Tencent Community Manager Suspended Amid Sexual Harassment Claims

Someone got a little too personal with women when it came to sending unsolicited, sexual messages — and that someone actually served with Tencent’s community team.

Per this report from GamesIndustry International, Nick Zasowski, who worked with the company as a global community manager for games like Arena of Valor, has been suspended pending an investigation regarding several claims of sexual harassment from females within the industry.

The messages first came to light yesterday evening, when John Edward Sylvester, who serves as partnership lead with HP Omen, shared messages sent by Zasowski (under the name Zazzer) to unspecified targets. You can see the tweet — and Zasowski’s cringe-inducing messages — below.

Since then, various people have replied, noting that they too have been harassed by Zasowski in one form or another. Among them is Doghead Simulations chief marketing officer Amber Osborne, who shared messages from him on Facebook, including one where he asked about her selling him sexy pictures. “This is beyond disrespectful,” she noted in the post.

Other women have noted their complaints as well, including Twitch partner Julia, aka “Khaljiit,” who said, “He did the same to me yesterday through snapchat. Thank you so much for posting this, it’s sadly common for men in the industry to treat women this way.”

Zasowski has since closed down his media accounts, and is currently suspending pending a full investigation into the matter. This Reddit thread for Arena of Valor noted, “We’re aware of the situation, and the individual has been suspended pending a full investigation.”

GamesIndustry International has since reached out to Tencent on the matter, who provided the following statement: “We take accusations of this type of unprofessional behavior extremely seriously, and are currently investigating the matter. The individual has immediately been suspended pending the outcome of this investigation.”

We’ll let you know what comes of this, but…yeah. Don’t be an ass to people and send them unsolicited messages, advances or pictures they don’t want. Also, full respect and appreciation to John, Julia, Amber and everyone else who shared details on what they went through.

(Hat tip to GamesIndustry International for the details.)