An awful situation may be turning around for the better. Trendy Entertainment president Jeremy Stieglitz will alter his role following Kotaku's report into the company's practices yesterday, according to two people close to the situation.


Yesterday, we published an investigation into conditions at Trendy, which included testimonials from nine current and former employees. They described the studio as a toxic environment with low morale and constant crunch time, and alleged that Stieglitz treated staff quite poorly.


Following publication of our story yesterday, Stieglitz will change roles in a significant way, both sources said. Although Stieglitz remains with the company, he will no longer supervise staff on their next game, Dungeon Defenders II, according to both sources. One source said Stieglitz may work on a project independently.

It's unclear whether Stieglitz was forced to change roles or stepped down voluntarily, but both sources told me they see positive changes coming to the studio in the near future.

In addition, one person claiming to be a current employee at Trendy wrote in a Kotaku comment yesterday that our report had a major effect on the company.

"Things are currently changing since the release of this article and for the first time, I sat at work yesterday and did not feel the usual hopelessness," the alleged employee wrote. "I would ask that the community try to not judge all of us on the actions of a few and to not completely abandon our game before it has been released. There are people with families here and people who really want to make a great game and it is looking like we may have a chance to do so now."


I am a current employee of TE. The female staff we have are all excellent at what they do and from… Read more

At some point next week, according to one person close to the situation, representatives from the company's investors at Insight Venture Management will meet with employees to discuss morale and how to move forward.