Lab Zero's founder Mike Zaimont has been suspended from working on a Guilty Gear netcode update shortly after it went into public testing.
Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R is one of the many, many versions of Arc System Works' iconic, fast-paced fighting game. Unfortunately, it did not feature "rollback netcode" at launch. In layman's terms, this feature allows a game to rewind the gameplay in order to correct any issues that develop due to a poor connection.
Rollback netcode can be challenging to implement; Smash Ultimate's Masahiro Sakurai had previously said that implementing it for that game would have "substantial" side-effects, ultimately opting not to implement it during development.
Some games, however, add rollback netcode in a post-launch patch. Mike Zaimont was brought onto the team to help get this process done. He has since been suspended from working on the project.
Why Was Mike Zaimont Suspended from Working on Guilty Gear Netcode?
Earlier this year, Lab Zero's founder Mike Zaimont was accused of harassment by multiple people at his company. Several employees quit the company as a result. The company's board sought to negotiate his departure; these discussions ultimately fell through, resulting in Zaimont laying off everyone remaining at the company, making him the sole employee of Lab Zero.
As GamaSutra reports, Zaimont joined Team French CaliBurst shortly thereafter, a team of community developers who were working on developing rollback netcode for a Guilty Gear game. Lab Zero had served as an intermediary for the project between the community developers and Arc System Works. Now, he's been removed from the project just as it was entering public testing.
"Arc System Works has now agreed with Team French CaliBurst to suspend MikeZ's participation in development until he has addressed the outstanding matters," Arc System Works representative Takeshi Yamanaka told Gamasutra.
"Arc System Works has a strong policy to not condone any unlawful acts, harassment, acts of violence, or discrimination in all manners and forms," he added.
It should be noted that he has not been permanently removed from the project; rather, he has been temporarily suspended from working on it until he meets the terms laid out by Arc System Works.
"We have the expectation for MikeZ to resolve the allegations against him in good faith," Yamanaka explained. "Now that the development has [come] to a milestone, and with your [outreach], we thought it to be a good time for MikeZ to start working towards a resolution."
What do you think of Mike Zaimont being removed from the Guilty Gear netcode project? What other games do you think could be improved with the addition of rollback netcode? Let us know in the comments below!
