Mike Zaimont, the former CEO of Skullgirls and Indivisible developer Lab Zero Games, who was accused of making several sexually inappropriate and “intrusive” comments to two people in 2020, has been confirmed as someone who “holds a position as an individual contributor” on the upcoming summer release Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game.
Comic book artist Irene Koh, who previously worked on the official The Legend of Korra comic trilogy, reported Zaimont’s involvement in Paramount’s upcoming Avatar: The Last Airbender 1v1 fighting game in a post on Bluesky this week.
“As an Avatar + fighting game fan, I was extremely disappointed to hear that he’s involved,” Koh wrote. “I’m proud of my work on the Korra comics & contributions to the IP over the last decade, and I love the team’s history of embracing inclusivity, so taking this job felt like it wasn’t in the spirit of the IP.”
According to Game Developer, who contacted Paramount Games directly, a representative confirmed that Zaimont “holds a position” at Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game’s developer, Gameplay Group International, and has been “working specifically on backend programming, engine architecture and netcode.”
Zaimont has previously been accused of sexual harassment by two separate people in 2020. Twitch streamer Bunny accused Zaimont of being “incredibly disrespectful” and “creepy” when she messaged him to thank him for Skullgirls’ portrayal of woman-on-woman BDSM, and fighting game tournament organizer Carbon Grey also accused him of “making weird, sexual comments” at them for “years” at events.
“I don’t know what Mike said to [Bunny], but I’m sure it was shitty and I know that because Mike’s been making weird, sexual comments at me in and out of cosplay at fighting game events for actual years,” Grey said. “I’ve been writing a lot of it off because when I tell people, they’re just like, ‘Oh, he’s kinda like that, I’m sorry.’ And like, yeah, he is kinda like that and he’s kinda not changing for the past five years y’all[…]”
Those previous allegations resulted in several members of Zaimont’s studio, Lab Zero Games, resigning in August, 2020. Lab Zero Games’ board of directors, alongside its staff, initially attempted to have Zaimont resign from his position as the studio’s sole owner, but he made “unrealistically high and potentially illegal” demands in response. When the board rejected them, Zaimont moved ahead with disbanding the board instead and taking over complete control of the studio. Almost everyone who didn’t quit following this was ultimately fired anyway several weeks later.
In a statement made to Kotaku following the firings at Lab Zero Games, Zaimont stated that “Lab Zero was forced into layoffs because [it was] no longer able to meet [its] payroll obligations,” and made no reference to the allegations made against him.
