The developer of Sonic Speed Simulator, a Roblox game officially licenced by Sega, has been accused of underpaying and overworking its team. Gamefam Studios, a company specialising in Roblox games, also appears to have recently laid off developers with little warning, leaving them to race to find work just before the holidays. These allegations have led Sonic fans to campaign against the studio under the hashtag #SonicSweatshopSimulator, calling on Sega to drop Gamefam as a partner. Fans are also encouraging the community to boycott the game, just as it is used to premiere the first episode of Sonic Prime. "They are a predatory company," says Twitter user Digital Purgatory, speaking about their time on Sonic Speed Simualtor. "[They] try to create a monopoly on Roblox by buying out other games and integrating them into their company.""While I was employed under Gamefam it was a constant struggle due to heavy crunching in the development team," they continue. "We were mandated to update Sonic Speed Simulator every week. this was a heavy toll on my mental and physical self [sic]."
Digital Purgatory also says they were paid a salary of $30,000 a year. Multiple sources put the lowest average Roblox salaries between $32,000 and $35,000, with those outside of Roblox earning even more. Other developers also say they found Gamefam's wages too low for what was required, with one dev even saying the offer they received was "40-50 percent" less than expected.
"I eventually was cut from full-time to half-time hours, without any notice. They have absolutely no communication when it comes to decisions," says Digital Purgatory. "Essentially I slaved away every week, working the nights while also taking care of my dad."
Digital was then laid off at the end of October. Others appear to have been included in this, such as another Twitter user, Voleraii.
According to a screenshot of the apparent termination email, they were told on October 31 that they were fired on October 28. It's also being claimed that this is in breach of the employment contract, which appears to state that employees must be given ten days' notice at the very least.
Gamefam is yet to respond to these allegations publicly. In the email, it's said that Digital was terminated due to unreliable communication, and in the official Discord, a representative calls Digital's account of the situation "one-sided". They are banning those who speak about the issue in the Discord.
TheGamer has reached out to Gamefam for comment, and will update this report should we receive a reply.