[Report] Indonesia’s Anantarupa Studios Has Not Paid Staff Since Last November

Trouble’s brewing over in Indonesia’s game development scene.

The makers of mobile MOBA title Lokapala: Saga of the Six Realms, Anantarupa Studios, have allegedly been accused of unpaid labour. Following anonymous reviews of the studio at Glassdoor.com (along with additional reporting from Nmiagaming and SEAGamethetic), employees stated they haven’t been paid since November 2024 despite the game still active and online.

The reviews also state that “management does not listen and think that they know everything better” and will not heed advice, which is unfortunately an occurence in most companies in the games industry field.

The salary delay was initially supposed to be one week but has extended to 5-months. Employees who chose to be unemployed were given IOUs instead by Anantarupa’s HR division. To this day, there is no repayment scheme set between employees and the company. However, employees have been pressured to take down their social media posts regarding the late payments, possibly due to keeping their reputation spotless.

Anantarupa Studio CEO Ivan Chen initially put out a statement (via GGWP) where the company neither confirmed nor denied the allegations. He also added that the staff had no obligation to keep working if working conditions weren’t satisfactory. Following that, he also added that the studio has “not fulfilled its obligations to its employees”.

Ivan also said that Anantarupa Studios is facing challenges in raising funds for the studio and the game they’re running.

“These challenges and obstacles that we face have forced us to prioritize the sustainability of our business, which has impacted our ability to fulfil our responsibilities to several parties.”

Even with a number of upcoming games and some bright spots ahead, Indonesia is not immune to the game industry’s current financial doldrums worldwide.