Paradox Interactive is a Swedish company that is both game developer and producer, with well-known games like Crusader Kings 3 and Pillars of Eternity coming from its channels. However, it has come to light that, even though the company has made enjoyable games, it seems that the employees in the Quality Assurance (QA) publishing were treated unfairly before the entire department was abruptly closed.
In the past, Paradox Interactive has published games for developers such as Obsidian Entertainment, but the company has also developed its own games as well. However, reports from previous employees in the QA publishing department show that the company was underpaying its testers and were not adhering well the Swedish labor laws when shutting the department down. While Paradox Interactive employees have unionized since this occurrence, there was no system in place that was making sure the company properly gave its employees the opportunities required by law when the QA publishing department was disbanded.
According to some of the employees at Paradox Interactive, QA testers were underpaid by the company while the publishing branch was still around. When employees tried to bring up their concerns to help bring about positive changes, they were allegedly told that they were going through the wrong channels or that their comments were promoting a negative company atmosphere. In April and May of 2019, the QA publishing department in Sweden closed down, and when that happened, many employees believe that it wasn't communicated properly to the staff that was let go, and some other employees didn't even know that the department was removed until they tried to contact the employees who used to work there.
When a company lets a person go in Sweden, it must show that there was a clear reason the person couldn't continue that job and also introduce the employee to other opportunities that could replace their current job. However, many employees said that the other employment opportunities were worse than their position at Paradox Interactive. After some were situated at a new position in other game development companies, they said that they fully realized that they were being underpaid as QA testers at their previous Paradox Interactive jobs since they were also given more work than testers received for their salaries.
This summer, many companies in the gaming industry have been found to mistreating their employees in some way. With sexual harassment allegations stemming from Ubisoft, Rocksteady Games, and Twitch employees or streamers, hopefully these companies will start to look out for their employees instead of continuing these actions.
Source: RockPaperShotgun