On August 3, Bobby Kotick, the boss of Activision Blizzard, is forced to a balancing act. In a press release unveiling the group’s quarterly financial results, he declared himself ” satisfied “ of this report “Solid”. However, it is difficult for him to delude himself. The company is in a very bad patch: management has been accused for two weeks of having allowed discrimination to persist and fostered a culture of sexual harassment in this group of nearly 10,000 employees.
During this communication on the economic health of the video game giant, Bobby Kotick is content to promise that Activision Blizzard will remain “Intensely focused on the well-being of its employees”. But, a few hours earlier, the publisher announced the departure of J. Allen Brack, veteran and president of the Blizzard studio. Jesse Meschuk, one of the latter’s human resources managers, has also stepped down, the company said.
These departures of executives at the top of the studio are the consequences of two weeks which shook the American group comprising Activision (the publisher of Call of Duty, Tony hawk’s and Crash Bandicoot), Blizzard Entertainment (creator of Diablo, World of warcraft and Overwatch) and other studios like King, the developer of the lucrative mobile game candy Crush.
The trigger
The spark came from a lawsuit, filed July 20 in a California court by the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH), a state agency in California, the culmination of a two-year investigation into the practices of Activision Blizzard . The twenty-page document details both systemic discriminatory practices and unpunished acts of sexual harassment.
The publisher, who employs only 20% women, is accused of treating these employees less well than their male colleagues at all stages of their careers – from starting salary to requests for promotion -, the complaint also pointing to the fact that the highest roles in the hierarchy are overwhelmingly occupied by men. Activision Blizzard “Promotes women more slowly and fires them faster than their male counterparts”, considers the document, which multiplies the examples of discrimination.
The complaint details, for example, the case of a Blizzard employee who, despite very good results, was refused a promotion, finally obtained by a colleague with closer relations with the hierarchy:
Likewise, other Blizzard Entertainment employees were assigned lower roles in the hierarchy, were denied equal pay, and their requests for promotion were delayed or denied, in favor of male counterparts who did not. did not have as much experience or qualifications but were friends with the man in charge of the service. “
According to the DFEH, this discrimination is particularly significant for pregnant women or non-white employees. The document accuses, for example, line managers of having produced negative evaluations of employees while they were on maternity leave.
But the complaint filed by the California agency also accuses the publisher of having fostered a culture conducive to sexual harassment. “The employees almost all confirmed that working for [Activision Blizzard] was like working in a fraternity house ” – the fraternities are university brotherhoods often associated with macho and immature behavior.
“Women were subject to many sexual advances and comments”, as well as “Unsolicited physical contact”, points in particular the complaint. The DFEH believes that this problem was often known to the hierarchy, which, according to it, failed to take adequate measures against the perpetrators of harassment. More seriously, according to the document, several women who had complained to human resources of discrimination or harassment “Suffered reprisals”, such as, for example, job transfers, end of contract or “Rejected projects”.
The group’s reaction criticized
If the complaint made a lot of noise when it was disclosed, it is the immediate reaction of Activision Blizzard which completes the fire. In a first official statement sent to the press on July 22, the publisher claims to have cooperated with the DFEH throughout the investigation, but according to him the present complaint “Distorted, and in many cases false, descriptions of Blizzard’s past”, and he strongly contests the investigation carried out. “The image painted by the DFEH is not the workplace that Blizzard is today”, adds the editor, and this while in its complaint the agency explicitly declared that certain practices denounced were still in place at the time when the investigation was concluded.
Another reaction made some employees jump, that of Frances F. Townsend, a senior executive of the group, who denounces a complaint “Baseless and irresponsible”, including “Old stories taken out of context and factually incorrect”.
Monday, July 26, the sling then begins, with an open letter intended for the management of Activision Blizzard by a thousand employees – as well as former employees of the group – denouncing an inappropriate reaction:
“We are calling for official statements that recognize the severity of the accusations and show compassion for the victims of assault and harassment. “
On July 28, approximately 200 employees gather to protest outside the Activision Blizzard offices in Irvine, California. They publish a list of demands, call for a careful audit of the management of the company, for greater transparency concerning the salary policy and the allocation of promotions, etc. Bobby Kotick sends a letter to all employees of the group, acknowledging that the company’s initial reaction was “Inappropriate” and announcing a series of immediate measures, including an assessment of managers at different levels of the hierarchy. Insufficient for the demonstrators, who believe that these announcements do not respond to their concerns.
Change of Presidency for Blizzard
The departure of now ex-president of Blizzard, J. Allen Brack, comes a week after this employee mobilization. He was personally cited in the complaint of the DFEH, accused of having sent simple blame to a manager accused of sexual harassment on multiple occasions. He assured on leaving office that his successors “Will accelerate the pace of change” within the company.
Activision now relies on a mixed tandem to take up Blizzard: Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra, two executives who arrived in the company in January 2021 and November 2019 respectively. The duo will have to restore the image of the thirty-year-old studio with players and investors. Barely named on August 3, Jen Oneal tried to reassure by praising the progress made by the development teams regarding the sequel to the online multiplayer shooter Overwatch and upcoming titles in the role-playing and action game franchise Diablo – including a remake of the second episode is expected on September 23, a mobile title (Diablo Immortal) in the finalization phase should be released in early 2022 and a fourth episode is in development.
Despite this communication on highly anticipated productions, then the publication of the group’s financial performance, Activision Blizzard found itself sued by shareholders on August 3. Class action launched in California Central District Federal Court: plaintiffs accuse management of issuing statements “Fallacious and deceptive”. They reproach him in particular for not having communicated on the DFEH investigation before the publication of the complaint and consider that the course of his action was “Artificially inflated”. They therefore feel financially wronged.
Another project within the group: responding to the concerns of employees. An organization called the ABK Workers Alliance (for Activision Blizzard King) now brings together employees mobilized during the protests. They continue to make their voices heard in front of management. In a press release published on August 3, they contest in particular the choice, to carry out an external audit of the group’s practices, of WilmerHale, the deeming hostile to trade union movements and too close to management.
Today, these employees wish to extend their demands beyond the Activision Blizzard group, one of the most powerful in video games, in order to make it a watchword for the entire sector. For two weeks, acts of support from employees of other studios, such as Ubisoft Where Riot Games, were also the occasion to recall that the facts here reproached are not an isolated case in the video game industry.