About a week ago we wrote about the Game Insight situation. Back then we only suspected that the company plans to avoid paying compensation to the downsizing employees. Now it is clear that they don’t want to follow the laws and rules: a liquidator representative has talked to the employees to clarify the situation. A liquidator is a private company that makes money by closing other organizations. And Game Insight has hired one in Russia.

Game Insight position

We have learned that the liquidator had announced the following:

  1. Game Insight has issues with transferring funds to Russia.
  2. There are enough funds only to pay the current salary debt and probably even PTO payout – statutory compensation for unused PTO. But only for those who will quit voluntarily as soon as possible. Others will have to stay in the queue of creditors after the company goes bankrupt, and they will eventually get nothing. And the bankruptcy will take place only in October due to a moratorium on bankruptcy.
  3. The liquidator is on the same boat with employees and just as much a miserable victim of circumstance as they are! Though they can easily make the company go bankrupt and transfer it to a new owner.
  4. Prosecutor’s office is already aware of the situation, and employees can send complaints wherever they want.

We treat the liquidator’s position as the company position. If Game Insight is unhappy with its liquidator and does not agree with its actions, it can always announce it publicly. For now, let’s take a closer look at their reasoning.

Issues with transferring funds

This position is in line with the political agenda. But fund transferring issues do not stop the company from creating a new firm in Russia. According to App2Top, some employees received an email asking them to wait for a new offer. No chances to transfer money, but got funds to create a new firm and pay for liquidation service? Looks like some monkey business to us.

There are enough funds only to pay the current salary debts

An extremely strong argument for a company whose head office earned 4 million euros in 2020. In Russian department had 1,5 billion rubles in revenue and 100 million rubles of net profit in 2021. At the same time, the cost of fixed assets of the Russian branch is 70 million rubles, accounts receivable are 300 million rubles, and the profit for the last 30 days is more than $1 million. Even if we believe that they can’t transfer money from abroad, the turnover of the Russian office, its net profit, and assets clearly show that there is enough money.

We are on the same boat

It sounds like Zuck: «Boat, Mates, Me»! But the liquidator showed right away who’s the captain and who was at the oars by threatening to pass employees to the new owner, who will not pay them a single cent. That is what corporate values look like when put to practice. We are in the same boat as long as employees generate profit for owners. Once employees become unprofitable, they quickly find themselves overboard.

Prosecutor’s office is already aware — you can send complaints wherever you want

Seem like the only undoubtful argument. Prosecutor’s office is indeed aware of the situation, and they are not the only ones. How would these authorities see the situation where a Lithuanian company tries to scam Russian citizens and break the laws against them, considering the growing political crisis between Lithuania and the Russian Federation? We’ll see this soon.

IT Union position

At last, we heard the company’s position towards the employees loud and clear. And now we can express our position:

  1. Game Insight should pay all the compensation required by the law of the Russian Federation upon liquidation of the company. According to the laws, employees must receive at least 3 salaries from the date of liquidation, payment of all wage arrears, sick leave, and vacation pay until the date of commencement of liquidation.
  2. All violations of the liquidation process must be recorded and filed to the appropriate authorities.
  3. The information about how Game Insight treats its employees should be widespread, including the main markets of their games and the company’s offices.
  4. Their games’ ratings must correlate with the employee’s compensation.

So, would you like to rate Game Insight’s games the same way they value their employees?