Acti-Blizz Respond To Claims; Employees Still Unhappy

Warning: The following article may contain some content readers may find upsetting. We advise reader’s continue at their own discretion.

Well, I’d just expected to be recounting what happened, linking back to the articles I’d written before, and following that up with a piece about the more official response since those previous articles. However, news kept coming out. Just yesterday two major departures were announced and Activision-Blizzard’s CEO made a rather bold statement. In case you missed it by living under a rock, or rocking back and forth with your fingers in your ears, Activision-Blizzard is being sued by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing for discrimination and an entrenched abusive work environment. That environment led to a woman’s suicide and Activision-Blizzard playing victim afterward.

In short, it is not a good look for the company, as details on “Cube Crawls” came out. Male employees would grope female counterparts as they crawled from cubical to cubical. Furthermore, male employees would drink copiously at work or come in hungover, and talk sexually about women’s bodies. They would also delegate to female employees so they could play games and “joke” about assaulting female employees. This is before we get to the fact that female employees aren’t offered promotions as much, are fired/quit more often than male employees, and are given lower pay than male equivalents. One Black woman commented in the lawsuit, describing that she was to write up what she did on lunch breaks, which white and male employees did not have to do.

Following all these details and more, Activision-Blizzard’s response was not accepting of their share of the blame; A spokesperson for the company told Jason Schreier that the DFEH are “unaccountable State bureaucrats.” In the days following all of this, more than 2,000 employees (current and former) would sign an open letter making it clear what they thought of the response (or lack thereof) and the harassment faced by those the lawsuit is setting to aid. With little in the way of action/public statements by the company in the week following the lawsuit’s filing, employees set out last Wednesday to stage a walk-out. This is where we pick up from me last week, as in the hours before our article was published, Activision-Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick made a statement.

Throughout the surrounding community, Kotick is seen (to put it diplomatically) as quite an unpopular figure. Possibly the most common and public critic of Kotick is Jim Sterling, often with lengthy editorials depicting the CEO with devil’s horns. Many are often critical of recent his $150-million bonuses while previously employees stated they would skip meals to pay rent. In Kotick’s statement, he calls the initial response to Schreier, internal memos, and the general silence, “tone-deaf.” It feels important to highlight that this was following the announcement of the walk-out.

“It is imperative that we acknowledge all perspectives and experiences[,] and respect the feelings of those who have been mistreated in any way. I am sorry that we did not provide the right empathy and understanding,” said Kotick. He goes on to say, “We are taking swift action to be the compassionate, caring company you came to work for and to ensure a safe environment. There is no place anywhere at our company for discrimination, harassment, or unequal treatment of any kind.” Following the details of the lawsuit by the DFEH, it seems that he’s sorry the company was caught, as internal reviews were done on unequal pay by two companies prior.

He goes on to note that he’s asked a law firm, WilmerHale, to review Activision-Blizzard’s policies as they stand. In a letter IGN shared from a group called “A Better ABK,” they reject the choice of WilmerHale for their “history of discouraging workers’ rights.” Kotick goes on to state that “no relation will be tolerated” in response to any outreach to WilmerHale for those who know of any violations of said policies. His closing remarks surrounding that consisted of bullet point statements that you’d expect, setting out listening sessions, employee support, changes within management, hiring practices, and in-game changes. Kotick ended with a comment that he will be “unwavering” in improving Activision-Blizzard through his and the company’s commitments.

None of Kotick’s statements halted the walk-out, as employees pressed on seeking stronger action. Many held signs as they stood at the front gate, some reading “lead responsibly”, “nerf male privilege”, “every voice matters”, and “end forced arbitration.” All of which happened as messages of solidarity poured in from across the industry. Yesterday we reported on the Ubisoft employee open letter, seeking industry-wide change. Furthermore, fans were asked to show support online too, with donations to specific charities welcomed.

The “Cosby Suite,” refers to a 2013 BlizzCon hotel room incident at the heart of the lawsuit, which Kotaku wrote about in detail. Throughout the outpouring of support following the filing of the litigation suit, many male employees have voiced their dismay at any “frat boy” culture within the company. That is something easy to do when there are only two men specifically named in the lawsuit as being culpable of wrongdoing. The suit notes that Alex Afrasiabi was given a slap on the wrists by now-former (we’ll get to this in a minute) Blizzard President J Allen Brack. However, Kotaku has done some digging and found several images, screenshots, and Facebook posts by Afrasiabi of the, so-called, “Cosby Suite.”

By this point, the comedian’s sexual misconduct was an open secret (much like Louis C.K.’s misconduct), but was yet to be widely known a year later. Afrasiabi’s storied harassment of women at the yearly convention was known, to the point where male employees would have to pull him off of women. The lawsuit notes “his suite was nicknamed the ‘Cosby Suite’ after alleged rapist Bill Cosby.” Images that Kotaku has shared showcase several former and current Blizzard employees surrounding a framed image of Afrasiabi’s which is of Cosby. One image shows Afrasiabi’s post on Facebook, showing lots of alcohol and a caption “Cosby Suite in effect,” while another shows a group chat named “BlizzCon Cosby Crew.”

It should be noted, one former employee called Joshua Mosqueira (pictured with the framed image of Cosby), wrote a blog post on Medium proclaiming a lack of knowledge of Cosby’s sexual misconduct at the time. However, it was later confirmed that the reason for Afrasiabi’s departure from the company last year was as a result of his storied harassment. This is something, as stated before, that was not a secret and had seen very few repercussions when being spoken to by Blizzard President J. Allen Brack.

Sticking with Kotaku for a moment, Fran Townsend has created further issues for the company. The former Bush Homeland Security adviser turned Activision-Blizzard executive joined only in March, and caused issues with her initial memo following the lawsuit’s filing 15-days ago. This resulted in employees requesting her removal from being an executive sponsor of the ABK Employee Women’s Network. On Sunday, she put out a tweet stating: “[…] the Problem With Whistleblowing” and a link to an article in the Atlantic. Following this, Townsend (according to Kotaku) has begun blocking Activision-Blizzard (current and former) employees, journalists, and developers outside of the company.

Of course, it is her right to do so. Though it is a questionable remark to make, with such timing, while the company (and its CEO) promote that such anger or bad faith comments are not what the company is about. To re-quote Kotick’s comments, “We are taking swift action to be the compassionate, caring company you came to work for[…]” It is easy to say it is an ill-timed and ill-judged move by an executive of a company with so many concerns at this moment.

However, following almost two weeks of confusion, shock, and responses to the lawsuit against Activision-Blizzard, sponsors are now dropping from Esports tournaments as well. As reported on by Dexerto.com, T-Mobile logos have been dropped from sites of the Overwatch League and Call of Duty League, with further photoshopping of logos from shirts worn by the Call of Duty League team, NY Subliners, in online promotional material. Moreover, players wore tape over the logos in live streams of the Call of Duty Major 5 tournament. Dexerto also notes that the T-Mobile 5G weekly drops have been canceled with no public explanation.

This brings us to news from yesterday, which was still breaking as further actions were being taken all around us. The biggest of which is that former Blizzard President J. Allen Brack stepped down, with Jen O’neal and Mike Ybarra taking up the position together. In an announcement on Blizzard.com, Brack stated, “I am confident that Jen O’neal and Mike Ybarra will provide the leadership Blizzard needs to realize its full potential and will accelerate the pace of change. I anticipate they will do so with passion and enthusiasm and that they can be trusted to lead with the highest levels of integrity and commitment to the components of our culture that make Blizzard so special.“

However, that was not the only departure from the company on Tuesday. As confirmed by Jason Schreier for Bloomberg, Blizzard’s top HR executive Jesse Meschuk, has left the company this week. Meschuk’s departure was made as quiet as possible while the rumble of thunder shakes the entire company.

O’Neal was the head of the studio behind the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 remake, Vicarious Visions, before joining Blizzard back in January of this year with the merger of the two. While Mike Ybarra worked for Microsoft, with a year as the GM of Xbox Live and almost 20-years in total with the company.

However, it doesn’t end there, with further notes of unreported accusations via The New York Times, reports that echo those of the lawsuit. One woman noted that she would be paid less than her now ex-boyfriend, both of which worked in customer support. She also went on to mention that after turning down drugs from a manager at an end-of-year party, she feared this hampered her progress, while another manager in 2016 messaged her on Facebook saying she must be into “some freaky stuff” and asking what pornography she watched.

Another woman in the report noted that weeks after her boyfriend had died, a male executive said that she “deserved to have some fun” and tried to pressure her into sex. Other co-workers also suggested that she “hook up” with them. She then mentioned her reasons for not reporting these incidents, stating she didn’t want her gender to be a “professional liability.” Until the lawsuit was public, she believed her experience within Activision-Blizzard was an anomaly; “To hear that it’s at this scale is just profoundly disappointing” she said.

Meanwhile, Waypoint (Vice) reports that recruiters would ask very inappropriate questions. One hacker being hired by the company at a job fair was asked if she “liked being penetrated.” That is also beside the condescending nature described in the article, with Blizzard employees asking if she was lost and if she was there with her boyfriend. She commented “one of them asked me when was the last time I was personally penetrated, if I liked bein penetrated, and how often I got penetrated.” All thanks to a shirt she was wearing at a cybersecurity convention in Las Vegas, with the shirt reading, “Penetration Expert;” A reference to the cybersecurity term for testing security of software.

Two years following the incident at the convention where all this happened, Blizzard would reach out to Sagitta HPC (now Terahash) with the desire to hire the company. Emily Mitchell, the woman who wore the shirt and received the comments above from Blizzard employees, was in fact the COO of Sagitta HPC, and told the company’s CEO (Jeremi Gosney) what happened and firmly refused. Gosney wrote out an email recounting the incident, giving Blizzard a set of conditions, and proceeded to share the email (redacting Blizzard from it) on Twitter.

Sticking with Waypoint for a moment, further news came of IT staff installing cameras in unisex bathrooms in 2018. Tony Ray Nixon pleaded guilty to installing the cameras and was charged with “interference with privacy.” The cameras were mounted under bathroom sinks, in such a way that they would point to the toilets; Activision-Blizzard later found the Nixon had shopped around for waterproof cameras, battery packs, and micro SDs. Nixon admitted to have been filming the bathrooms for three weeks at the point of being discovered. He then went on to claim he had captured employees within the bathroom but deleted the videos.

In a letter published by IGN in the wake of these events, former Blizzard employee, co-founder of ArenaNet and later founder of Undead Labs, Jeff Strain, called for full unionization. Strain recounted a meeting in which the topic of discussion was the objections to dismembered and impaled female bodies in the beta version of Diablo. This meeting was reportedly the point at which he and his wife planned to leave Blizzard. In the letter, he stated, “I have nothing to fear from unionization,” asserting no company that pays employees fairly and provides opportunities equitably should fear it.

As reported by PC Gamer, yesterday’s quarterly reports saw further comments from Kotick, continuing to suggest swift action will be taken and that the company does not tolerate the actions noted in the lawsuit and shared online. The comments went so far as to say, “We will be the company that sets the example for this in our industry,” to which I could see some satirically suggesting they already have been. This came on the same day that New York law firm, Rosen, has filed a fraud lawsuit and has sent out an investor alert, asking all similarly disgruntled investors to join before October 4th. The law firm stated that the company failed to disclose the ongoing investigation over discrimination by the DFEH.

This makes one ask, what would come of the litigation from the DFEH? Well, according to the Washington Post, which spoke with labor law experts on the matter, it is a strong case for the DFEH. A law professor at USC Gould School of Law, Clare Pastore, stated to the Post, “I would not expect this case to be thrown out early.” In comments made by the director of the DFEH, Kevin Kish commented “Our investigations and litigation have to be strategically targeted at remedying violations that effect as many people as we can reach.” Then he detailed that the DFEH’s role is one that only government can fill, spotting what other plaintiffs might not spot.

The DFEH are no stranger to the world of games and gender pay gaps, as I’ve previously covered here, while Riot Games was told to pay $10-million, the DFEH suggested they should be paying $400-million. Currently, that case persists as Riot Games pushed for arbitration earlier this year. Riot stated that it would allow the studio to “reach a fair and speedy resolution to these cases.” When more news comes of this, we’ll try to cover it the best we can.