Activision Blizzard Hit With New Harassment And Discrimination Lawsuit

700 incidents??? Yikes. Hopefully, their acquisition by Microsoft will lead to better management and a better environment overall.

700!?

Dear LORD this company is awful.

Just when i thought things are calming down , could this acquisition turn out to be a mistake down the line?

@Ultrasmiles the reason it occurred in the first place was it was Activision's only way out. It is how Kotick could get his big payday and get out - then MS will keep people around for a year or so and then start making big cuts into staff. An old method method of creating a new culture and harvesting IPs. They will do it slow in this case so no one will notice.

I will say - as a former employee of MS - it seems like a much better place to work than Blizzard. MUCH better. They recognize talent, pay well and aren't constantly trying to molest you or making fun of your race, creed, sex or whatever. Blizzard does none of these things unless you were fortunate enough to get into the boy's club early on.

I suspect there is enough money flying around here, you know like the amount an english prince might have, so don't expect to see this go to court.

@StarPoint Microsoft ain't perfect either —https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/01/13/microsoft-sexual-harassment-policy-review/ — resisting outside review of their policy isn't a great look, but they're leagues above Activision Blizzard.

700, how do you let 700 of anything keep happening, let alone REPORTED harassment incidents. How many incidents went unreported?

@Fizza why should it? Don't they pay their employees <$50,000? In Irvine, CA that is the equivalent of a central american peasant who works for another central american peasant: extremely poor. You aren't going to get any loyalty by paying people that low - and on top of them constantly harassing them and making them work 80 hours a week. Nor should they. I have trouble understanding how anyone can suit up, and go into these offices on the daily. I'd suffer severe depression knowing I was being taken advantage of - and then being actively hated afterwards.

Well I wouldn't suffer - because I was blessed with good enough sense to immediately walk out of a situation like that. These are educated people with a highly desired skill. But they are being abused because of their dream of putting out more WoW cash shop items I guess.

Thanks for reporting on this fellas. It isn't pretty, and it isn't fun, but it's important for us to be aware and be kept aware of it. As aware as I imagine Kotick was that these incidents were happening under his watch.

Brave to leave the comments open though, best of luck with that...

@Bret Oh yeah, I'm sure that many other companies are guilty of this kind of treatment as well. But you have to TRY to be as bad as Blizzard.

@StarPoint Seriously, it's like they've made it a point to be as awful as possible.

Perhaps time to just completely blacklist them. Why even report on their games? The bosses will walk off with their massive payouts instead of facing any consequences.

@nessisonett the entire industry - every publisher - would be better off if everyone forgot about Activision. Seriously, even without the constant breaking of the law think about how much worse gaming is because of them. Before EA and ATVI rose up the hobby was much more simple and pure. Damn Infinity Ward for being such a good developer and taking that money.

Please tell me Phil Spencer will fire Kotick.

@HankScorpio He will not - it is contractual. I believe it is 18-24 months. Every major purchase has a transition phase where the former CEO gets a sweetheart advisor role where they get paid ridiculous amounts of money and do nothing.

Normally this is to keep the good people around during the transition but in this case - everyone hates Bobby (except Wall Street).
Then he will say he is moving on to another project or another blah blah blah.

@BenjyK I dunno, when I was still playing Overwatch, they outright ignored racist slurs and targeted homophobia even if you reported them.

Jesus dude, this whole situation is straight up cartoonish. Completely absurd and over-the-top, something you would think is only possible in an edgy Adult Swim show with low ratings and impending cancellation.

@nessisonett Because there are people interested in their games? Personaly I only care about Crash and Spyro, but Activision and Blizzard still have very popular IPs.

The worse part of all this is that one of the main guys that helped create this culture in the company will go out into the sunset with a check for millions of dollars, not giving a damn of the damage he has done and probably go to another company to do exactly the same.

@Tobiaku And some people are interested in The Cosby Show and Jim’ll Fix It. There’s a clear line with media associated with serial abusers.

@nessisonett You asked why even report on their games, I just gave a possible answer, popularity.

Absolute scum. I can only hope that Kotick does care about his legacy and reputation, and now has to spend the rest of his days writhing in the knowledge that the industry in which he made his name thinks he’s a vile, evil little toad man.

@MostHandsieBoy Microsoft has said they'll be showing Kotick the door once the acquisition is complete.

700 incidents??? That’s a lot

@nessisonett

Overwatch mostly works on automated systems for harsssment reports, same as any other large game these days. The human element only exists for developing new anticheat.

Xbox confirmed he was staying in role no?

@StarPoint Seeing this, is it even possible to not get better?

@MostHandsieBoy I'm sure that there are clauses in his contract that demand both good behavior and good work ethic. If he's not living up to his end of the contract, that's grounds for termination. Especially with something like this.

@JeanPaul Small price to pay for salvation.

Pressure to drink alcohol? I got that from my faculty during my PhD program. And groping has been defined as hugs and handshakes in some suits. So ... I feel like, and I know this is rare, but I feel like it's possible lawyers are capitalizing on blood in the water.

Cuz, as a lot of people are saying, 700 of anything seems impossible... but no one else seems to be considering that maybe it isn't true?

Now, I'm willing to bet there was some signficant amount of wrong-doing. But I like to hear all sides of a story before condemning and entire company. Get rid of Kotick? Fine. But the entire company?

And I people will say, "Chocobo, we've seen dozens of articles like this over several years. How can you not believe them?" Well, because I know how media works and because I feel believing something is not an all-or-nothing proposition. There can be wrong-doing AND it can be exaggerated. That's all I'm saying.

Activision: Gets hit with a massive lawsuit regarding sexual harassment of employees.

Bobby Kotick: Uh oh. Anyways

If consoles start dropping Activision / Blizzard games off of their roster will that have an affect on my copies of Diablo 2&3 as they need to be connected to battle.net to "work" properly

@BloodNinja i could be wrong but I believe it was the opposite - that he couldn't be touched for any perceived past transgressions.

@Bret It will cost MS a reported, from the SEC, $15M if they choose that route. Straight to Kotick's wallet.

@MostHandsieBoy Ugggghhhh. So they're just saying it to sate the pissed off fools who don't know any better (like me)

@Bret Yes. Kotick is not going anywhere. Part of the deal was that he leaves on his own terms. He has stated in interviews there will be a next chapter, etc - so he will demand a chance to repair his image.

From what I understand it isn't Kotick himself who is doing all of the awful things - he simply ignored them all. Which is kind of the same thing.

The plan is for MS to divest from Kotick and for him to spend a year or so repairing the image. Wall Street loves him - he'll land another project or job quickly. Bobby could not care less what grunts or gamers think - he holds them at arm's length and with complete disdain - shown by his years at the helm.

But...and this is true...he was enabled by the same gamers who pretend to abhor all of this. We've known about all of this for a half decade at least - but people still make excuses to buy all of their stuff. And the employees stick around too. I think Kotick has a deep understanding of that - he understands his audience - all meaningless bluster with no action.

Can't really take any of this seriously. I've heard people refer to regular compliments as sexual harassment. If anyone is a victim of actual sexual abuse or harassment they should take it to the authorities. But these days being a victim has become a virtue which everyone seems to pursue.

Activision sucks anyway.

@Bearzilla823 there has never been any indication that any company wishes to take Activision off their platform. Nor will they.

@Chocobo_Shepherd If you got pressure from your faculty to drink alcohol during your PhD that doesn't mean that others are not in the wrong for doing it, it means those people were in the wrong for doing it to you. There are lots of reasons someone might not want to drink alcohol and it's to be respected. Unless your job is an alcoholic beverage tester or maybe working in a bar/pub, you should not have to drink alcohol.

Handshakes are not considered groping and hugs are not groping but can be sexual assault and inappropriate behaviour if unsolicited or done in certain ways. Any cases where they were are either outliers being presented as a strawman or cases where the reality is much more complicated that what is being reported, such as using a handshake to pull someone in close or a hug where the hands ventured way too low etc.

And I can 100% believe the 700 number, yeah the media likes to misrepresent and to exaggerate, but more often than not it's to deflect away from or protect the other billionaires. According to Google, Activision has approximately 9,800 employees last year and Kotick has been there 30 years. I wouldn't be surprised if he had 700 cases against himself, let alone 700 in a workplace he ran for that long and encouraged this sort of behaviour in. Have you read about the "cube crawls" they used to perform? going around office cubes, drinking, forcing others to drink, saying inappropriate things and accosting women? There are multiple accounts of this happening not infrequently. A company where the higher ups were encouraged to drunkenly go around the office and abuse people is not a company I'm surprised to hear has 700 sexual harassment cases against them. I'm surprised it's so low.

Lol if anyone thinks Kotick will be fired or face any real consequences past his reputation within the industry, which a majority of video game players in the world won't know or won't care about. He'll get his golden parachute and rest comfortably the rest of his life. It sucks, but that's the world and it won't change soon unless a concentrated effort is made from the ground up. This isn't exclusive to the video game world. Kotick is just a symptom of a larger problem and yet people always go after him and posit that he's the source of all evil. If only life were that simple.

@MostHandsieBoy I can't imagine such a stipulation would exist in a contract. Nobody is above the law, even though some act like they are.

There should be greater criminal liability for executives that allow this kind of culture at their companies. Treat individual cases of harassment as you would: disciplinary, firing, civil cases, etc. But if you let this culture of harassment fester in your company, doing nothing about the reports and putting your employees in danger, you should be sent to prison.

Absolutely disgusting.

You know how they used to have boys and girls schools. Time to segregate departments.

@BloodNinja sure if he broke the law - but there isn't any indication he has.

HR: Sir, we have had complaints the several of our staff has made com...
Bobby: I don't care. You handle it. Is Call of Duty on schedule?

No laws broken.

@MostHandsieBoy Leadership is responsible if laws are broken under their watch. He is legally obliged to offer protection to his employees. If he does not, he broke labor code. Read up on this stuff; it will help you in your own employment to know what protections are offered to you as an employee.

@nessisonett I don't remember it being like that tbh but it's definitely not like that now and a simple Google search or troll through Reddit with show a whole bunch of people banned for abusive behaviour.

I'm going to classify this under... not surprised. Disgusted and not surprised. Activision has always kinda rubbed me the wrong way and I'm kinda glad I've not bought an Activision game since the 360 Generation.

@BloodNinja okee-dokie. Let's seeif Bobby Kotick goes to prison then. Or if Bobby even goes to court. It will be like an experiment. Except the outcome is already known.

@Ogbert I think my faculty was wrong for doing that. But my point in bringing it up is that there are shades of wrong. And these shades don't require lawyers. Cube Crawls are probably seen as positive team building by a lot of people. I know so many female co-workers who can't stop talking about wine during work and wishing they could have some on the clock. So, it's complicated.

@MostHandsieBoy if there's something I have learned these last years, is that if you have enough money and contacts, you can get away with anything, anytime. So yeah, sadly, I can already tell what his outcome will be.

I thought they got rid of the guy. Why he still there and score 700 more harassment points?

@Specter_of-the_OLED get rid of the guy? he brokered a deal which made him more wealthy, more famous. the only one who will be dealt with - eventually - are these 700 people give or take a few 100(0).

@JeanPaul there are not even the faintest rumblings of Bobby Kotick getting in any trouble over anything - for this. Now the real thing that might land him hot water is insider trading. One of his best buds, Wall Street titan Barry Diller among others, made many millions of dollars for a convenient trade he made within a month of this deal going through. Really lucky he called it. They are being investigated by the SEC rn.

If anything, that is where Kotick needs to worry. But the people involved are quite wealthy; quite powerful.

@Tobiaku if Activision went under those IP's could end up going to a good publisher

@Bret Microsoft haven't said that they're going to fire him it's all speculation until the deals done

“Microsoft is perhaps going the furthest to change the way things work at the company” by hiring a bunch of astroturfers and lobbying lawmakers to fuhgeddaboudit? Look at Deshaun Watson today, over 20 allegations that are much much worse than verbal harassment but the NFL sweeps that under the rug using the numerous media outlets they have firm control over and now he gets to enjoy a quarter billion dollar contract.

@Would_you_kindly https://www.wsj.com/articles/microsoft-to-buy-activision-blizzard-games-11642512435/ apparently the report that he'd be leaving is according to "people familiar with the plans". Grrrgghh.

@Z-Core Lets burn them to the ground

If more than a few (if any) of these accusations are true I’d be shocked. Haven’t read through all the allegations though, so some may be true that are literally nothingburgers. Can’t blame everyone for jumping on the bandwagon when there’s free money to be had, especially when dealing with a big corp, but still a sad state of affairs, what’s the solution? Make it a 100% female company? Segregation? Dress codes ?

@MostHandsieBoy Weird hill to die on, but you do you mate.

I will buy activision/microsoft games the same way....because i love it, but i will never work in Activision LOL

@Tecton217 and @Zuljaras A vast majority are probably accurate. On average, the number of false accusations of sexual misconduct tends to be around 5.9% nationally. That may seem high, but we have to remember that most sexual harassment, assault and even rape cases are vastly under-reported to the police, around 35% (this is an even higher number among men due to fears of emasculation and societal standards). If we're being fair statistically, 40 of these cases are probably false accusations. That still means about 660 of these 700 cases are probably true... that is a disturbingly high number.

@Wexter If those statistics you cited are true, I agree, it is highly disturbing and appalling, almost unthinkable. I would personally estimate false accusation rate at minimum around 80-90%, but that’s just my opinion, I just don’t have faith in most statistics. Hope I’m wrong.

Funny how the video game media turns a blind eye to Sony and naughty dogs sexual harrassment and racists lawsuits and traating their workers poorly. There is no difference, Sony is just as bad as blizzard.

@Tecton217 Considering these statistics are taken from police departments all over the US... they are accurate. I can tell you right now as someone who volunteers with victims of sexual misconduct a lot of people do not report their cases due to fears of being labelled as a "false accuser" having to prove a "he said she said" case in court or even just don't want to deal with the lack of support from their local communities (this is especially true with male victims). 80-90% is extremely high and I can tell you right now the highest percentage of false accusations is estimated to be 10%. That is an unfortunately high number probably influenced by the number of people who do not report. But, it is that 10% that probably creates the perception you have. Most victims don't want to proclaim it happened to them and just want to get on with their lives as reliving that event through retelling it can trigger emotional distress, depression or even PTSD in extreme cases.

@Z-Core I fear it's only going to get worse from here.

@MostHandsieBoy It was just a question, in a day and age when everything gets cancelled. And honestly I would never say never. But thank you for you opinion and reply.

Where's cancel culture when you need it?

Cancel these suckers so they can't harm anymore people with their shameful practices

@EriXz Nah, they cancel conservatives, not sexual predators.

Why dont we let all the entry level, intern, bottom of the barrel, no business experience employees just run the companies instead? Clearly they know what's best and how things should be run to make money and make all employees happy.

With the outrage culture currently going on and the fact that this wasn't reported when we first heard about it, I don't know what to believe.

Good to see due process is alive and accusations are not the same as convictions in criminal or civil trials. Also thanks to tireless lawyers who give of their time to file these lawsuits only to help others and not collect any massive settlements. Finally thanks to the gullible commenters who actually believe all 700 claims are true. When you or family member are accused in future I am sure you will appreciate same reaction from others. Btw go watch the movie The Crucible to see how this story ends.

I quit playing their games last year, hopefully it helps.