not paid for this
overtime work as well.
The Report also states that the Company refused to provide health insurance
and other benefits to employees who worked under 45 hours a week.
The HR Department has been accused of shutting down complaints of toxic
culture within the company with the threat of termination of the concerned
person’s job. The Pay of most of the developers has also been described as
sub-par with most workers receiving wages much below the national wages.
All these controversies and issues have forced most of the developers of
Quantum Force into a strike. They are refusing to work unless the grotesque
working conditions and issues regarding toxic culture in the workplace are
addressed. The Brand of the Company has deteriorated massively.
You are the HR Representative of Quantum Force. You are required to present:
 What are your Policies to reach an agreement with the workers?
 Response to accusations of David Kane’s behaviour.
 Plan of Action to resolve the issue of a Toxic Culture.
 Evaluate on the need for recruitment and how you plan to go about it.
 Compensation provided for Extra Workload undertaken.
 Budgeted Estimates incurred to execute the proposed strategies.
Deliverables:
 A Power Point Presentation of Minimum 6 Slides.