Everyone, please read and re-post this on Reddit and Twitter. A source the works at Naughty Dog revealed recently why the leaks happened. The reason was indeed a pay dispute, but that is not the whole story. Hundreds of furloughed staff had approached Naughty Dog to ask for an advance of the post release bonus they are contractually obligated to receive. A common industry practice is to underpay workers during production and promise them huge bonus six months after the games' release. The better the game sells, the higher the bonus. Some employees had already made plans for this bonus (plan a wedding, buy a house, send kids to college, etc.). When the game was delayed indefinitely, all those plans went out the window.
Some employees were hoping to use their bonus to weather the Corona virus storm and provide for their families. Naughty Dog flat out refused the request to advance them even a portion of their future bonus. The insider says "the employee was told that his contract stated he would be paid out 6 months after the game released OR not at all". The employee was threatened with termination for making the request. The studio was worried more employees would demand their bonuses now if they gave this one employee his bonus early. To add insult to injury, senior staff (including Neil Druckmann) asked for and received their bonuses early. This pissed off the majority of employees at Naughty Dog.
The leaks were a way of forcing the studio to release the game sooner then later. The leaker is risking career and financial ruin so that his fellow abused workers can get their piece of the pie a lot sooner (studio rumor put the expected release date around the holidays before the leaks). This means that the staff wouldn't receive their bonuses until May 2021. Please spread the word as quickly as humanly possible. Thank you.
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