Wyrmwood, maker of tabletop gaming accessories that have long been beloved by the likes of Dungeons & Dragons players, is under fire for their response to a flurry of sexual assaunt allegations that came to light this week.
After a tweet gained momentum which accused the company of protecting an employee who was accussed of sexual assault, one of the terminated employees responded with strong words against the company.
In the video, former employee Andy Morocco, alleges that he was fired in retaliation for reporting the sexual assault of a coworker that took place on company premises.
"I was taken behind the shop by the CEO Douglas Costello. I assumed he wanted more information directly from the source, but instead he fired me in retaliation for, in his words, 'creating shop drama,'" Morocco claims in the video.
He later added "Wyrmwood is not your friend and they do not care about people."
In response to the allegations, Wyrmwood released a four-page document laying out the events in their own words, in which they claimed that the accussed sex offender was also fired and that they didn't know the alleged assault had taken place at their place of work — the latter claim which they have since retracted. Later that day, Wyrmwood released a YouTube video that has since been made private, wherein Wyrmwood management and HR representatives gave their side of the story further in the presence of their lawyer, in which they repeated their claims, including that the false claim that they hadn't been made aware of where the incident occured.
Organizations begin cutting ties with Wyrmwood
Shortly after Wyrmwood's response, fans and partners alike began cutting ties with the company, including Take This, a non-profit that has partnered with Wyrmwood for years.
In their statement, Take This cited what it considered to be Wyrmwood's inadequate response as the ultimate reason for ending the partnership, writing, "The serious allegations involving egregious employee behavior and the termination of the person reporting the behavior at Wyrmwood Gaming violate the ideals and mission of our organization. Wyrmwood has since released a written statement and accompanying video that are troubling and fall outside the ethical standards of Take This."
Meanwhile, former supporters of Wyrmwood chimed in on social media to voice their disappointment in the way Wyrmwood responded to the allegations, many of who stated they'd no longer be buying Wyrmwood products.
The next day, Wyrmwood made their video response private and issued a new statement apologizing for their initial response, writing, "We are pulling down the video we posted. We reacted viscerally out of anger and disbelief at the false allegations that were spreading online, and we did what we always do — post a video addressing it to defend ourselves. However, many of our partners and customers have contacted us and have explained that the video was tone deaf and harmful. We agree with them and apologize."
For many years, Wyrmwood has been a trusted high-end option for tabletop gamers, who have made their projects some of the biggest Kickstarter successes of all time. Time will tell if partners and customers will accept the apology, but as of now the whole controversy seems to have had little effect on their Kickstarter, which has raised over $1.7 million for their gaming table.
Travis Northup is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @TieGuyTravis and read his games coverage here.
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