Xbox exec says she was pushed out after refusing to wear bathrobe at hotel | Latest Tech News
A former Xbox government says she was compelled out of her job after refusing to put on a bathrobe handed to her by a colleague in a hotel room during a major gaming convention.
Laura Fryer, who was director of the Xbox Advanced Technology Group at the time, said the incident occurred in 2004 during the Game Developers Conference, where her group had just delivered the keynote unveiling Microsoft’s XNA project.
According to Fryer, she spent a number of hours on a stage giving a presentation before finally heading back to a hotel room alongside an Xbox government and a public relations official.
Laura Fryer said she was “reorganized out” of her function as director of the Xbox Advanced Technology Group after what she described as a hotel room incident during the 2004 Game Developers Conference. Laura Fryer/YouTube
“Next thing I know, I’m handed a bathrobe and asked to put it on. I laughed like it was a joke and I got out of there as fast as possible, but I was freaked out,” she said.
Fryer said the implications adopted nearly immediately.
“I barely really thought about it much until the next week when I got back, and that’s when I was suddenly told that I was being reorganized out of my job. I was being kicked out and replaced from the job I loved,” she said.
She said a buddy believed the GDC incident triggered the transfer and reported it to human assets on her behalf.
“He believed that the reason I was being pressured to get out was because of this incident. He told me I needed to go and talk to HR, and while I was thinking about that, he did instead, and that’s when everything flipped,” Fryer said.
She said the matter went nowhere despite corroboration from another particular person in the room.
“Unfortunately, even though the other person that was in the room confirmed my story, it didn’t matter. I was pushed out and nobody would help me. My career had gone from red-hot to radioactive,” she said.
Fryer added that assist from management evaporated.
“I had a VP mentor who dumped me after this. I was doing what I thought was my forever job, a job I could never imagine giving up. It was perfect,” she said.
Fryer said of her job at Xbox, “I was pushed out and nobody would help me.” dannyburn – stock.adobe.com
In hindsight, she said, the episode mirrored deeper cultural issues inside the company.
“Looking back, this incident showed how the culture at Microsoft was breaking. Instead of holding everyone to the same high standard, they decided on performative solutions that killed me,” Fryer said.
The Post has sought remark from Xbox company guardian Microsoft.
Laura Fryer said the episode confirmed how “the culture at Microsoft was breaking,” describing what she said occurred after GDC in 2004. Microsoft Via Wikimedia Commons
Microsoft has confronted prior scrutiny over office harassment and discrimination allegations in latest years, including incidents involving groups linked to its gaming business.
In 2018, GWN reported that Microsoft disclosed inside criticism data exhibiting 83 harassment complaints and 84 gender discrimination complaints filed in its US-based workforce in 2017.
The company said practically half of the harassment claims had been supported at least in half after investigation.
The disclosure adopted unsealed court paperwork tied to litigation that cited more than 100 gender bias complaints filed between 2010 and 2016, figures Microsoft disputed in half.
The following 12 months, staff shared dozens of harassment and discrimination tales in a prolonged inside e mail thread. Some staff said prior complaints to HR had not led to significant motion.
Within Microsoft’s gaming ecosystem, a 2022 report cited by Game Developer and PC Gamer detailed allegations of sexism and office hostility at Undead Labs, a Microsoft-owned Xbox studio acquired in 2018.
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