Excessive alcohol consumption in the office during “cube’s crawl”, unwanted heavy advances, jokes about rape, wage discrimination and against pregnant women or minorities … The list of charges against the American video game giant Activision Blizzard is sadly long, and similar to those that targeted many studios in the sector, including Riot Games or Ubisoft. And after denouncing a “baseless” complaint filed by an agency of the State of California, the management of Activision Blizzard changed tone on Wednesday after the signing of an open letter by more than 2,000 employees and a call to strike.
“We will immediately assess the managers and directors of the company,” wrote Bobby Kotick in a letter sent to his employees, and of which AFP has obtained a copy. “Anyone who has interfered with the integrity of our process for assessing complaints and sanctions will be dismissed,” because, he assures, “there is no place in our company for discrimination, harassment or unequal treatment of any kind ”.
Suicide of an employee
The accusations mainly concern Blizzard and teams of World of warcraft. The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court by the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH), a California state agency responsible for investigating civil law cases.
It reports sexual harassment, ethnic discrimination and machismo against women who represent around 20% of the group’s employees. “Almost all female employees confirmed that working for (Activision) was like moving into a boys club “, And involving” invariably men drinking alcohol and subjecting women to sexual harassment without consequence for them “, it is described there. “Male employees proudly arrive at work drunk, play video games for long periods of time during their office hours and delegate their work to women,” the document explains.
The complaint also lists the dramatic suicide of an employee who had sex with an executive accused of circulating an intimate photo and bringing an anal plug on a business trip.
The “shame” of the former Blizzard boss
The Kotaku site also posted a photo of several employees partying in a hotel room dubbed the “Cosby Suite”, smiling while holding a photo of the actor convicted of sexual assault – who has since been released on technical grounds. .
Inside Blizzard developers’ infamous Bill ‘Cosby Suite’https://t.co/FqBA7VpPsG pic.twitter.com/4WoxyCcEs5
– Kotaku (@Kotaku) July 28, 2021
Mike Morhaime, co-founder and former CEO of Blizzard Entertainment, who founded an independent studio in 2018, published a letter on Saturday reaction to the complaint, saying he was “ashamed”. “I feel like everything I have always stood for has been swept away. The fact that so many women have been abused and not supported means that we have not been up to the task ”. He speaks directly to the victims: “I hear you, I believe you and I am sorry I did not defend you”.