The Activision Blizzard lawsuit: All the headlines

Content warning: The following article discusses sexual harassment, sexual abuse and suicide.

Last week, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard for “violations of the state’s civil rights and equal pay laws” pertaining to its treatment of women.

The lawsuit is the result of a two-year investigation into the company, and has sparked an industry-wide call for those in power to significantly improve working conditions for women and marginalised groups in the games industry.

You can find all of the biggest stories concerning the lawsuit in our newsfeed, and we will be keeping track of developments as they happen in a dedicated article.

Lawsuit filed against Activision Blizzard, company calls case “distorted” and “inaccurate”

The lawsuit, which emerged on July 22nd, describes Activision Blizzard as a “breeding ground for harassment and discrimination against women.”

It also alleges a “frat boy culture” at the company, where women have to “continually fend off unwanted sexual comments and advances by their male co-workers”, and are subjected to “being groped” during “cube crawls”, an activity that sees male employees get drunk and harass women in the office.

The document also highlights a pay gap across multiple roles at the company. It alleges that women at Activision Blizzard need to “work harder and longer” to afford the same opportunities as male employees in the same roles.

“The DFEH includes distorted, and in many cases false, descriptions of Blizzard’s past,” they said. “We have been extremely cooperative with the DFEH throughout their investigation, including providing them with extensive data and ample documentation, but they refused to inform us what issues they perceived. They were required by law to adequately investigate and to have good faith discussions with us to better understand and to resolve any claims or concerns before going to litigation, but they failed to do so.”

Bungie speaks out against toxic studio cultures following Activision lawsuit

Destiny maker Bungie made a statement regarding the lawsuit, as well as its own internal efforts to counteract harassment. The studio, formerly a partner of Activision, admitted that some employees have reported experiences of harassment, but the firm said it does what it can to “push back on a persistent culture of harassment, abuse, and inequality that exists in our industry.”

“It’s our responsibility to ensure this type of behaviour is not tolerated at Bungie at any level, and that we never excuse it or sweep it under the rug,” the company said via Twitter. “While the accounts in this week’s news are difficult to read, we hope they will lead to justice, awareness and accountability.”

Gaming outlets halt Activision Blizzard coverage

Following the lawsuit, several gaming outlets pledged to stop covering and promoting Activision Blizzard titles until changes are made.

The Gamer editor-in-chief Kirk McKeand shared his decision to do so via Twitter, writing, “we’re going to stop covering Activision and Blizzard games until there’s some real change and this gaslighting bollocks ends. We’ll cover the ongoing news regarding the current story but we won’t be covering the games.”

The Gamer was soon followed by Prima Games — which also extended its coverage decision to Ubisoft — and YouTube channel GameXplain.

Blizzard president addresses harassment, discrimination lawsuit

J. Allen Brack acknowledged the “extremely troubling” hurt of employees and allegations detailed in the lawsuit in a memo sent to staff. Brack’s internal message was a notable contrast to the original external response from Activision Blizzard.

He added: “While I can’t comment on the specifics of the case as it’s an open investigation, what I can say is that the behavior detailed in the allegations is completely unacceptable.”

Former Activision Blizzard execs apologise for “failing” women

Blizzard co-founder, former president and CEO Mike Morhaime and former VP of story and franchise development Chris Metzen both released statements addressing the lawsuit.

Morhaime apologised for “failing” women during his 28-year tenure at Blizzard, and said he is “ashamed” of the behaviour alleged in the document.

Metzen, who retired in 2016, also offered apologies “for the part I played in a culture that fostered harassment, inequality, and indifference.”

Activision Blizzard employees reveal plans to walkout

On July 27th, staff at Blizzard’s campus in Irvine, California took part in a walkout to protest against the company’s leadership.

Employees released an official statement of demands for the strike, and also encouraged anyone wanting to support from afar to donate to a chosen list of initiatives.

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick details action to address issues raised by lawsuit

Days after the lawsuit emerged, CEO Bobby Kotick issued a statement saying that law firm WilmerHale will be reviewing Blizzard’s policies and procedures to ensure they “promote a respectful and inclusive workplace.”

He also shared a list of actions that the company will be taking to improve, effective immediately. This included a review process of “managers and leaders” across the company, and “listening sessions” so that staff can share ideas on how the workplace culture can be improved.

World of Warcraft team promises changes following Activision Blizzard lawsuit

Developers behind the game made their own statement regarding the situation at the firm — pledging to make additional changes both in and out of the title.

The team did not provide specific details on what would be removed from the game, but fans have recently called for the removal of an NPC named after former WoW senior creative director Alex Afrasiabi, who was named in the lawsuit for allegedly harassing women during his time at the company.

WoW senior system designer Jeff Hamilton also said via Twitter that “almost no work is being done on World of Warcraft right now while this obscenity plays out.”

Shareholder rights law firm investigating Activision Blizzard

Shareholder rights law firm Robbins LLP has launched an investigation into Activision Blizzard, with concerns that certain directors and officers at the firm have violated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and breached their fiduciary duties to the company.

Over 3,800 current and former Activision Blizzard staff decry response to lawsuit

Former and current staff of the company signed an open letter condemning the company’s reaction to the lawsuit, which called Activision Blizzard’s response “abhorrent and insulting to all that we believe our company should stand for.”

The letter called for Activision Blizzard to recognise the “seriousness” of the accusations and “demonstrate compassion for victims of harassment and assault.”

Activision Blizzard staff respond to Bobby Kotick statement

Staff at Activision Blizzard criticised Bobby Kotick’s attempts to address concerns at the company, saying that his original email “fails to address critical elements at the heart of employee concerns.”

The employee statement specifically details the areas that Kotick’s statement appeared to not address, and added, “this is the beginning of an enduring movement in favour of better labour conditions for all employees, especially women, in particular women of colour, transgender women, nonbinary people, and other marginalised groups.”

Ubisoft staff back Activision Blizzard protestors, call for industry-wide change

Current and former Ubisoft employees have shared their own open letter addressed to the company’s management team — including CEO Yves Guillemot — as well as Activision Blizzard workers.

The letter expressed solidarity with the workers at Activision, while calling for an industry-wide collaboration on improving how harassment is handled. Over 500 people have signed the letter as of writing; signatories include employees from 32 Ubisoft studios.

Activision Blizzard confirms former WoW creative director was fired over misconduct

The company confirmed Alex Afrasiabi’s dismissal last year over “misconduct in his treatment of other employees.”

Afrasiabi was named in the lawsuit over his alleged behaviour towards women at Blizzard — the document reporting that he was “so known to engage in harassment of females that his suite was nicknamed the ‘Cosby Suite’ after alleged rapist Bill Cosby.”

Kotaku has run an extensive report on the ‘Cosby Suite’ — Afrasiabi’s hotel room during BlizzCon 2013 — and the alleged misconduct that took place there.

Fan site WoWhead has also confirmed that in-game references to Afrasiabi have been taken out of World of Warcraft following fan calls to have them removed.