Brandoville Studios, a support studio that worked withBlizzardandNaughty Dog, came to wider attention in 2021 when it was included in adocumentaryby People Make Games, accusing the developer of crunching its employees and encouraging them to sleep at the studio to meet deadlines.
Brandoville closed its doors in August, with the CEO and his wife, Ken and Cherry Lai, forming a new company, Laiai Studios.However, former Brandoville employees have now accused Cherry Lai of physical and mental abuse, sharing a mountain of evidence to support their claims.
Workers Say Crunch, Abuse Led To Physical Health Problems
Through numerous videos and hundreds of screenshots of WhatsApp messages seen by TheGamer, the former employees paint a picture of Cherry Lai as a boss who engages in erratic and abusive behaviour, frequently threatening and swearing at her staff, and in at least one instance, instructing a worker to hit herself and record herself doing so. Lai is also accused of assaulting the same employee herself, leaving them with a concussion, as well as enforcing crunch conditions that left them working so much they were not allowed to return home, to the point of sleep deprivation.
This largely comes froma documentput together by artist Christa Sydney. Here, Sydney details her time working at Brandoville, with hundreds of screenshots depicting her boss' wife (Cherry Lai), frequently berating her. In the folder, there is a video of Sydney slapping herself repeatedly, with screenshots of WhatsApp messages suggesting that Lai asked her to do this and send her the proof.She also shows screenshots of Lai telling her to repeatedly walk up and down the staircase in the office as a punishment.
In a statement attached to the document, Sydney says this abuse was taken further in June 2024. “She opened her room door and slapped the left side of my head full force until I had tinnitus in my left ear, and dragged me by my neck and pushed me down the stairs,” Sydney says. “She started to blatantly choke me, forced me to bang my head as hard as possible to the wall until I was concussed […] I had a major swelling on my forehead where I hit myself, my vision was all white.”
Sydney further accuses Lai of physically abusing her in a hotel in front of staff, and forcing her to “eat inedible flower petals.”
A further example of abuse against Sydney was shared by another employee, who has alsoshared screenshotsof work WhatsApp messages. Here, they show screenshots of Lai allegedly instructing Sydney to break her phone as a punishment.
Other screenshots show Lai verbally berating and insulting workers. This allegedly included (but was not limited to) swearing, threats, and enforcing a strict code of conduct on how to address Lai. The latter involved opening every message with “Mrs. Cherry”. In another instance, Sydney is made to pray.
Alleged Workplace WhatsApp Texts Are Full Of Abusive Messages
Further screenshots also show Sydney being asked to repeat a grovelling apology to Lai, in which she is told to insult and swear about herself. Despite repeatedly “begging” for forgiveness, Sydney is made to continue, rewording the apology every time at Cherry’s request.
This strict enforcement of an employee’s tone over text is consistent with what we see elsewhere in the screenshots. Other employees are seen to refer to Lai as “Mrs. Cherry”, and in a mistakes log, it is suggested that Sydney was reprimanded for not using “correct honorifics” in the past.
This reportedly extended outside of the workplace. In one of the videos, Sydney is shown cancelling an appointment that Lai booked for her, telling the receptionist that she “doesn’t deserve” the reward from her boss. She also tells the receptionist that she is recording their interaction at Lai’s behest. In another video, Sydney is being recorded by another - reportedly Lai - who calls her a liar. A visibly distressed Sydney says on camera, “Mrs. Cherry knows everything”.
Alongside the screenshots, Sydney writes an in-depth description of her time at Brandoville, starting from her joining date in 2019. Here, she says she was “psychologically and physically tortured” by Lai.
“Cherry is against employees being friends with each other, she would often say that we’re not here to make friends, we are here to work,” writes Sydney, who also accuses her boss of trying to divide workers by race. “Only recently I started to reach out to my ex-colleagues and found out the truth: that they were also victims of manipulation and threats […] Everyone was in a tough spot as she ran the company like a cult.”
This allegedly extended to relationships with family members. Sydney says she was forced to move multiple times, once without telling her family, so she was isolated from them. She says Lai once “lashed out” at her for meeting with her mother without permission.
Sydney also expands on her allegations of crunch, claiming that Lai told her to go four days without sleep while on a work trip, as she felt that “eight hours of sleep was a myth”. She also claims Lai refused to let her take a test for Covid-19 when she showed symptoms.
These crunch conditions, Sydney writes, led to health issues. “I went months without seeing sunlight as I came to work at 5 AM and clocked out of work late at night, often not even coming home,” she recounts. “I became vitamin D deficient, relying on supplements, and my digestive system and metabolism became heavily affected by the forced sleep deprivation.
“Due to the severe sleep deprivation I had experienced since 2023, and because I could only sleep in a sitting position in 2024, I started to feel numb in my extremities. My hands and my feet started to lose sensation. My legs were swollen, I started to have back pains and indigestion.”
“She ran the company like a cult”.
She also accuses Lai of insulting her appearance. “I resorted to binge eating and she would body shame me, calling me fat and threatening to fire me if I gained weight but also forced me to drink bubble tea in front of the team […] I developed an eating disorder and body dysmorphia that I still struggle with until now. She crushed my self esteem and would call me ugly all the time. She would control what I wear and lash out if I wear clothes that I had always worn before in front of her.”
She further accuses Lai of religious discrimination. Sydney says that Lai was discriminatory against workers who were Catholic, Muslim, Buddhist, or anything that went against her personal Christian beliefs. This allegedly included attempts to “force” workers to “convert and accept Jesus”.
Much of this is supported by the evidence shared by the second coworker, who also accuses Lai of verbally berating employees, particularly if they asked for time off work.
Sydney’s account was brought to wide attention by the Twitter user Bisher Dokkmak. In response, others who claim to have worked there have supported Sydney’s claims.
Ken and Cherry Lai are yet to respond to these allegations. Lailai Studios could not be contacted for comment, as its website and social media pages have been taken offline. It is beingclaimedthat Cherry Lai’s violence against Sydney has now been reported to the police, although it’s unclear if this is being investigated.
