Coca-Cola temporarily cans Overwatch League support amid discrimination lawsuit • Eurogamer.net

Coca-Cola is stepping back from its partnership with Activision Blizzard’s Overwatch League, amid a lawsuit by the state of California over a “frat boy” culture inside the company.

In a statement to The Washington Post, Coca-Cola said it was “aware of the allegations surrounding Activision Blizzard” and is “working with our partners at Blizzard as we take a step back for a moment to revisit future plans and programs”.

State Farm, one of the largest insurance providers in the United States, is also pulling back, stating it was “reevaluating our limited marketing relationship with the Overwatch League”. It has asked that “no advertisements run during the matches this weekend”.

Earlier this week, it was reported that T-Mobile had also appeared to pull out of both the Overwatch League and Call of Duty League, although T-Mobile has not responded to requests for comment by various other publications.

The lawsuit has also had ramifications internally, with Blizzard president J. Allen Brack announced as leaving the company on Tuesday alongside head of HR, Jesse Meschuk.

In the meantime, company boss Bobby Kotick has insisted Activision Blizzard “will be the company that sets the example for this in our industry” during a financial call aimed at the investor community, though a coalition of workers from across multiple Activision Blizzard studios has criticised the decision to hire WilmerHale, the same law firm helping Amazon keep its workers from unionising, to review the company.