There are Tough Times at Red 5 Studios. I want to start off by saying that I know it’s hard for a lot of people out there. Everyone is in a tough financial situation and the people at Red 5 Studios (Red 5) are no different. However, on this same note, it’s easy to criticize someone and never offer any way to help.
Employees at Red 5 have not been paid, and as the Reddit AMA suggests, morale has been really low there for a while. I’ve also tried to reach out to our friends at Red 5, but to no avail; although I’ll keep everyone updated if I hear anything.
I want to point out that an engineer at Blizzard by the name of Cher has heard about the situation at Red 5 and wants to do what she can to help. She has started a gofundme page to raise money for the Red 5 employees. I spoke with her briefly and she wants to ensure everyone that she’s not acting on her company’s behalf, but as a way to help those in need.
If you’d like to donate to the gofundme page, here is a link to it. I know that in gaming journalism (or journalism in general) it’s best to just watch, rather than get directly involved in these issues. But what’s the point of owning a website and publishing our own articles if we can’t take a stance on things? So I hope that all our friends at Red 5 will be alright and that this situation will resolve itself soon.
This type of problem is not unique to Red 5; it’s happening lately throughout the gaming industry. Crytek had a similar issue in 2014 where they failed to pay their staff, and it seems to be an ongoing problem, will there continue to be Tough Times at Red 5 only time will tell…
I’m an autistic gamer with ADHD, studying Business Administration at the University of the People while learning game development. For over 10 years, I’ve reviewed games, collaborated on projects at global game jams, and attended industry conferences. I love growing with others through our shared passion. Always learning, always pushing forward — sometimes you just have to do something crazy.