Townsend Steps Down From ABK Network; More Sponsors Cut Ties

I’ll be quite honest, after the article I did about reading more (as a dyslexic) from the other week, I didn’t expect to be saying I’d be reading more and more newspapers following that. However, since the news broke on Activision-Blizzard’s lawsuit with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, that’s all I’ve done. I’ve been combing for further details shared to the Washington Post and New York Times that Polygon, PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, and others may not have. With every awful detail that I keep hearing of from those that come forward, I wonder how anyone could effectively turn a blind eye to the company’s issues.

I said this in the previous article we mentioned Frances Townsend in, one in which I ran down a week’s worth of responses and further statements from those coming forward. Fran Townsend, the former W. Bush Homeland Security Advisor turned Activision-Blizzard executive (Chief Compliance Officer) in March, put out a tweet last week with a link from an article in The Atlantic. The tweet in question said, and I quote, “the Problem With Whistleblowing.” As I said at the time, it was an ill-timed and ill-judged move, as Twitter proceeded to pounce on Townsend’s (what is assumed) thinly veiled comments.

Now, at least one of you may have noticed that this time around, I didn’t link the tweet, as it is entirely useless now. Following a large amount of backlash from Activision-Blizzard employees (former and current), journalists, developers outside the company, and (I assume) anyone criticizing the comments, Townsend began blocking people. At least that is alleged according to Kotaku. Once again, at the time I said that it was wholly her right to do so, but once more, ill-timed and ill-judged moves caused such a situation. A week following the comments, Townsend has proceeded to delete her Twitter account and step down from her sponsorship of the ABK Employee Women’s Network.

This report comes from Shannon Liao of The Washington Post, who spoke with 17 current and former employees of Activision-Blizzard, and one non-employee, on the lead up to the lawsuit’s filing on the 20th of July. In the comments to The Post, they expressed similar events to those voiced in the lawsuit from the DFEH. Events were detailed such as the harassment of women by Alex Afrasiabi at events, the drinking culture and abuse of policies put in place by the company in 2019, and internal responses to emails by Townsend, J. Allen Brack, and Kotick.

Something that has been kept rather quiet is the departure of Townsend from the role as sponsor of the ABK Women’s Network. As Liao notes, Townsend hosted a listening session on the 23rd of July, a listening session that was held over Zoom and capped out at 500 employees. Those who could not enter the session were told the call was being recorded and would be sent to them following the session. Five days following the call, the company gave an update that stated it was, “unable to send/share a recording of the Friday Women’s Network call at this time.” They explained that it was inappropriate to share the personal concerns voiced by those in the call.

As noted by Liao via interviews with employees at the session, Townsend proceeded to defend her email with which employees expressed their displeasure. In the email (shared by Jason Scheier), Townsend stated, “[the lawsuit] presented a distorted and untrue picture of our company.” In her defense, she notes that she followed the advice of the legal team, and it did not express her true voice. Employees viewed this as a dismissal of events as noted in the lawsuit. Furthermore, in comments provided to The Post by a spokesperson for Activision-Blizzard, they noted that Townsend had stepped down from her position as sponsor of the ABK Women’s Network on the same day as the call, July 23rd.

In a statement provided to Liao and shared on Twitter, Activision-Blizzard said, “[Townsend] believes in doing what’s right for the Network, and will continue to support and advance the work of the Network as best she can.” Liao also pointed out that while Townsend may have stepped down from being the executive sponsor of the group, she is still employed by the company. The updates on Townsend’s status are among a handful of developments surrounding the company made over the weekend.

Friday, the composer behind 2014 fantasy & Sci-fi MMORPG WildStar, Jeff Kurtenacker, announced his departure from Blizzard. In a statement released on Twitter, Kurtenacker stated, “I have stepped down from my position at Blizzard Entertainment, and while I’m not sure what’s next for me, I’m looking forward to finding new projects and creative people to work with.” There is no reason provided for his departure, with all those who seemed to have worked with him singing praises. Just to be entirely clear, my intention is not to cast doubt on him by including him here. Kurtenacker is merely among the news surrounding Blizzard at the moment.

Also on Friday, Polygon released an article with a statement from a fourth sponsor of the Overwatch League, expressing concern over the lawsuit publicly. The comment provided to Polygon reads: “We find these allegations troubling and inconsistent with our commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion,” said Kris Bahner, spokesperson for food manufacturer Kellogg. Bahner goes on to say, “While Activision-Blizzard has announced plans to address the challenging issues it faces, we will not be moving forward with any new programs this year.” They followed by stating they will review further plans once Activision-Blizzard has taken action.

The decision given by Kellogg makes it the fourth brand to cut ties with the company or make announcements. T-Mobile attempted to quietly cut ties, while Coca-Cola and State Farm both made similar public statements. In the comments made by Coca-Cola, the company spokesperson said, “We are working with our partners at Blizzard as we take a step back for a moment to revisit future plans and programs.” However, the company is still listed as one of three official partners (at the time of writing) on the league’s site. The State Farm spokesperson said the company is “reevaluating our limited marketing relationship with the Overwatch League.”

As noted by Liao in the article for The Post, one current esports employee said Kotick’s letter released on the 28th, “deflects from the actual demands that we as employees have laid out and communicated to leadership.” She goes on to note, “I find his response patronizing, and I find each of his proposed responses to be problematic.” Another woman said, “I just wanted to kick my monitor,” in response to J. Allen Brack’s internal email. Both highlight that the executive’s directions to HR come following repeated statements that HR ignored or did very little following complaints made, and often resulted in repercussions to those who came forward.

In further accounts of the culture at Blizzard, the actions that were taken by the company, and later silence of events, Ben Kilgore left the company in 2018. According to Jason Scheier for Bloomberg and Liao for The Post, Kilgore parted ways with the company. However, gossip led to further questions of the departure, one such question was headed in a meeting with Derek Ingalls. In a brief, strange, and blunt statement, Ingalls is quoted as saying, “Don’t sleep with your assistant. But if you’re going to sleep with your assistant, don’t stop.” Meanwhile, The Post notes he was noted in the DFEH lawsuit by title rather than by name for a series of allegations, including misconduct, groping, and hiring female employees based on appearance.