An art studio and video game maker in Los Angeles called Omocat is being accused of making their former workers work too much and not paying them enough.
A person named Melon, who used to work on the team, went on X (formerly Twitter) to say that they had to work too hard and didn’t get the bonuses and royalties they were supposed to. The creator of the game Omori is responding to these claims, and at the same time, some old tweets from her about Shota have appeared online.
Reddit user u/starsmileyx shared some worrying news about how things are being handled on the r/OMORI subreddit. They posted:
“Omocat, 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 other employees.”
As rumors quickly spread on social media, a user named @RosenDice on X (formerly Twitter) shared Omocat’s past social media posts. In one of these posts, Omocat wrote:
“I love anime and everything problematic about it.”
In a different statement, the artist from Los Angeles expressed,
“I wish I was a drifloon so I could steal children.”
In 2014, there was a tweet saying,
“Omg my shipping company just sent my secretary three complaints about Shota.”
For those who don’t know, “shota” comes from a term called shotacon, linked to the Shotaro complex. In Japan, it involves being attracted to young boys portrayed suggestively. Shota anime typically features young male characters who are made to look suggestive or s*xualized, even though they may be prepubescent or pubescent.
OMORI Creator Omocat Under Fire for Alleged Employee Mistreatment
On December 8, 2023, Melon shared on X that they joined the Omori team in 2019. They said they used to work very long hours willingly but eventually felt exhausted. After that, Omocat started treating them poorly and even asked for a doctor’s note when they couldn’t work.
As the game launch approached, Omocat told Melon that they were taking back the royalties they had promised just before the game was about to be released.
per recommendation ill drop a ko-fi link here if any blessed angels wish to throw some change at me
i will split the donations with the other team member i know got screwed if they choose to accept
— Melon Kid (@animegirlcrimes) December 8, 2023
Melon also talked about a person who used to work at Omori but didn’t reveal their name. This ex-employee shared their complaints, saying things about the creator of Omori,
“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!””
A person who didn’t reveal their identity said they used to be an “online shop manager” for the creator of Omori until they got fired for not doing well enough. The boss also didn’t pay them for their last month of work because she thought they didn’t deserve it.
you can also check out my games on itch if you’d like. i dont have much other than indie game jam entries but if you played them and left feedback it would mean a lot
— Melon Kid (@animegirlcrimes) December 8, 2023
Omori team members such as Cachi Cordova and Nils Omnia went on social media to support Omocat and accuse Melon of being dishonest about their experiences.
Nils Omnia shared that Melon was actually paid for their extra work hours, and their boss supported them when they got sick from working too much. Omnia also said that Melon had behaved in a way that upset and belittled many team members.
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Omocat Breaks Silence on X
On December 8, Omocat went on X to respond to Melon’s accusations. She apologized for not stopping Melon from working too much and explained that she encouraged them to see a doctor for their burnout recovery.
Regarding the promised royalties, she mentioned they were taken back because Melon was making unauthorized changes to code, adding content without approval, and criticizing other team members.
The Omori creator also informed Melon that they broke the agreement when they stopped regularly working on the game. The person 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”
https://t.co/ZSwlrSzc4g pic.twitter.com/sgovbHsOB3
— OMOCAT (@_omocat) December 8, 2023
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