Skullgirls Publisher Cutting Ties With Lab Zero

It’s been a tumultuous year for Skullgirls fans. The community started with good press about pushing for rollback netcode. After that, Skullgirls was to be one of the main games at Evo Online, before its cancellation.

Then, incidents of inappropriate behavior by Mike “MikeZ” Zaimont threw the game into the spotlight again. Reports surfaced of inappropriate behavior by Zaimont.  Zaimont is the studio head for Lab Zero Games, developer of Skullgirls. He’s also the most public-facing member of the game’s staff. After the allegations surfaced, Lab Zero was silent

Earlier this morning, several of the staff at Lab Zero Games announced their resignation from the studio, following Zaimont’s refusal to resign.

Now, Skullgirls Publisher Autumn Games has released a joint statement along with mobile developer Hidden Variable. In the statement, they announced that they would be cutting ties with Lab Zero Games, effective immediately.

Standing With The Employees

“Autumn Games and Hidden Variable Studios fully support those employees who have chosen to stand by their principles and leave in light of that behavior, and we find their allegations to be credible. As such, effective immediately, we will no longer be working with Mike Zaimont or Lab Zero Games”, they said via a tweet.

Hidden Variable clarified that they haven’t worked with Lab Zero games, and reassured fans that publisher Autumn Games still held the IP for Skullgirls.

The statement clarifies that Autumn Games’ support of the employees who left Lab Zero is more than just symbolic, as they intend to work with them. Strangely enough, they took this opportunity to announce that Skullgirls: 2nd Encore would be receiving DLC in the form of a new fighter, Annie in 2021. This is the first official mention that the character would also be coming to 2nd Encore, instead of just the mobile game as was previously announced.

“We hope this can serve as a fresh start for the next phase of Skullgirls development, unburdened by the events of the past” they said.

Zaimont has not commented on the developments, nor has Lab Zero Games released a statement on the matter.

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