This was posted on Reddit today.
Some former employees left bad reviews on glassdoor.
Apr 9, 2019
Aug 4, 2018
Aug 7, 2018
Mod edit: corrected attribution of response — it was Tommy who responded, not Kristian
Most of those Glassdoor reviews have been around a while, and they’ve been brought up on Reddit more than once. They confirm what many of us have heard about the inner workings at SEMC, and they’re not really surprising in any way – the situation is pretty clear to those of us who’ve followed the company and the game for several years.
Tommy’s response is just garbage.
@hazeleyes pretty much summed up what I was going to say so I’ll just point out that much of what the reviewers said seems to be backed up by reality:
They probably were mad from being laid off, but what they said checks out.
Stop ignoring the top complaints from the community and fix those issues first before focusing on creating more features to make money. We learned it hard way that that doesn’t work already, why repeat it all over again?
You can only do so many rah-rah speeches to try to spin the situation. Be honest about what’s really going on.
I don’t know what else to say…
I noticed that in the dev stream when KS and Q talked about why they removed 3v3 Casual they avoided outright saying that the playerbase wasn’t big enough to support more modes. Ofc you wouldn’t want to make it look like your game is failing but they seem to be trying very hard to project a false reality to the players and they probably will continue to do so up to the minute the lights go off.
Lastly, ran an esports scene that had little oversight that I’d wager ran the books into the red, leading to the year of layoffs.
^This is the main cause of VG downfall, all the other just the side effect
So even the EMPLOYEES agree with us on these ideas then? It’s just the leadership? Yeah looks like SEMC either needs people that can lead the studio better or the current leaders really need to start changing. I’m sire it was not the way it was before because the game only ever improved drastically when it was new and they knew how to make players excited to keep playing. Kristian and the other highers ups do not seem to understand just how many opportunities VG has to improve here and how quickly they need to do it. If they cannot impress the new players for much longer they’re gonna be back to where they were if not worse off if even more people start leaving
And if ideas are not ignored then why don’t we see any community ideas being implemented like the guilds post? Not even something as simple as a pre-game border has been implemented.
Simple, they are low on budget so they have no choice but priority project that would give them insta profit instead or else they not going to survive
Can I just say that when I first saw the post last night, I almost snapped my neck from cringing too hard 
Like legit I got second hand embarrassment from just reading everything. I kinda feel bad that so much people were ganging up on Tommy but then again, some of the comments were actually speaking the truth.
To be honest I don’t need anything to proof semc is doing bad management wise , removing the battle pass was a step to promote the xb boost then they going to release battle pass again after getting the money from the xb boost , and like my opinion on the chests and keys , I think the battle pass going to be bad or removed , I think better remove it than making it worst than before.
We’re now seeing the defenders come out of the woodwork.
The cycle begins anew.
There’s a reply to krul by a supposed former employee, no way to prove that being true but they say something rather concerning about semc and who works there. It’s not said who it is but this person is said to be really bad in the workplace and pushes out useful employees and is still at semc too despite this, again if it is true tho.
SEMC actively promoted one of the most toxic people I’ve ever worked with in my career (not naming names because the community endears his public persona, but I suspect you know who I’m referring to), and gave him a pass every time he blew up (daily) because it was “passion.” Bullshit. That should have never been allowed, and in any other environment HR would have had him out the door in minutes. Instead, you let it continue and he pushed out countless people who could have actually made a positive impact rather than destroy your competitive scene and work environment.
PlayoffBeard, probably. I never understood the cult of personality that the community created around him, or any employee, for that matter.
Yeah I was one of the few that didn’t like playoffbeard , I watched the dev streams for nivmett and sugar venom and zekent , it’s probably him because he left the company after they reworked the competitive scene.
Oh god, as if the tea couldn’t get any hotter. 
Edit: Even SV decided to involve her self into the mix. 
Perhaps this is the exacty community feedback they need to hear and will finally listen to. Their former employees, finally speaking out in a pretty public manner. One can hope.
I loved this game and this company and my colleagues so much. It was my blood and my family. That’s why Tommy’s comment hurt so much, and why it pains me to confirm your report.
-Sugarvenom
OH YIKES
I abstained from commentating earlier but I feel that yes Tommy’s reaction to the reviews makes some people here puke (not going to name any names cause I’m above that). However, at least they have finally admitted that there is something very very wrong with how they run their company.
Obviously, an “official” response from a CEO running the company would be defensive. Very few people I know in real life would just flat out admit they are in the wrong there will always be some backpedaling.
It’s human nature (or at least human nature from my perspective) that people will defend themselves rather than admit and than be devoured by the tide of hate and scorn that every human relishes to dish out.
There are probably thousands of people would love to tear at them and who will never be satisfied.
I feel also we need to temper both sides of observation rather than branding certain people “haters” and others as “white knights” Both sides have their opinions and their points. But I would hope that people here on the forum won’t see this as a golden moment for personal self-validation.
Call me a sympathizer but I’ve always loved Vainglory since it came out and even now I could say I’m a diehard optimist. Hopefully, they change but if they refuse to drink from the river when being led to it well… we are we to force them?
At the end of the day, it’s their company and their pet project that they are trying to sustain. It is very little we can really do as a community other than offer help and maybe advice. The rest is up to them.
I agree 100%. That’s why my comment was about the optimistic prospect that former employees would be the feedback to steer them in a more positive direction.
Perhaps I’m wrong, but I feel a majority of the community here expressed their displeasure because they actually are rooting for VG. Why else are we all here? We want the game to thrive. Overall, we’ve loved the game. We want it to get better. We’re concerned it won’t.
Sometimes you have to hit rock bottom to climb to the top. Maybe this is SEMC’s rock bottom? Perhaps they climb back from here! Let’s all hope they do.