EA Tells Employees It Won’t Speak Out on Abortion, Trans Rights
As other companies in the games industry speak out about abortion rights in the wake of the government’s recent decisions, Electronic Arts is telling employees it plans to stay silent.
According to a report by Kotaku, during a company meeting on May 24, multiple EA staff members questioned executives about a possible statement regarding these two issues. In response, they were told that the company wouldn’t announce a stance because “being an inclusive company means being inclusive of all those points of view.”
“These things are hard and they’re personal and we all have our own perspectives and sometimes we won’t speak, and that will be upsetting and I understand that, we really do,” Chief People Officer Mala Singh told employees during this meeting, according to the transcript obtained by Kotaku.
Despite the FIFA publisher’s refusal to make a public statement regarding the issues, EA’s corporate communications director Lacey Haines told Kotaku that the company is focusing on “making sure that people have access to the healthcare benefits we provide as a company, even if those aren’t available locally.”
EA also signed an open letter opposing Texas’ anti-trans bill in March.
In the wake of a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion that would overturn historic abortion rights case Roe v. Wade, studios including Destiny 2 creator Bungie and Psychonauts creator Double Fine have publicly taken clear stances in favor of abortion rights in contrast to EA.
Like EA, however, Sony has declined to release any public statements about abortion rights. PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan told employeesin an internal email to “respect differences of opinion” in response to discussion surrounding Roe V. Wade. PlayStation-owned Insomniac has reportedly pushed back internally and pledged a total of $50,000 to the Women’s Reproductive Rights Assistance Project, and while PlayStation is matching that total through PlayStation Cares, it is preventing internal studios like Insomniac from speaking publicly as well.
Amelia Zollner is a freelance writer at IGN. Find them on Twitter: @ameliazollner.
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