Tencent global community manager suspended following harassment claims

Nick Zasowski, global community manager on Tencent’s Arena of Valor, has been suspended pending investigation after it was alleged he had sent multiple inappropriate messages to female members of the games industry.

The allegations were brought forward by John Sylvester, partnerships lead at HP Omen, in a tweet that included screenshots purportedly showing Zasowski interacting with a couple of women by sending them unsolicited images.

Following the tweet, other women came forward and shared knowledge of similar experiences they’ve had with the community manager, with screenshots of other chats shared publicly.

Since the allegations were brought to light, Zasowski has not made any comment, and has closed down his social media presence.

Discussion about the topic on Reddit was joined by an Arena of Valor staff member, who commented: “We’re aware of the situation, and the individual has been suspended pending a full investigation.”

The number of allegations against members of the gaming industry are on the rise, with the likes of Harebrained’s Tyler Carpenter and IGN’s Steve Butts leaving positions (or being fired, in the latter’s case) after allegations became public.

Riot has been in the news multiple times in the past few weeks as it deals with the fallout from a Kotaku article, which detailed many allegations of sexism and harassment at the studio. It has since made public statements of contrition, and hosted a women and non-binary-only set of seminars at PAX West.