Sony’s PS4 Being Made By Some “Forced” Unpaid Intern Students At Foxconn Factory

Well here is a story that will no doubt tarnish Sony’s reputation before the PlayStation 4 has even officially launched. Games In Asia report that Sony’s PlayStation 4 production line at a China-based Foxconn factory uses unpaid student interns. These student interns are apparently forced to work unpaid at the Foxconn factory to assemble the PlayStation 4 on the production line.

The Yantai Foxconn plant in question uses the guise of an internship to work with a local school (Xi’an Institute of Technology) where they are supposed to make students do interships that are tailored to their studies to improve their education. The reality is the vast majority of students sent to Foxconn are working on the PlayStation 4 production line and this has very little relation to what they are studying. For example Games In Asia says that one student studying finance and accounting is being forced to glue parts of Sony’s PS4 together while another who is studying in computer science is boxing up the PS4 consoles with all their accessories.

Foxconn apparently told the Chinese press that these interns have the option to leave at any time and are not forced. The Xi’an Institute of Technology declined to comment on whether it was receiving agent fees for providing what is basically free labour. The school stated it was a legal program and it was “mainly about making students learn about society and experience life.”

This is a messy scenario for both Sony and Foxconn to be involved in but let’s face it – this isn’t the first time Foxconn have been involved in exploiting workers and their (lack of) rights in its factories, and it sure won’t be the last.

Image courtesy of ChinaFoto