Acti-Blizz Leads Depart Company

Further fallout comes as the storm that has been echoing for weeks now over Activision-Blizzard shakes the industry once again. The publishing and development giant sent out a statement to larger sources such as Polygon, Eurogamer, Ars Technica, Kotaku, and PC Gamer, stating that three men are no longer part of the company. The statement did not go as far as to say if they had been laid-off, terminated, or they themselves had resigned. Though there is one thing that is clear. At least in two cases, it is in connection with the recent DFEH lawsuit filed against Activision-Blizzard back in July.

The statement notes that Diablo IV director Luis Barriga and Diablo IV designer Jesse McCree (Overwatch‘s McCree’s namesake) have left the company, with Jonathan LeCraft, a designer of World of Warcraft, also departing. At the time of the lawsuit being filed, it only named two people by name; Alex Afrasiabi and J. Allen Brack, both of whom are no longer with the company. However, as revealed later by Kotaku, the noted “Cosby Suite” played host to behavior that is unacceptable. The Cosby Suite, which is contended to be named after Bill Cosby in either his grotesque choice of sweater being akin to a boardroom’s decor or his noted history of sexual harassment, is nevertheless connected to Afrasiabi.

In the report on the Blizz-con 2013 event which the lawsuit mentions and Kotaku researched, LeCraft and McCree are photographed around the shrine of Cosby in Afrasiabi’s suite. Also in the picture was a portrait of the former comedian that is said to be owned by Afrasiabi. Furthermore, the Kotaku report shows a message board between the attendees of the party at Afrasiabi’s suite, dubbed “BlizzCon Cosby Crew.” In the messages, Deviation Games creative director David Kosak, said, “gathering hot chixx[sic] for the Coz[sic],” to which McCree suggests Afrasiabi have sex with these women Kosak speaks of.

It is not immediately clear as to the decisions that led to this situation, though the statement from Activision-Blizzard notes, “We can confirm Luis Barriga, Jesse McCree, and Jonathan LeCraft are no longer with the company. We have a deep, talented roster of developers already in place[,] and new leaders have been assigned where appropriate.” They closed the statement by entirely diverting the focus onto the Diablo IV progress, “We are confident in our ability to continue progress, deliver amazing experiences to our players, and move forward to ensure a safe, productive work environment for all.” The entire statement lacks clarity on why or how the company had made these decisions or if any of the three had decided to leave themselves.

This comes following a series of changes at the company, with Townsend being publicly acknowledged as stepping down from the ABK Women’s Network on Monday. Last week, J. Allen Brack stepped down as Blizzard President, with his replacements being announced on the spot. This comes while sponsors for their esports leagues pull themselves from partnerships with the company. Moreover, yesterday we noted that investors are further bewailed by this lawsuit and called Activision-Blizzard’s management responses, “Inadequate.” Additionally, Polygon reports of yet more abuse, misconduct, and general toxic culture further down the chain.