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Ben Kuchera's Allegations of a Toxic Work Environment at Penny Arcade
Athenor
Battle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered User regular
Battle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered User regular
Ben Kuchera is a journalist with Polygon. In the past, he has also been an employee of Penny Arcade, during their efforts to create a dedicated news arm to the PA Megacorp.
The experiment did not last long, at only 2 years - Feb 2012 to December 2013.
Last night, Ben posted a series of tweets about his experiences at Penny Arcade. They are recreated below for ease of readability.
For context, Ben was talking about Trump and Rush Limbaugh immediately prior to the thread turning to PA. I'm including the transitionary tweet, but I do not know if it counts as part of the thread or not.
The next post is when PA explicitly gets brought up.
This morning, a single follow-up tweet was made:
Edit: Seeing some people posting that don't know what the Penny Arcade Report is. To add some context to that, I've found what I believe is the initial post talking about the PAR.
https://www.penny-arcade.com/news/post/2012/02/20/the-penny-arcade-report
And here's the post talking about the closure of the PAR, from Tycho.
There is also a Polygon article about the shutdown here:
https://www.polygon.com/2013/12/6/5183840/the-penny-arcade-report-is-shutting-down
UPDATE 2/21 2021:
Ben has made a post on twitter referencing his comments.
THIS THREAD IS ABOUT BEN KUCHERA AND HIS STATEMENTS/ALLEGATIONS ABOUT PENNY ARCADE. Conversation should be kept in this context. Some very bad shit is referenced in here, but try to talk about it in the context of Ben.
The experiment did not last long, at only 2 years - Feb 2012 to December 2013.
Last night, Ben posted a series of tweets about his experiences at Penny Arcade. They are recreated below for ease of readability.
For context, Ben was talking about Trump and Rush Limbaugh immediately prior to the thread turning to PA. I'm including the transitionary tweet, but I do not know if it counts as part of the thread or not.
I'm just tired of being told not to say the simple things about the very basic evil people are doing daily. I'm so sick of pretending there are two sides to every issue, when there just isn't. Sometimes it really is simple. Sometimes people who act evil are just evil.
The next post is when PA explicitly gets brought up.
I'm so scared to say it, but I feel like I have to be honest. Penny Arcade was the only company I've ever worked for that killed stories to protect their business. Seeing folks working for them question the integrity of the gaming press in public makes me literally ill.
I am ashamed I allowed myself to be bullied like that instead of resigning, but when it all ended my now ex-wife was pregnant and I was left hanging. They like to take cheap shots at people who actually do the hard work of telling the truth, and I can't tolerate it anymore.
I don't know what's going to happen after saying that, but I feel a lot better having made it public. The Penny Arcade Report was the only outlet where my bosses told me I couldn't report on certain things because it would hurt their ability to make money.
I'm shaking and freaked out having tweeted this, I'm still scared of the power of those folks, but just remember they spent years putting profit over reporting and the truth, and it cost me my job. I am deeply, deeply ashamed that I've been quiet for this long. I'm so sorry.
If saying these things costs me my career, then my career wasn't worth having. I've tried really hard for a long time to be honest with y'all, and I've failed in this way spectacularly. But I needed to say this. Whatever happens next is out of my control, but you needed to know.
It bothers me that people will support the suppression of reporting in the interest of profits, while PA claims they are the source of truth because they don't care about profits. I was told flat out that some topics I had to stay away from, because that's where they made money. http.s://twitter.com/ColemanMcClung/status/1362596252307714051 [Tweet referenced is unavailable]
This has been a weight on my soul for so long, you have no idea. I'm crying right now tweeting these things, but it feels good to put the weight down. Whatever happens next is out of my hands, but I needed to say this. If you feel betrayed by me right now, I understand completely
The past two years or so have taken away a lot of my self-confidence, to the point where it's harder and harder to write the things I know I need to write. And I'm trying to get back to the place where I speak truth to power. I can't get there without coming clean.
Watching the principle voices of Penny Arcade say during panels they didn't care about profits after having been told I had to protect their business over writing what I knew was right was horrific. I can't describe it. And I went along! I betrayed your trust and I'm sorry.
It has been so hard in the years since the Penny Arcade Report to see Penny Arcade make money from making fun of people who aren't for sale, especially since they told me explicitly not to say certain things so they could get paid. You deserve to know.
Penny Arcade was the first company to shame me for spending time with my family instead of writing more, and it's the only company I've written for who censored stories for profit. They did this while using me for PR about why they were different. They are not the good guys.
But, again, neither was I. I should have quit. I was tempted to. I almost did. But I didn't. And that's 100 percent on me. After Ars Technica had a spine of steel when it came to factual stories I wrote, watching Penny Arcade fold under PR pressure was shocking.
Fair. http.s://twitter.com/winterm00n_/status/1362604567997919233 [Tweet referenced is unavailable]
Penny Arcade wishes it had the integrity of the outlets they talk shit about. I'm tired of hearing it and being silent. When I was there, they were for sale, and I was told this directly, and directed to avoid certain stories.
I've been through ... a lot in the past few years. But what I've learned is you can lose your life and build a new one. I don't care what this costs me, I need a new slate, and your trust. If I'm ever, EVER told to act that way again, I'm resigning. If you don't believe me?
Well then I understand completely. I really do. Stop reading me. Read folks you trust and love. Support the good stuff. But I swear to you this has been eating away at me every day since it happened. I'm fine doing something else if this puts me right and honest in your eyes.
If this hurts my ability to find writing work later because companies are scared I'll repeat their bullshit years after I was fired, I can always try to find a welding apprenticeship or something. I just want to do honest work, and now it's going to be easier to do so.
And I don't want to hear how this was one person, or someone didn't know. During one company vacation I was berated in public for not being more supportive during Dickwolves. I was asked directly by a founder to keep certain things quiet. None of this is a secret.
There was one E3 where I was cornered by the person selling ads and there was a "joke" about how I had to get the numbers up to support the buys. Yeah, it felt really funny. I "laughed." I've never been through anything like that anywhere else. I was honestly scared.
I've seen so many gaming outlets stand up for their writers and editors and fight back against publisher pressure, it's inspiring. So when Penny Arcade makes fun of those same outlets while refusing to stand up for their own people in private? I've been so angry for so long.
I honestly don't know what happens next, but I know tonight I'll sleep better, and tomorrow I'm ready.
Anyway, the severance pay was six months, there was no NDA, the decision to stay silent until now is my own cowardice. But I just couldn't anymore. I'm truly sorry.
If you're just now following me you're going to be SO disappointed that this account is mostly tweets about watches.
This morning, a single follow-up tweet was made:
I was nervous I was going to wake up and do the Jerry Maguire "what the hell did I do last night?" dance, but honestly I still feel better. All the messages of support have been amazing. I feel like I can move on.
Edit: Seeing some people posting that don't know what the Penny Arcade Report is. To add some context to that, I've found what I believe is the initial post talking about the PAR.
https://www.penny-arcade.com/news/post/2012/02/20/the-penny-arcade-report
Gabe wrote:The Penny Arcade Report
About 14 years ago Tycho and I were roommates. We lived on Top Ramen and Kool-Aid. If we weren’t at our shitty jobs we were playing games. Then came Penny Arcade. We had some difficult years, made some pretty huge mistakes and very nearly gave up. It was at that point that you guys stepped up. We decided that before we threw in the towel we’d try one last thing. We asked you guys to support us with donations. We asked for a couple thousand dollars a month so we could pay rent, buy groceries and get games. You gave us ten thousand dollars in the first month. You supported us for a year through some very difficult times and I don’t think we can ever thank you all enough for that. What we can do is try and use the power you’ve given us to keep making things you’ll like and that make our community better.
We have a new UI element at the top of the page now. Our designers call it a “Brand Bar” and it gives quick navigation to our various endeavors. I’ve been looking at it a lot and I am so fucking proud. Penny Arcade, Child’s Play, PAX, The Trenches, and now the Penny Arcade Report. I tried for a while to think of the best way to communicate how great I think the PA Report is and how excited I am for its future. I think the best way to say it is that, I think the PA Report deserves to be up there alongside those other things we’ve built. It belongs right there between Penny Arcade and PAX. I honestly think it’s that good.
In short the PAR is what we want to see from games journalism. It does not update every twenty minutes. It is not just a source for press releases, and we are not interested in top ten lists. The PAR is focused on longer form journalism with in-depth research and interviews. To that end we have hired Ben Kuchera to deliver just that. Besides creating a bunch of original content Ben will also be curating a feature we call “The Cut”. The goal of the Cut is to recognize excellent gaming journalism on other sites as well. We won’t be pulling out all the choice bits and posting them on our site though. We want you to go visit this other site and read the content there. So we’re offering a link to the story and a quick note about why it’s worth your time. We hope to encourage the sort of journalism you’ll be seeing on the PA Report in other places as well.
The PAR launches today but it has been in the works for a long time. It is the result of an incredible amount of work by a lot of extremely talented people. First of all Ben Kuchera who has given the site its voice. Dabe Alan who has filled it with his incredible photographs. Our designers Erika and Kiko who have built something really beautiful, and our tech wizard Kenneth who made all of it work somehow. I like to think that Tycho and I have pretty good ideas but it’s the people around us that bring those ideas to life.
On days like today I like to think about where Penny Arcade started and how far we’ve come thanks to your support. We try extremely hard to be good stewards of the power you all have given us. I feel like the PAR is good example of that. I hope you agree.
-Gabe out
And here's the post talking about the closure of the PAR, from Tycho.
Tycho wrote:Changes
The 18th of last month was Penny Arcade’s 15th Anniversary.
There was never a lot of time to think about what we wanted Penny Arcade to be like. It’s like us, I guess, by default; sort of a mess. We just tried to make the best decisions we could, any time a decision was called for. It doesn’t always work out. And sometimes, you do things because “that’s what you do.” You “grow your business,” for example. You “extend verticals.” I honestly don’t know about the second one. I’ll ask Robert. But at 15 years, we’re taking a minute to figure out what we want to be when we grow up.
Child’s Play and PAX have lives of their own, now. They’re vital, and they need an obsessive level of care. We will do everything in our power to ensure that these things outlast us by a wide margin.
But I don’t think I want to “grow my business” anymore; I sort of want to do the opposite. And I’m tired, sick to death, of saying “Maybe Someday” when it comes to the things we really want to make. So, we’re not going to do that anymore. The next year is going to be a pretty big one, one of the biggest yet; it’s the year the previous fifteen have been leading up to in the literal sense but also in other ways. I think they’re going to be “big years” from now on, frankly. And it hurts pretty bad, but I don’t know where PATV as a “channel” for third party shows and The Penny Arcade Report fit into that. We’ll be shutting those things down at the end of this year.
I think they’re beautiful and useful and important; I use them every day. It’s possible that you do, too. I hired people to run them, or paid them, and I am making their lives worse by doing this. Losing Ben is especially painful - he did everything we asked of him, and more. The only comfort is knowing that everyone affected by this is excellent, as is attested continually by their excellent work, and will certainly land on their feet. We’ve tried to connect the dots for them where we can. Still hurts. But, starting January 1st,
You can find “Shut Up & Sit Down” at:
shutupandsitdown.com.
Loading Ready Run can be easily found at:
http://loadingreadyrun.com/.
You’ll be able to find Extra Credits at:
https://www.youtube.com/extracreditz. Yes, with a Z. Talk to them about it.
And for now, but not for long I would imagine, you can keep an eye on Ben Kuchera at:
https://twitter.com/benkuchera.
But it’s time to start making good on some of the promises we’ve made in our work. Recognizing that things like the Pins or The New Kid or Daughters of the Eyrewood or Thornwatch or The Lookouts or Automata deserve every ounce of our resources. Novels and albums, too - all these things that got put off in the interests of Empire. Essentially, we’ve decided to be Penny Arcade.
And I’m looking forward to it.
(CW)TB
There is also a Polygon article about the shutdown here:
https://www.polygon.com/2013/12/6/5183840/the-penny-arcade-report-is-shutting-down
UPDATE 2/21 2021:
Ben has made a post on twitter referencing his comments.
Not gonna say much more about it, but my DMs and emails from other people who lived through something similar, either at Penny Arcade or other companies with toxic working environments, have been such a light for the past few days. I'm still working through it all, but thank you.
THIS THREAD IS ABOUT BEN KUCHERA AND HIS STATEMENTS/ALLEGATIONS ABOUT PENNY ARCADE. Conversation should be kept in this context. Some very bad shit is referenced in here, but try to talk about it in the context of Ben.
He/Him | "We who believe in freedom cannot rest." - Dr. Johnetta Cole, 7/22/2024
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalism#Failing_to_uphold_standards
The idea of the journalistic firewall is that news reporters are kept separate from sales and marketing. Others can speak about it stronger than I can, but in essence, it is to protect the integrity and objectivity of the authors. Thing is, this is notoriously weak in enthusiast journalism, because access is a big part of the job. It's very hard to talk about things when you can't visit a set or tour a game developer or go to E3 and the like... Not to mention your ads are for the very thing you are reporting on. It can be done (there are some amazing hard news companies out there in the gaming industry), but if that was lacking in this case, I wouldn't be surprised.
If Penny Arcade is engaging in what they pilloried...Jerry's Acquisitions Incorporated CEO Omin Dran is not really much a character then is it?
Law and Order ≠ Justice
PA has ads? and we're about to get more =p
I'm not saying he shouldn't take his job seriously and maybe I'm the asshole here but he's acting like the E3 moment was in fucking Syria.
I'm not really sure what there is to say here. From the Twitter thread, it reads far more like him having a breakdown and reliving an old workplace grudge than anything substantive or enlightening. Dickwolves bad, PS4 = sexy lady titty bad, drama vague and useless.
This post got me to do a bit more digging. It was published in 2007. The PA Report operated from 2011-2013, and I've updated the OP with that information.
He is absolutely alleging a toxic environment.
Also, as he says, no NDA.
I think we can have positions on these in addition to positions on whether or not Kuchera himself might have issues, or if 6 months of severance is fair (he doesn't seem to disagree here)
Yeah it's difficult to have an opinion about those tweets because they provide no context.
However, when someone says "Penny Arcade was the only company I've ever worked for that killed stories to protect their business." I get the impression that they probably haven't worked for many companies.
Stories get edited or killed when you write about stuff that the publisher considers off-topic. As a rule, nobody will pay you for writing about whatever the fuck you want. If they try to bully you into writing about what they want, instead of firing you, that's a compliment to your writing.
I once worked at a small-town newspaper. The publisher at the time had no problems with interfering with reporter work if it involved anything that made advertisers nervous. For example, I discovered that a major employer was planning to move out of town, and I had sources to prove it. But the publisher told me not to do anything on it. As a result, every statewide publication that cared published the news before I could.
I was angry. The situation was gross. I felt like I couldn't work for such an unethical place anymore. So, in my grand act of revenge, I -- quietly got a different job.
I'm definitely sympathetic to Kuchera, but unless there's information he's not providing he's being hyperbolic about the situation. And from what I remember he bitched mightily in his articles about game companies trying to influence his reporting. Yes, advertiser pressure sucks and should be fought against, but doing it so publicly is a quick way to burn your bridges and get fired.
But I also know that they've done a ton of good stuff.
And I can also just... not particularly care that they told someone not to write stuff?
If people actually bullied Ben for doing family stuff rather than writing, that's shit. But overall this feels like sour grapes the have stewed into sour terlet wine over the years.
But then again, they're fucking loaded. They don't need defending.
This post has been a roller coaster, let me tell ya.
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Like, "shaming me for spending time with my family instead of writing more" could either be "you need to be working 80 hour weeks!" bad or "You missed a deadline, you can't do that even around your kid's birthday" normal.
Without examples or context I can't really guess at which it is.
Does it matter? The implication is that whatever was being advertised on the site was likely off-limits for any type of reporting that could be construed as being negative. I'd imagine anything WoW, anything AC, anything Dragon Age (basically anything being advertised or worked on in some sort of PA partnership capacity).
They briefly tried to have a news site, the Penny Arcade Report, for which Kuchera was the editor.
Kuchera ran the very short-lived and catastrophically underperforming Penny Arcade Report around 2013
I guess it was partially for a couple years?
Like, not a single example, even vaguely, of what kind of stories got killed or how he was forced to choose work over family. Just that those things happened.
If he's really intent on setting right wrongs, has no legal obligation to say differently, and is willing to burn bridges... why not say something more?
(Also he needs to learn how to thread tweets)
Both of those are absolutely topics worth discussing. At the same time... I don't really care about what Kuchera said (at least so far)? His accusations are vague enough to apply to almost any company (minus the lack of a firewall between sales/journalists), and PA's journalist arm didn't last very long so it's not like it is relevant now.
A certain segment of the population has really dug deep into their own bullshit about being the "real" victims.
Its not shilling to have a shit opinion unless someone actually pays you to adopt it. And failing that it says zero about their credibility or the validity of their complaint.
It doesn't feel at all right for us to ask for "receipts" around a bunch of perceived micro-aggressions to an individual employee. What's important is how the person feels coming away from their time as an employee. Ben has nothing to gain from posting this stuff.
This coupled with how Mike in particular expresses himself paints a pretty clear picture for me wrt to how PA likely operates behind the scenes.
Apropos of nothing it was also interesting to see that Mike has apparently blocked just about every gaming journalist on Twitter as of yesterday.
i'm going to try and find the same for the official end of the PAR. Edit: the polygon article linked to that, so it's been added as well.
I read PA Report a bit when it was active and I don't really remember anything they just hard skipped over, and frankly Kuchera has never struck me as the kind of guy to break big stories like Klepek or Schrier.
They tried to launch a news arm that I completely ignored. The PA Report I think? It failed pretty quickly for various reasons and it seems the split left some bad feelings on all sides.