Everything that's happened since the Activision Blizzard lawsuit went public | PC Gamer - howealread
Everything that's happened since the Activision Rash case went public
Happening July 20th, California's Department of Fair Employment and Caparison filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard collecting "many complaints close to unlawful harassment, discrimination, and retaliation" at the fellowship. Employees the DFEH spoke to said Activision Blizzard has a "frat boy" civilisation that's been a "breeding ground for harassment and discrimination against women." In the calendar week since, more than 3,000 Activision Blizzard employees have signed an open letter to management speaking astir for victims and making a involve "official statements that recognize the seriousness of the allegations and demonstrate compassion for victims of harassment and ravishment."
Information technology's been a dramatic flow for Activision Blizzard, including a response plan from CEO Bobby Kotick and a turn stoppage away hundreds of employees. And this is just the beginning: Court proceedings are still pending and could hold up for months Beaver State age if the case goes to visitation.
Here's the latest from the Activision Blizzard argument, a timeline of events since the lawsuit was successful public—updated through November 16—and a lawyer's take on what might happen next.
The big stories right at present
The latest Activision Blizzard news
- November 16: Activision employees stage a walkout needy Bobby Kotick's surrender following a reputation with new allegations.
- November 2: Rash co-channelise Jen Oneal steps down just 3 months after attractive the job.
- October 28: Activision CEO Bobby Kotick announces a personal pay cut to $62,500 in total compensation for the yr.
- September 21: Overwatch 2 executive producer Chacko Sonny leaves Snowstorm.
Everything so far
The Activision Rash controversy timeline
Everything that's happened so far, starting with the most recent events.
Nov 16: A Wall Street Journal report is published including more inside information about harassment, discrimination, and intimidation within Activision. The report includes information about a CEO Bobby Kotick personally intervening in a sexed harassment investigation within the company. It also details an incident from 2006 in which Kotick successful a death threat to his assistant.
Activision Rash employees staged a walkout favourable the report. They possess also signed a prayer with over 700 signatures and enumeration demanding Kotick be removed.
November 2: Blizzard co-head Jen Oneal steps down just 3 months later on taking the job. IT was later revealed in November that Oneal was paid less than her co-lead Microphone Ybarra prior to resigning. She also reported to Activision Blizzard's statutory section that she had been sexually harassed at the companionship, expression "I have been tokenized, marginalized, and discriminated against."
October 28: Activision CEO Bobby Kotick announces a personal pay cut in absolute compensation to $62,500 for the year.
In a handout on the aforementioned day, Activision Blizzard addresses additive efforts towards employee demands including waiving mandatory arbitration for sexual harassment and discrimination claims. The publisher said it wants to increase the percentage of workers who identify as women or non-binary by 50%, in part by investing $250 million into game and tech diversity initiatives.
Sep 21: Activision Blizzard publishes a press release noble "Update connected workplace initiatives" that states "we continue to exploit in fresh faith with regulators to address and resolve past workplace issues, we also continue to move out front with our own initiatives to see that we are the precise best place to process. We remain affianced to addressing all work issues in a forthright and prompt manner."
Bloomberg also reports that "well-proud" Overwatch 2 administrator manufacturer Chacko Sonny told Rash developers he's leaving the company on Fri.
September 20: The Wall St. Daybook reports that the US Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating Activision Rash's handling of employee complaints of sexual misconduct and discrimination. The SEC has subpoenaed executives, including Chief executive officer Bobby Kotick. Activision Blizzard unchangeable to PC Gamer that "the U.S. Securities and Exchange Committee is conducting an investigation concerning the Company's disclosures regarding employment matters and related issues."
September 17: Blizzard's chief legal police officer departs the society after three years.
September 14: Activision Blizzard employees and an organization called the Communication Workers of United States file an unfair task exercise suit with the Political unit Labor Relations Board, alleging that Blizzard told employees they cannot talk about "wages, hours, and working conditions" or related to investigations, and also "vulnerable operating theater controlled employees happening news report of protected combined activenes."
August 26: After his namesake left the company, Blizzard decided to rename McCree in Overwatch. The decision came about a month after Blizzard announced plans to remove references to former creative director Alex Afrasiabi, WHO was directly named in the lawsuit. Snowstorm also betrothed to no yearner naming characters afterward realistic life mass. "We will comprise more than thoughtful and discerning about adding real life references in future Overwatch content," the developer said.
August 11: Three long-time members of Blizzard Entertainment leadership depart the company. Diablo 4 game director Joe Louis Barriga, chair level designer Jesse McCree, and World of Warcraft designer Jonathan LeCraft feature all compound with Blizzard, Activision confirms.
August 6: Bloomberg publishes a report revelation additional details near the "frat boy" forg culture and "rock-wizard" mentality ubiquitous throughout Blizzard's history after its success with World of Warcraft. Current and former employees divided stories including the current culture of drinking, hazing, and sexual torment. Accordant to the report, Activision's oversight only exacerbated issues with budget cuts, tight deadlines, and additive accentuate.
Tuesday, August 3: Blizzard president J. Woody Allen Brack leaves his position as head of the studio apartment. He's replaced by a pair of co-leaders, Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra. Oneal married Blizzard early in 2021 after v long time atomic number 3 the studio apartment head of Secondary Visions, which merged with Blizzard in January. Ybarra has served as Blizzard's executive vice president of political platform and technology since November 2019.
Bloomberg breaks the news that Blizzard's head of HR, Jesse Meschuk, is also no longer with the company.
Employees release a statement rejecting Activision Blizzard's choice of law firm, WilmerHale, to review its policies and procedures, stating that it "has a history of discouraging workers' rights and built action."
During Activision Blizzard's quarterly earnings call, CEO Bobby Kotick states at that place's no room for harassment at the company, locution "people will be held responsible for their actions." After the yell, Blizzard employees remonstrate on multiethnic media that Activision Rash has yet to acknowledge any of the demands put Forth before their walkout, along July 27.
Monday, Aug 2: T-Airborne branding is removed from the Overwatch Conference and Call of Duty League websites. There's no comment on whether the change relates to the suit.
Sunday, August 1: Activision Blizzard executive Fran Francis Everett Townsend causes more controversy by tweeting an clause titled "The Problem with Whistleblowing" and later blocking employees on Twitter.
Friday, July 30: Vice publishes an article roughly Blizzard recruiters at a 2015 hacker conference harassing a security system researcher who asked most a penetration testing (cybersecurity auditing) set back. "One of them asked me when was the last time I was personally penetrated, if I liked being penetrated, and how often I got penetrated," she same.
On the comparable day, Waypoint writes near an Activision Blizzard Information technology actor at the company's Minnesota office who installed spy cameras in the unisex bathroom. He pleaded guilt-ridden in 2018 to "interference with privacy."
IGN also publishes a report based on interviews with seven current and former employees who speak to a number of issues, including women being evaluated differently than men inside Blizzard and breastfeeding rooms non having locks, at one point. Indefinite employee characterized the society's attempts to fix its culture as "putting lipstick connected it."
Th, July 29: The Current York Times publishes an investigation into Activision Snowstorm with new public accounts of sexual harassment and discrimination. An employee who worked at the company from 2014 to 2017 aforementioned she was paid less than her young ma, who joined the company concurrently doing the Saami work, and that a manager messaged her on Facebook asking what kind of porn she watched.
Another womanhood, who joined Activision in 2011 as a vice president, said that an executive "pressured her to have it away with him because she 'deserved to have more or less fun' after her boyfriend had died weeks earlier."
Wednesday, July 28: Employees hold a walkout at Blizzard HQ, while others enter in the put to work stoppage remotely. Employees also answer to CEO Bobby Kotick's letter saying they are "pleased to see that our collective voices… have confident leading to change the tone of their communications," only that Kotick "fails to address critical elements at the heart of employee concerns." The response reiterates the foursome demands from Tues. "Today's walkout will demonstrate that this is not a one-time event that our leaders can ignore. We will not return to hush; we wish not be placated by the same processes that light-emitting diode us to this period," the letter says.
Game developers across the diligence share messages of solidarity with the walkout.
Kotaku publishes a report on Blizzard's "Cosby Rooms," a recurring convention party room that Afrasiabi and other employees texted about delivery "hot chixx" to. Greg Street, a former World of Warcraft lead systems room decorator and current VP of MMO R&D at Riot, who is seen in a pic, claims that the hotel room was "a green way at Blizzcon that many of us at the sentence secondhand to take a break and relax during the convention" and that "calefacient chixx" was a joke.
Activision Blizzard confirms to Kotaku that Alex Afrasiabi was terminated in 2020 "for his misconduct in his treatment of other employees."
Tuesday, July 27: The World of Warcraft team announces that it plans to remove references from WoW that are "not appropriate," likely including NPCs and items related to Alex Afrasiabi.
Employees state they plan to walk knocked out on Wednesday to protestation the companionship's reaction to the case. The open letter passes 3,000 signatories (Activision Blizzard has approximately 9,500 employees). The plans for the work arrest arrive with four demands:
- An end to mandatory arbitration in employee contracts
- More diverse recruiting and hiring practices
- Publishing of compensation data, promotion rates and remuneration ranges
- A company-wide of the mark Diversity, Equity & Inclusion undertaking force empowered to rent a third party company to inspect Activision Blizzard
Late Tuesday good afternoon, CEO Bobby Kotick writes a public notice to employees career the accompany's initial response "tone heedless," and says "We are taking western fence lizard action to be the pitying, caring company you came to work for and to control a safe environment. There is no place anyplace at our company for secernment, harassment, or nonequivalent treatment of any kind."
Kotick's letter announces direct steps to investigate claims, hold hearing sessions, make personnel changes, enforce divers hiring practices and change inappropriate in-spirited content.
"Anyone saved to have impeded the integrity of our processes for evaluating claims and stately appropriate consequences bequeath be terminated."
Monday, July 26: Activision holds an "all-hands" meeting that only has board for 500 staff. Executive Joshua Taub reportedly attempts to address the lawsuit, saying that in that location's "zero tolerance" for the behavior described in the lawsuit, and that Activision Blizzard works with employees and the accused to "work on a resolution." Taub also says that Fran Townsend's response "wasn't the right communication."
Much 1,000 current and former Activision Blizzard employees sign an open letter to management calling Townsend's financial statement "obscene and insulting to all that we believe our ship's company should support for." The employee argument continues "Our values equally employees are not accurately mirrored in the words and actions of our leading… Categorizing the claims that have been ready-made as 'ill-shapen, and in many cases false' creates a company atmosphere that disbelieves victims… Immediate department of corrections are required from the highest level of our organization."
The letter ends with a statement that the employees "stand with all our friends, teammates, and colleagues, as well every bit the members of our dedicated community, World Health Organization have experienced mistreatment Beaver State harassment of any gentle."
Signatures from current and former retain to roll in.
Saturday, July 24: Former Blizzard senior vice President Chris Metzen tweets a response to the lawsuit, opening with "We failed, and I'm sorry."
Friday July 23: Activision Rash chief compliancy officer Fran Townsend sends a very antithetic message to staff, calling the causa's depiction of AB "distorted and uneven" and that Activision Rash "genuinely values equality and loveliness." Townsend says that when she joined the executive leading team in March 2021 she was certain she "was joining a company where I would make up quantitative, treated with respect ,and provided opportunities up to those afforded to the men of the company." Townsend reiterates the initial response that the lawsuit's claims were inaccurate.
Blizzard co-founder and former president Mike Morhaime publishes "My thoughts," stating "I wanted to acknowledge the women who had awful experiences. I learn you, I believe you, and I am thus sorry to feature let you down."
A video from BlizzCon 2010 goes viral on Chirrup. During a WoW panel Q&A, a adult female asks about the possibility of less sexualized female characters. The panelists, including Alex Afrasiabi and now-chairwoman J. Allen Brack, laugh and make jokes in response.
Th, July 22: Blizzard president J. Allen Brack emails staff to enounce that the doings detailed in the suit is "completely objectionable." Activision chair Rob Kostich emails staff career the allegations "deeply distressing" and says that "we, as a company, carry all allegement seriously."
Wednesday, July 21: News breaks that the lawsuit has been filed. In a command sent to PC Gamer and other press outlets, an Activision Rash representative said that the causa includes "distorted, and in many cases false, descriptions of Blizzard's past" and that the DFEH was "required by law to adequately inquire and to have good faith discussions with us to better understand and to resolve some claims or concerns before going to judicial proceeding, but they unsuccessful to practise and so. Instead, they rushed to data file an inaccurate complaint, as we leave demonstrate in court."
Tuesday, July 20: Calif. Department of Beautiful Employment and Housing files a lawsuit against Activision Snowstorm alleging discrimination and sexual harassment against women in the workplace. The cause mentions "cube crawls" in which drunk virile employees subjected women to unwanted advances; a deficiency of women in leadership positions; unequal invite out women; and a lack of action from HR around many of these complaints. The suit also specifically calls out the actions of former WoW aged creative director Alex Afrasiabi, who was "permitted to engage in blatant sexual harassment with little to no repurcussions."
What happens next?
What should we expect from the lawsuit itself?
The Department of Fair Employment and Housing's lawsuit has started a public maelstrom for Activision, but a court hearing could be weeks or months off—if the case goes to a trial at each.
"I Don River't see either case as going to an actual trial," attorney Kellen Voyer tells PC Gamer, referring to the DFEH's case against Activision Blizzard besides every bit one it filed against Riot Games. "Typically the parties will settle out once the defendant has a better idea of the evidence being brought by the state and the durability of its pillow slip. The current negative iron out… is another reason wherefore the companies will not deficiency to devour a semipermanent, public run."
The DFEH's news page shows a number of settlements from the past three years to resolve discrimination and harassment cases, for sums ranging from $50,000 to $6.2 million. Voyer points out that a sexual harassment case brought by the body politic is stronger than a case from an individual, partially becasue information technology's open rather than clubby arbitration. (Ending mandatory arbitration in Activision Blizzard contracts is one of the demands listed by employees who participated in the July 28 work stoppage.)
Because the DFEH's investigation into Activision Blizzard must have been ongoing for some time, Voyer says the lawsuit is a way to publicly push Activision Snowstorm into a settlement. The DFEH filing does request a jury trial, simply this is standard practice and doesn't rule out the likely possibility of a settlement before trial begins.
"Activision Blizzard will fight tooth and nail to avoid [a trial] as I would expect a jury (especially in California) to come downfield hard on the company," Voyer says. " A settlement is likely in front it gets to that stage."
Departure aft a company As big atomic number 3 Activision Blizzard gives the DFEH a chance to make a public spectacle; even if it doesn't have strong enough evidence to push the company into a multi-million dollar settlement, it could have significant ramifications.
"To make an example of a company, even through the filing of the case and the negative PR that results for the company, will hopefully effectuate modify through intimidation: by putting companies on notice that there are real, embodied, ramifications for failing to address cyanogenetic culture," Voyer says.
It's still possible that this case goes to trial. If IT does, the DFEH will likely be pushing for big monetary penalties and for Activision Blizzard to open itself up to inadvertence as it enacts plans to repair its workplace issues.
If Snowstorm South Korean won at trial, it would likely energy for no monetary indemnification and, in Voyer's words, "the usual material, gross call of 'we will change and dress better.'"
Wes has been covering games and hardware for more than 10 years, first at tech sites like The Wirecutter and Tested before joining the PC Gamer team in 2014. Wes plays a little bit of everything, but atomic number 2'll always jump at the hazard to cover emulation and Japanese games. When he's not obsessively optimizing and re-optimizing a maze of conveyor belts in Satisfactory (information technology's really seemly a problem), he's in all probability playacting a 20-year-old RPG or some opaque ASCII roguelike. With a focus on writing and editing features, He seeks out personal stories and in-depth histories from the corners of PC gaming and its ecological niche communities. 50% pizza by volume (deeply dish, to be specific).
Source: https://www.pcgamer.com/activision-blizzard-lawsuit-controversy-timeline-explained/
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