Jakarta-based Brandoville Studios Management Rocked with Allegations of Workplace Abuse
Content Warning: The article covers testimonies and evidence with detailed accounts of harassment and abuse.
Brandoville Studios was a game art and animation development studio that provided services to international games and entertainment clients. Starting as an Indonesian partnership with Malaysia’s Lemon Sky Studios in 2018, it became a fully independent studio in March 2020. On August 17, 2024, the company officially announced the closure of the business in Indonesia through Facebook posts.
Last September 9, 2024, user Bisher Dokkmak on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) posted a Canva document link detailing evidence of alleged abuse by Brandoville Studios’s co-owner Cherry Lai.
The document is detailed by Christa Sydney, who, according to their posted statements and LinkedIn profile, had been employed by Brandoville since 2019 in various roles and departments.
Cherry Lai, wife of Brandoville’s CEO Ken Lai, served in a management role in the company. According to the documentation on Canva, the Brandoville Marketing teams reported to her through English-language conversations on the Whatsapp mobile messaging application.
The document outlines Christa’s history at the company and distinct incidents that occurred during her tenure. It is dated and supplied with supporting screenshots and videos in separate Google Drive links.
Since the accusations were revealed, other former Brandoville employees have shared their experiences working at the studio in another document circulated on X by various users.
On September 13, Asosiasi Game Indonesia (Indonesian Games Association), in a message from its recently appointed president Shafiq Husein, posted their official statement regarding the situation, blacklisting the alleged perpetrators from the association and its programs.
Several creative industry organizations and players in the Indonesian game development industry have posted statements condemning the alleged abuse, including groups like SINDIKASI, creators such as The Lazy Monday, and the annual game development event IGDX.
Previously, Brandoville Studios was highlighted by games industry investigative journalists People Make Games in their 2021 YouTube documentary “How Game Publishers Buy Crunch Overseas,” which detailed harsh working conditions in Southeast Asian outsourcing studios working with triple-A games industry clients.
As of writing this article, Cherry Lai has since removed her public Facebook presence, and Ken Lai has also removed his LinkedIn profile. The couple is allegedly starting a new company named Lailai Studios.
The article will be updated with further developments in the situation.
