Activision Blizzard faces lawsuit and employee backlash over sexual harassment – The Verge

California settles Activision Blizzard gender discrimination lawsuit for $54 million

2023-12-15T19:43:49-05:00

A California regulator has settled its blockbuster lawsuit that alleged a culture of sexual harassment at Activision Blizzard. Now under the ownership of Microsoft, the gaming company will pay about $54 million as part of the settlement, according to a press release from California's Civil Rights Department (CRD).

The CRD (formerly known as the Department of Fair Employment and Housing or DFEH) filed this lawsuit in July 2021, alleging that Activision Blizzard had a "frat boy" culture where women were subject to sexual harassment and gender-based discrimination. Following the suit, employees walked out, executives including then-Blizzard pr …

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Activision Blizzard CEO denies culture of harassment and blames unions for company problems

2023-06-01T09:27:28-04:00

In 2021, the state of California sued Activision Blizzard, alleging that the video game publisher fostered a pervasive culture of harassment going back years. Details in the suit spoke of "cube crawls," where male employees would get drunk and walk around the workplace subjecting female employees to inappropriate behavior. It alleged that male employees would pawn off responsibilities to their female co-workers, how women of color were passed up for opportunities given to less tenured workers, and how a senior World of Warcraft developer was so infamous for his harassment of women that his office was nicknamed the "Cosby suite."

But news of …

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Activision Blizzard to pay $35 million SEC penalty

2023-02-03T11:17:05-05:00

A Securities and Exchange Commission probe into Activision Blizzard has concluded with the company paying a $35 million penalty.

At the heart of the probe were charges that Activision Blizzard did not have adequate procedures in place that allowed it to document employee workplace misconduct complaints. As a result of this inadequacy, Activision Blizzard could not, therefore, determine if the misconduct problems were severe enough to warrant shareholder disclosure. Additionally, the SEC found that wording in the company's separation agreements was in violation of an SEC whistleblower protection rule, requiring former employees to notify the …

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The US Army paused a Call of Duty League sponsorship after allegations against Activision came to light

2022-12-02T14:21:26-05:00

Players at a Call of Duty League tournament. | Photo by Steve Russell / Toronto Star via Getty Images

The US Army halted a planned sponsorship with Activision Blizzard's Call of Duty esports league after allegations of Activision's workplace culture of harassment and discrimination came to light last year, according to documents obtained by Vice.

The Army wasn't the only organization taking another look at its plans with Activision at the time; sponsors, including Coca-Cola and State Farm, were also reevaluating their support of the Overwatch League. The Verge reached out to sponsors listed on the Call of Duty League and the Overwatch League websites for comment in August 2021, and as observed by Kotaku reporter Ethan Gach, our inquiry to t …

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Another Blizzard QA department wins union vote

2022-12-02T13:04:59-05:00

Workers at Blizzard's Albany, New York offices - organized as GWA Albany under the Communications Workers of America (CWA) - have won their union vote, making them the publisher's second union and the third overall union in the US video game industry. The vote was a majority decision - 14 "yes" votes out of a total possible 18 votes - marking an important step in Blizzard Albany's unionization process that began in July of this year.

"With this victory, we're advocating for ourselves and each other because we care deeply about our work and the games we make," said Amanda Deep, associate test analyst at Blizzard Albany, in a CWA press releas …

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Activision Blizzard employees walk out again, this time for reproductive protections

2022-07-21T11:45:25-04:00

Activision Blizzard employees will participate in yet another walkout today, this time over concerns about employee safety in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Organized by A Better ABK, Activision Blizzard's internal employee rights advocacy group, the walkout will take place at four of the publisher's North American offices: California, Texas, Minnesota, and New York, where a new QA worker's union was just organized.

"We are calling for protection of several communities of marginalized workers," tweeted A Better ABK on July 6th as they announced the walkout. "Employees are actively facing state legislation …

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Blizzard QA workers in Albany are organizing Activision’s second union

2022-07-19T14:31:31-04:00

The QA department at Blizzard Albany, the studio formerly known as Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2's Vicarious Visions, has become the second QA department within Activision Blizzard to organize a union.

Today, we announce a new union at Activision Blizzard.

QA is currently an undervalued discipline in the games and software industries. We strive to
foster work environments where we are respected and compensated for our essential role in the
development process. 1/5
- GWA Albany (@WeAreGWAAlbany) July 19, 2022

The group, organized as GWA Albany, has around 20 members and formed a union to address issues like competitive and fair compensation, hea …

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Blizzard will bring back BlizzCon in 2023

2022-07-06T19:04:45-04:00

It's been a few years since Blizzard has hosted an in-person version of BlizzCon, its fan convention, but it sounds like that's going to change in 2023. The company, known for huge franchises like World of Warcraft and Diablo, is "committed to bringing back BlizzCon in 2023," Blizzard boss Mike Ybarra told the Los Angeles Times.

"We previously announced we're taking a pause on BlizzCon while we reimagine it for the future but do want to return to a live event that enables us to celebrate the community," Ybarra said. "We recently hired a new leader of BlizzCon, April McKee, who is hard at work on that plan. … We are committed to bringing bac …

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Activision Blizzard investigated Activision Blizzard and found Activision Blizzard didn’t do anything wrong

2022-06-16T16:48:23-04:00

Amid all the news on Overwatch 2 and Diablo Immortal, Activision Blizzard has filed a document with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in which it affirms that, after an internal investigation, it concluded its own board did not fail to act when presented with allegations of harassment.

"Contrary to many of the allegations, the board and its external advisors have determined that there is no evidence to suggest that Activision Blizzard senior executives ever intentionally ignored or attempted to downplay the instances of gender harassment that occurred and were reported," Activision Blizzard wrote in the filing.

The report does ackn …

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Activision Blizzard will begin negotiations with QA testers union at Raven Software

2022-06-10T12:56:51-04:00

After Activision Blizzard refused to voluntarily recognize the union formed by QA testers at Raven Software - a subsidiary that works on the Call of Duty games - the testers went through the election process and voted to form a union last month. Now, Activision Blizzard's current CEO Bobby Kotick told employees in a letter that the company recognizes the union and will "engage in good faith negotiations to enter into a collective bargaining agreement."

Getting here comes after news of layoffs late last year, followed by an employee walkout and a five-week strike. There was also the part where Activision Blizzard engaged in tactics that smel …

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