PlayStation donates $50,000 after controversy sparked by Jim Ryan via email; sleepless sends a file
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Last week, the CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, Jim Ryan, send a controversial email For the company’s employees, he urged them to “respect differences of opinion” on the reproductive rights issue after a US Supreme Court leak indicated that judges intended to reverse the ruling in Roe v. Wade, which legalized access to abortion for all women.
“Respect does not mean agreement,” he wrote, according to Bloomberg. “But it is fundamental to who we are as a valuable global company and brand.”
The letter – which was said to include “five paragraphs detailed” about Ryan’s cats birthday – sparked outrage among several PlayStation employees, including employees at one of the major publisher studios, Insomniac Games.
In response, in an internal email sent by Ted Price, CEO of Insomniac, which can be accessed by The Washington Post, developer Spider-Man from Marvel You will donate $50,000 to the Aid Reproductive Rights Project for Women.
According to the same email, Sony will match the donation amount, as well as any and all individual donations made by studio employees through the company’s “PlayStation Cares” program.
Price said Insomniac sent a file of “nearly 60 pages” to PlayStation Studios president Hermen Hulst asking team members to “do more for its employees directly affected” by the situation.
As a result, the SIE now plans to work with Insomniac to create a scheme to provide financial support for its employees who need to leave their countries of residence to receive reproductive care. However, Price said PlayStation would not allow any of its studios to publicly comment on reproductive rights.
“There will be material ramifications for us as a wholly owned subsidiary” if Insomniac decides to go against Sony’s wishes, he said. Doing so will also complicate opportunities for changing SIE’s approach and potentially severely restrict the studio from undertaking significant public work in the future.
Price added that Sony “would not agree with any statement from any studio on the subject of reproductive rights. We fought hard for it and didn’t win.”
Finally, he added, “When it comes to our freedom of expression, while we have a lot of autonomy that we take for granted at different times, there are certain times when we need to acknowledge that we are part of a larger organization. For the most part, our ability to tweet has not been limited.” However, there are rare moments when we are in opposition (like this week) and the SIE will have the final say.”
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