Bad times continue

 

The awful story of Activision-Blizzard continues.

I wrote about the sexual harassment, discrimination, frat boy attitudes, on the job drinking etc. two weeks ago, and I'm not going to repeat it here.

In the weeks since a lot has happened. The CEO of Activision-Blizzard, Bobby Kotick released a statement condemning such behavior and vowed that anyone doing so would be fired, even executives. (We'll see if that holds true). He also hired a law firm to act as a third party watchdog that employees can approach safely with such problems. The problem is however that the firm in question is WilmerHale, a company famous for union busting. So, the employees have protested that choice in no uncertain terms, particularly since there has been a lot of talk of unionizing.

Blizzard president J. Allen Brack has left the company. One can only assume that “left” means “get lost before we have to fire you without benefits”. As the man in charge, it is obvious that this whole mess falls on his shoulders so it is possible that he is getting out of Dodge while he still can. Either way, it is no loss. He's being replaced by Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra as co-leaders of the company. Jesse Meschuk the SVP and senior people officer has also left Blizzard.

Several high profile sponsors have pulled out of the Esports leagues for both Overwatch and Call of Duty. Such sponsors include T-Mobile, Kellog's, State Farm and Coca-Cola. The last one is a bit funny as Kotick is also on the Coca-Cola board.The company has other sponsors who haven't pulled out yet, but time will tell if they also jump ship if for no other reason than to not have their brands associated with such reprehensible behavior.

As if it isn't bad enough that they are being sued by the State of California, Activision-Blizzard is also being sued by their own investors for failing to disclose that the state investigation was taking place. Since the investigation has being going on for the better part of two years, it's kind of hard to try to claim they forgot... I for one am looking forward to the fallout from this.

Twice now, there has been a group of investors who have tried to deny Kotick his ludicrous $100 million bonuses, but they have failed. Failed so far, that is. I can't imagine there is a single investor who is happy with the entire board of Activision-Blizzard right now. Lying to employees is one thing. Lying to customers is another, but lying to the investors is illegal and stupid. Some big heads may yet roll for this.

There is more to this story, so much more but I'm running out of time. Check out these articles if you want to know more:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-08-06/activision-blizzard-atvi-news-culture-of-misbehavior-festered-before-lawsuit

https://www.polygon.com/22613315/overwatch-league-sponsor-kelloggs-pulls-ads-activision-blizzard-lawsuit

That's that and all that. Join me again next time, and until then, have a great and safe week!

A bad time for everyone

 

Well, the you-know-what has hit the fan.

The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing is suing Activision-Blizzard for to quote BBC News “unequal pay, promoting men over women, and widespread sexual harassment”.

This story has exploded all over the internet, and I'll link a few articles below. In a nutshell, women at Blizzard have been sexually harassed, they have been refused promotion because “You could get pregnant”, they have been saddled with extra work some of their male colleagues were supposed to do, but they were too busy playing games or drinking to do it. They have also been subject to tighter scrutiny while asking for time off, something their male colleagues seemed to just get.

Some of these male employees have also been cubicle crawling (as in pub crawl) where they apparently drink heavily at work and go from cubicle to cubicle behaving like swine. There is even a suicide linked to this, but I don't even want to type out what led to that.

The list goes on, and it is at best a long term case of extremely unprofessional behavior, or as seems to be more likely, a widespread culture of harassment, abuse, intimidation and discrimination. You can read more yourself if you want to know more.

For me personally, I am disgusted, plain and simple. In situations like these it is always difficult to discern who is being 100% honest, who is embellishing a little, and who is outright lying, on both sides of the fence. Seeing that this is such a sensitive case, I have no choice but to believe the accusers. In response, I have canceled my World of Warcraft account, at least until the case is over and done with, and it's pissing me off. I wasn't done playing this lovely game, but I don't want my money to go towards someone who's more interested in getting wasted at work and harassing women, instead of working. If the situation is rectified I'll be happy to subscribe again, but as it stands, I'm out. This doesn't mean others can't keep playing, however. A choice like this has to be personal and it is not okay to give anyone a hard time for choosing to play. A game like WoW means many things to many people and some might only get through the day because they know that they can play when they get home.

This disaster also goes, in my opinion, a long way towards explaining the lackluster quality of recent WoW content. If people are too stressed, to distracted or just too plain drunk to do any work, then it's no wonder the game is going slowly down the drain. Don't get me wrong, I still love WoW, but the latest content has been extremely weak, and since some employees brag about being hung over at work, it is no wonder.

Time will tell what kind of ramifications this will have. The company's response so far seems to have been a case of “This may have been true once, but it isn't any more, and your mean for suing us” (my phrasing obviously). Meanwhile former Blizzard President and CEO Mike Morhaime and former senior vice president of story and franchise development, Chris Metzen have publicly apologized for not seeing and stopping this from happening. Whether they are sincere or just covering their asses, I can't say. Blizzard's current President, J Allen Brack has circulated an email company wide claiming that he reveres Gloria Steinem and is against all forms of harassment and “bro-culture”. No one seems so far to believe a single word he wrote. After all, as the top man in the company it is his job to know what is going on and put a stop to things like this. The fact that he hasn't, pretty much indicates that he is either incompetent or okay with it.

We'll see what the investors think about this, especially if the company looses the lawsuit and gets slammed with a brutal fine. Either way time as always, will tell.

PCGamer articles:

https://www.pcgamer.com/activision-blizzard-lawsuit-alleges-discrimination-sexual-harassment-and-frat-boy-culture/

https://www.pcgamer.com/activision-blizzard-employees-denounce-corporate-statements-we-are-here-angry-and-not-so-easily-silenced/

BBC News article:

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-57929543

You can easily find more if you want, just Google it.

That's that and all that. I was hoping to have something more entertaining for you, but it is what it is. Please join me again next time, and until then, have a great and safe week!