Last month, Insomniac Games (Spider ManCEO Ted Price reportedly told his employees that parent company Sony “will not endorse any statement from any studio about reproductive rights.” That’s apparently no longer true, as Insomniac and other Sony studios have tweeted statements in support of “reproductive freedom” in the wake of this morning’s Supreme Court decision to overturn the long-standing Roe v. Wade precedent on the matter.
“We are people who make games,” says Insomniac tweeted this morning. “Reproductive freedom and bodily autonomy are human rights.”
By midday, many of Sony’s other North American game studios began tweeting similar messages, including: sucker punch †Ghost of Tsushima† Bad Dog †The last of us† Santa Monica Studio †god of war† San Diego Studio †MLB: The Show), and Bend Studio †Days gone by† Some of Sony’s European studios, including: Media Molecule †Little big planet† Guerrilla Games †Horizon), and PlayStation London Studiohave also joined in with tweeted statements of support.
“Naughty Dog believes reproductive freedom and bodily autonomy are fundamental human rights and essential to the health and well-being of all,” the studio wrote in its tweet. “We will continue to uphold these values and actively support all our employees in getting the care they need and want.”
Travel and other support
That part about “active support”[ing]Employees may be less important to Santa-Monica-based Naughty Dog, as California is likely to continue to protect access to abortion through legislation. For Sony studios in less abortion-friendly states (such as Bluepoint Games in Austin, Texas), the parent company has yet to publicly following the lead of Microsoft, which pledged in early May to fund trips abroad for employees who needed it to seek abortion-related care.
Destiny-developer (and soon-to-be Sony subsidiary) Bungie led the game industry by offering strong public support for “reproductive choice” last month. Today, Bungie updated its public statement on the matter, outlining its own travel reimbursement program “that any employee can use when they or a dependent cannot access the healthcare they need where they live. We remain undaunted in our commitment to to stand for reproductive choice and freedom.”
In a statement to the press, Activision Blizzard confirmed its plans, first announced earlier this month, to offer “comprehensive travel medical benefits” for issues “including reproductive health, gender-affirming treatment, transplant care and other medical care that is unavailable.” is in a covered person’s state, or within 100 miles of where they live.”
Other major game publishers including: Ubisoft† Bethesda† Niantic Labsand Devolver Digital today tweeted statements in support of reproductive rights. And the International Game Developers Association told Ars in a statement that “we believe that physical autonomy and choice over one’s own reproductive and health care issues” are critical to the organization’s mission. “One must be in control of their own health issues in order to successfully manage their career and life.”
Earlier this month (and under pressure from employees), Electronic Arts tweeted a Pride Month statement that read “Women’s rights are human rights.” [Update at 8:27 pm ET: On Friday EA issued a much more detailed statement saying that it “will soon offer expanded travel health benefits, for eligible U.S. employees and their eligible dependents.”]
