Gameloft cleared after ‘120 hour crunch’ probe

Publishing giant Gameloft has been cleared of allegations which suggested the company drove a new recruit to work up to 120 hours per week.

New Zealand’s Labour Department has closed its investigation after concluding there was "no substantial evidence" of any breach of health and safety laws. No action will be taken against Gameloft, according to the Fairfax NZ news agency.

Last year, Australian programmer Glenn Watson joined Gameloft’s Auckland studio but left just four weeks later. He alleged he resigned after clocking 14-hour workloads every day of the week. Another worker was said to have worked for 24 hours in a straight shift.

Watson said Gameloft built artificial milestone deadlines to push its 70 workers in the Auckland studio.

Gameloft has declined to comment on the matter.

Watson has since moved to Australia.