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Los Angeles-based art studio and video game developer Omocat has been accused of overworking and underpaying former employees. Recently, video game developer and former team member Melon took to X (formerly Twitter) to allege that they were forced to overwork themselves and were not given the bonuses and royalties they were promised. As the Omori creator responds to the same, her past Shota tweets have resurfaced online.
Reddit user u/starsmileyx took to the r/OMORI subreddit to publicize news of the concerning management. They wrote in their post:
“The main developer of OMORI, has been accused of mistreating her staff and developers on the development of OMORI. These accusations include overworking at least one employee and underpaying multiple employees.”
As the allegations spread like wildfire across social media platforms, X (formerly known as Twitter) user @RosenDice took to the platform to share Omocat’s earlier social media activity. In one social media post, the latter wrote:
“I love anime and everything problematic about it”
In another, the Los Angeles-based artist said, “I wish I was a drifloon so I could steal children.”
Another tweet, dating back to 2014, reads, "Omg my shipping company just sent my secretary three complaints about Shota.”
For those unfamiliar, shota refers to a shotacon that is derived from the Shōtarō complex. In the Japanese context, it could mean the attraction to young boy characters who are deliberately made to appear in a suggestive manner. Shota anime often includes prepubescent or pubescent male characters being s*xualized.
In another tweet, Omocat wrote:
“and no I don’t like all little boys I just sometimes think about my first crush from 3rd grade and get a little flustered.”
Allegations against Omocat explained as former employee Melon’s tweets go viral
On December 8, 2023, Melon took to X to reveal that they had joined the Omori team in 2019. They claimed that they initially worked 12–18-hour workdays on their own accord. Although they initially worked for long durations seamlessly, they eventually got burned out.
Following the same, Omocat reportedly began treating Melon like “garbage” and also demanded a doctor’s note for their inability to work.
“she would guilt me into keep working as hard as I did before despite the blatant toll on my body and say she expected better of me and would constantly downplay my illness," Melon revealed via a tweet.
As time progressed and just before a game launch, which Melon worked on, Omocat reportedly informed the former that they were taking back the promised royalties from them.
Melon also shared the experience of an anonymous former employee of Omori who shared their grievances as well. Speaking about the Omori creator, the anonymous employee said:
“There are also plenty of stories unrelated to working with her like just her general narcissism, poor treatment of her friends, and one-sided entitlement to everyone’s time and attention (she literally said to me once in 100% seriousness, “I’m f**king OMOCAT!””
The anonymous employee shared that they worked as an “online shop manager” for the Omori creator until they were fired for “not being good enough.” She also reportedly withheld the employee’s last month’s pay as she believed that they were not deserving of it.
Omori team members like Cachi Cordova and Nils Omnia took to X to seemingly defend Omocat and accuse Melon of lying about certain experiences of theirs. The latter revealed that Melon was paid for their overtime work, and their boss also helped them when Melon had gotten sick from overworking. Omnia also claimed that Melon “antagonized and belittled many team members.”
Omocat takes to X to address the controversy
On December 8, Omocat took to X to address Melon’s accusations. The former apologized for not preventing the latter from overworking themself. Addressing Melon’s burnout, she claimed that she urged Melon to visit the doctor so that they could help in their recovery.
Speaking about the promised royalties, she said that they were withdrawn after Melon began “overwriting other people’s code, adding unapproved content and then having to remove it later, and talking down on other team members’ abilities.”
The Omori creator also told Melon that they breached their contract once they stopped working on the game regularly. The former added:
“Although you did a lot of great work in your time, it didn’t reflect the etra amount of work and struggles you created by your behavior. Considering the amount of work done by the other team members that stuck until the end, the overtime pay, you already received for causing more work, and the salary pay you continue to receive even after you had drifted from production, I felt that you had been fairly compensated”
The matter is ongoing. At the time of writing this article, Melon had updated followers with receipts of their conversations with the company and the team.
