Last year, we told you about I Get This Call Every Day— a depressing indie game about working in a call center. It's a good, humanizing title about working a soulless day job. Unfortunately, the game put the developer, David S. Gallant, in hot water.
Earlier today a post on The Star appeared online, claiming that a member of the Canadian government wasn't happy with David's game—which featured an annoying, impossible conversation with a caller. The Star wrote:
National Revenue Minister Gail Shea is not amused. Her communications director, Clarke Olsen, sent an email to the Star Tuesday stating, "The Minister considers this type of conduct offensive and completely unacceptable. The Minister has asked the Commissioner (of Revenue, Andrew Treusch) to investigate and take any and all necessary corrective action. The Minister has asked the CRA to investigate urgently to ensure no confidential taxpayer information was compromised."
When I initially interviewed Gallant, he didn't want to specify who he worked for. Nonetheless, it seems that players were able to figure out that he worked for the Canada Revenue Agency based on clues in the game. Somehow, word got out to his higher ups about it.
Hours after The Star's post, Gallant tweeted the following:
It's not clear if he got fired or if he willingly left his job. I'm guessing the former. Either way, it's sad that it had to come to this in the first place.
I Get This Call Every Day is currently on Steam Greenlight and can be purchased here.