Everything That Has Happened Since The Activision Blizzard Lawsuit Was Filed

Everything That Has Happened Since The Activision Blizzard Lawsuit Was Filed

The ongoing lawsuit against Activision Blizzard has made public some truly terrible and horrendous behaviour that occurred across multiple studios and offices. Many women were allegedly sexually harassed, assaulted, and psychologically traumatized while the folks in power at the companies involved seemingly did little to stop or limit this behaviour.

The lawsuit was filed on July 20 by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing after a years-long investigation turned up stories of multiple women suffering daily harassment and abuse while working at Activision Blizzard.

Since it was filed the fallout has been widespread, with former and current employees stepping forward to share more stories of abuse, offer apologies to those who were hurt, or attempt to distance themselves from the whole thing. Devs and workers at other studios have also begun to speak up and share their thoughts and pain too. It’s been an awful, disturbing, and eye-opening past few weeks and to help you get caught up with what has happened since the lawsuit we’ve rounded up all our coverage in one place.

As this is an ongoing situation, we expect more stories about this lawsuit and its fallout will come in the near future so we plan on updating this post with new stories as we move forward.

Blizzard Harasser From Lawsuit Is Still All Over World of Warcraft, Fans Dismay

Afrasiabi worked for Blizzard as recently as June 2020, when he apparently left the company with seemingly minimal mention, to the confusion of the few fans who noticed his departure. And though Afrasiabi is gone, his presence still lingers in World of Warcraft. Kotaku was able to confirm the existence of at least two NPCs that continue to bear his name, in addition to a number of items that directly reference him.

Image: Bungie
Image: Bungie

Destiny 2 Maker Weighs In On Activision Blizzard Allegations

The studio behind Halo and now Destiny issued a statement on Twitter yesterday, addressing the allegations of widespread sexual harrasssment and discrimination alleged in a new lawsuit brought by California regulators against Activision Blizzard. “We have a responsibility to acknowledge, reflect, and do what we can to push back on a persistent culture of harassment, abuse, and inequality that exists in our industry,” the company wrote.

Image: Blizzard
Image: Blizzard

The Activision Blizzard Lawsuit Fallout Is What Women Have Been Saying All Along

The case against Activision Blizzard is proving what many women already knew — misogyny in the industry doesn’t come down to just a few bad apples at a few companies. It’s deeply ingrained in the culture at the heart of how the games business has operated for decades.

Screenshot: Blizzard
Screenshot: Blizzard

Blizzard Boss Accused Of Failing To Address Sexual Harassment Calls New Allegations ‘Troubling’

The head of Blizzard Entertainment, the company behind Overwatch and World of Warcraft, sent an email to staff last night calling the recent allegations of widespread sexual harassment and discrimation “extremely troubling” and promised to meet with them to answer questions and discuss “how we can move forward.”

Screenshot: Blizzard
Screenshot: Blizzard

WoW Twitch Streamers Speak Out On Activision Blizzard Sexual Harassment Suit

Some of the most popular World of Warcraft streamers explained how disappointed and sad they were to hear the news. Top WoW Twitch streamer Asmongold, in a public statement shared on Twitter, said he was “hurt” by the news as a longtime fan of the publisher.

Image: Blizzard / Activision / Kotaku
Image: Blizzard / Activision / Kotaku

Activision Blizzard’s Social Media Empire Has Been Silent For Days Now

Social media accounts related to Activision Blizzard and its various properties have stopped posting following California’s lawsuit against the major video game conglomerate going public.

Photo: Mark Davis, Getty Images
Photo: Mark Davis, Getty Images

Ex Blizzard Boss Mike Morhaime To Women: ‘I Failed You’

Blizzard co-founder and longtime boss Mike Morhaime took to Twitter just after midnight Friday to comment on the widespread allegations of sexual harassment and discrimination at the game company he led for so long. “To the Blizzard women who experienced any of these things, I am extremely sorry that I failed you,” he wrote. “I hear you, I believe you, and I am so sorry to have let you down.”

Photo: Activision Blizzard
Photo: Activision Blizzard

Diablo Co-Creator Chris Metzen On Blizzard Lawsuit: ‘We Failed’

“We failed, and I’m sorry,” he begins. “To all of you at Blizzard – those of you I know and those of you whom I’ve never met – I offer you my very deepest apologies for the part I played in a culture that fostered harassment, inequality, and indifference.”

Screenshot: Blizzard
Screenshot: Blizzard

Some Gaming Websites, YouTube Channels Halt Coverage Of Activision Blizzard Games

Following troubling allegations regarding the work environments at Ubisoft and Activision Blizzard, several gaming outlets have opted to halt coverage of any games released by the mega-publishers.

Image: Blizzard
Image: Blizzard

Former World of Warcraft Designer Apologizes For Disastrous 2010 Blizzcon Answer

On July 23, former World of Warcraft lead designer Greg Street — who was at the original panel — responded to the controversy. In it, he tries to explain what happened while also admitting he made a mistake in a long series of tweets that eventually led to an apology. Street left Blizzard in 2013 and joined Riot Games the following year.

Photo: Rich Polk, Getty Images
Photo: Rich Polk, Getty Images

Over 2,000 Activision Blizzard Employees Sign Letter Condemning Company’s Response To Allegations

Hundreds of current and former employees from across Activision Blizzard have signed a letter to the company’s management calling its response to a recent lawsuit alleging widespread sexual harassment and discrimination at some of its offices “abhorrent and insulting.”

Everything That Has Happened Since The Activision Blizzard Lawsuit Was Filed

Blizzard Devs Say Some Men Were Sexually Harassed, Too

Reports included unwanted shoulder rubs, being propositioned for sex, sexual harassment within their first day, and even a “game” around the office where men would try to grope one another’s genitals. These allegations haven’t been as widely reported as the litany of testimonials from harassed women, but they also point to how systemic the issues were at the company.

Image: Activision Blizzard
Image: Activision Blizzard

Activision Blizzard Employees Plan Walkout Wednesday To Protest Working Conditions

The announcement of the walkout is accompanied by a statement of intent letter addressed to Activision Blizzard management. The letter states that employees believe their values are not being reflected by management and issues a series of demands meant to improve working conditions for those subjected to harassment and discrimination. These demands include an end to mandatory arbitration, which forces complaining employees into extra-legal mediation rather than public court cases, revised recruiting, hiring, and promotion policies, pay rate transparency, and the hiring of a third-party organisation to review the company’s reporting policy, HR department, and executive staff.

Image: Blizzard
Image: Blizzard

World Of Warcraft Removing Inappropriate References To ‘Rebuild Trust’ In Wake of Lawsuit

Blizzard has promised to remove content “not appropriate for” World of Warcraft, likely in response to in-game references to creative director Alex Afrasiabi. This announcement comes after a short period of silence following the publication of a California state lawsuit against the company, which alleges Activision Blizzard fostered a pervasive environment of harassment against its female employees.

Photo: Scott Olson, Getty Images
Photo: Scott Olson, Getty Images

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick Comments On Harassment Allegations, Employees Respond

“I want to recognise and thank all those who have come forward in the past and in recent days. I so appreciate your courage. Every voice matters – and we will do a better job of listening now, and in the future.

Our initial responses to the issues we face together, and to your concerns, were, quite frankly, tone deaf.”

Screenshot: Kotaku
Screenshot: Kotaku

Inside Blizzard Developers’ Infamous Bill ‘Cosby Suite’

The “Cosby Suite” was more than just a nickname or a joke. Based on images and comments Afrasiabi posted on his Facebook supplied to Kotaku by a former developer at Blizzard, it was reportedly a booze-filled meeting place where many, including Afrasiabi, would pose with an actual portrait of Bill Cosby while smiling. It was also a hot spot for informal networking at BlizzCon, three sources told Kotaku, where people looking to make inroads at the company would go to meet and hang out with some of its top designers.

Image: Blizzard
Image: Blizzard

Twitch Streamers and Devs Help Activision Blizzard Walkout With Boycotts, Money

While not everyone can attend the Activision Blizzard Walkout for Equality, there are other ways to show support for the employees of the company as they demand improved working conditions for women and other marginalised groups in the wake of their employer’s inadequate response to California’s sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuit.

Photo: Eric Thomas, Getty Images
Photo: Eric Thomas, Getty Images

Ubisoft Workers Decry Industry’s ‘Culture Of Abuse’

A new open letter signed by almost 500 current and former Ubisoft employees announces their solidarity with the workers at Activision Blizzard, demands movement from their own leadership, and calls for systemic change across the entire video game industry, Axios reports.

Screenshot: Blizzard
Screenshot: Blizzard

Activision Blizzard Hires Union-Busting Firm As Workers Start To Come Together

When Activision Blizzard, a company currently under fire for its discriminatory practices and rampant sexual harassment issues, hires WilmerHale, a law firm with a reputation for union-busting, heads turn and brows furrow.

Screenshot: Blizzard
Screenshot: Blizzard

Report: Blizzard Once Slapped With ‘Misogyny Tax’

A cybersecurity company whose security researcher had once been harassed by Blizzard employees at a hacking conference charged the game developer a 50 per cent “misogyny tax” when it sought a quote for security services, according to a new report from Waypoint.

Everything That Has Happened Since The Activision Blizzard Lawsuit Was Filed

Activision Blizzard’s Torture Apologist Executive Is Now Blocking Employees On Twitter

But what’s notable here is that rather acknowledging that she, as an executive employed in a leadership position at a company in turmoil, had made a bad tweet and responded accordingly — by doing something like locking her account, deleting the tweet, or simply ignoring the criticism and getting on with whatever the rich do on the weekend — she began systematically blocking anyone even mildly critical of her decision to share a story about the perils of whistleblowing while her company is in the midst of historically shocking allegations brought on by employees testifying confidentially.

Everything That Has Happened Since The Activision Blizzard Lawsuit Was Filed

What Really Happened At That BlizzCon Panel, According To The Woman In The Video

“Honestly, the sound of being booed by that many guys, honestly, in some ways that bothered me more than getting dismissed,” she said. “You had that initial cheer from the women in the crowd and then just wave boos.”

Image: Blizzard
Image: Blizzard

Blizzard President J. Allen Brack Is ‘Stepping Down’ Amid Activision Lawsuit Controversy

Brack was one of only two people explicitly named in California’s lawsuit, which accused the now former head of Blizzard of failing to deal with internal reports of sexual harassment and sexism, including allegations that former World of Warcraft creative director Alex Afrasiabi would try to put his arms around and kiss female coworkers at company events.

Screenshot: Blizzard
Screenshot: Blizzard

Activision Blizzard Is Losing Overwatch Sponsors After Lawsuit

As Dexerto points out, the websites for both the Overwatch League and the Call of Duty Leagues removed reference to T-Mobile at some point in July. On July 21, both sported the T-Mobile logo. By July 31, neither did. The 20th entry period of T-Mobile’s Call of Duty sweepstakes has quietly been cancelled. What’s more, team members for the New York Subliners, a Call of Duty team, appear to have taped over the T-Mobile logo on their jerseys, which you’ve gotta admit is hilarious.

Photo: David McNew, Getty Images
Photo: David McNew, Getty Images

Activision Blizzard Workers: Leadership Isn’t Actually Meeting Our Demands

“You said you would do everything possible to work with employees in improving our workplace,” wrote ABK Workers Alliance, the group also responsible for organising last week’s walkout protest at Blizzard headquarters, in a statement sent to Kotaku. “And yet, the solutions you proposed in that letter did not meaningfully address our requests. You ignored our call for an end to mandatory arbitration. You did not commit to adopting inclusive recruitment and hiring practices. You made no comment on pay transparency.”

Image: Activision Blizzard
Image: Activision Blizzard

Activision Blizzard Faces Second Lawsuit Over First Lawsuit

The class action lawsuit claims that Activision Blizzard and its executives were aware of the company’s issues of rampant sexual discrimination and workplace harassment during the periods these SOX certifications were issued and knowingly left out that information. The final sentence in the statement, in particular, reads false but has remained unchanged since 2016, appearing most recently in Activision Blizzard’s 2020 fiscal year-end report. As the events of the past couple of weeks have proven, ongoing claims and investigations have indeed had a material adverse effect on Activision Blizzard’s business.

Image: Blizzard
Image: Blizzard

Blizzard’s Top HR Guy Out Following Lawsuit And Widespread Criticism

According to a new in-depth report by Axios, several current and former Activision Blizzard employees either didn’t trust HR to help them when they were harassed or were met with scepticism and pushback when they did try to report their issues to HR.

“One of the things [the HR rep] commented on was that she was surprised I wasn’t crying or I wasn’t more hysterical,” one current employee told Axios, in regard to a time she alerted HR to being physically assaulted by a coworker.

Image: Activision Blizzard
Image: Activision Blizzard

Activision Blizzard’s Latest Investor Call Was An Especially Ghoulish Affair

PR spin, propaganda, hypernormalisation — whatever you want to call it, we’re collectively told over and over by people in power that what we witness and experience is bullshit and the bullshit they serve us back is what’s actually true. That’s in part how a company with an increasingly documented history of not treating people right — be it Activision Blizzard or Amazon.com, Inc. — can say with a straight face that it really does care without being immediately laughed out of the room.

Photo: David McNew, Getty Images
Photo: David McNew, Getty Images

The Mess Around Whether To Boycott Activision Blizzard

Though some have renewed calls to boycott all Activision Blizzard products, it remains far from clear whether that’s something any developers at the company, including the women most mistreated by it, even support a boycott. Kotaku reached out to a number of current and former Activision Blizzard developers for their thoughts on how fans can best try to bring about change at the company. Some didn’t respond. Others didn’t want their comments to draw attention away from the ABK Workers Alliance’s current list of demands.

Screenshot: Blizzard
Screenshot: Blizzard

Jesse McCree, Diablo 4 Director No Longer At Activision Blizzard

Jesse McCree, the namesake for Overwatch’s beloved cowboy fighter and most recently a designer on Diablo 4, was one of several current and former Blizzard developers who appeared in an image of a BlizzCon 2013 “Cosby Suite” obtained by Kotaku. The suite contained booze and a giant portrait of Bill Cosby and reportedly belonged to World of Warcraft developer Alex Afrasiabi.

Screenshot: Activision
Screenshot: Activision

Activision Blizzard’s QA Department Seems Like A Hellhole

Long hours. Low pay. Tremendous instability. Working in quality assurance (QA) for a video game studio is notoriously difficult and painstaking enough as it is without factors like these complicating matters. Yet for QA testers at Activision Blizzard, a company that has come under fire in recent weeks for a whole host of troubling allegations, these may come with the territory. Indeed, a lengthy list of statements provided to Kotaku by the ABK Workers Alliance indicates as much, alongside other troubling claims, including pervasive hostility toward LGBT staffers.

Screenshot: Blizzard
Screenshot: Blizzard

Overwatch League Casters Stop Saying McCree’s Name

Over the weekend, a fan spotted Overwatch League casters Brennon ‘Bren’ Hook and Josh ‘Sideshow’ Wilkinson appearing to avoid saying McCree’s name during the matches. Instead of saying “McCree,” they referred to him as “the cowboy.” As reported by Dexerto, Hook and Wilkinson both went on to “like” the Tweet noticing the change, and fellow Overwatch caster Mitch ‘Uber’ Leslie tweeted earlier this week that he thought this was a good idea.

Image: Activision
Image: Activision

Activision Name Conspicuously Absent From Call Of Duty: Vanguard Marketing

Neoxon also highlighted the fact that Activision’s logo is missing from the Call of Duty: Vanguard page on Battle.net, the company’s digital storefront. Again, Kotaku confirmed this is a common inclusion on several of the platform’s Call of Duty listings, where Activision’s graphic can be seen positioned above the logos for games like Modern Warfare, Black Ops: Cold War, and Black Ops 4.

Image: Blizzard
Image: Blizzard

California Accuses Activision Blizzard Of Shredding Abuse Evidence

The updated lawsuit alleges that Activision Blizzard has not been cooperative with California’s investigation. It cites Activision Blizzard’s non-disclosure agreements, the requirement that employees must speak with the company before contacting the state department, and the hiring of union-busting law firm WilmerHale as examples of the company’s lack of cooperation.

Image: Blizzard
Image: Blizzard

Blizzard Is Changing McCree’s Name In Overwatch Amid Lawsuit

Blizzard announced today on Twitter that it will be renaming Jesse McCree and delaying the start of Overwatch’s next story arc. The change comes after the real-life developer for whom the cowboy character was named was let go from the company amid ongoing fallout from a California lawsuit accusing the company of widespread sexual harassment and discrimination.

Image: Blizzard
Image: Blizzard

World Of Warcraft Achievements Remove References To Hoes, Giant Sacks

In late July, Blizzard announced it was taking steps to remove inappropriate content and references from World of Warcraft. Two of those changes surfaced in an early build of the upcoming 9.1.5 patch, which changes the name of two achievements so they no longer reference the phrase “bros before hoes” and large testicles.

Image: Blizzard
Image: Blizzard

Workers Accuse Activision Blizzard Of Union Busting

Activision Blizzard employees represented by the ABetterABK worker group filed a lawsuit against the Call of Duty publisher with the National Labour Review Board yesterday accusing it of union-busting.

Image: Blizzard
Image: Blizzard

Blizzard Reduces Titty In World Of Warcraft, But Not Sexism At The Company

As spotted by WowHead user Archimtiros, the latest 9.1.5 patch for World of Warcraft updates some in-game paintings of women to be less revealing, while others have been removed altogether. A robed woman’s image in Stormwind has been altered to cover more of her breasts, and a scantily clad reclining woman in Ravenholdt has met the strange fate of becoming a bowl of fruit.

Image: Blizzard
Image: Blizzard

Diablo II Resurrected Dev: Folks Deciding If They’ll Buy It Should ‘Do What They Feel Is Right’

In an interview with Axios Gaming on September 17, the design director on the upcoming Diablo II remake explained that folks trying to decide if they should buy the game should “do what they feel is right.” Many players don’t want to support Activision Blizzard games after a recent lawsuit made public horrible stories and claims of abuse and harassment mostly targeting women at the company.

Photo: Drew Angerer, Getty Images
Photo: Drew Angerer, Getty Images

U.S. Government Now Investigating Activision Blizzard, Bobby Kotick Subpoenaed

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has reportedly launched a wide-reaching investigation into Activision Blizzard, with the government agency looking into how the embattled publisher handled the multiple allegations of sexual harassment, abuse, and toxic behaviour that became public following a lawsuit filed in July. The SEC has subpoenaed Activision and several of its high-ranking execs, including CEO Bobby Kotick.

Image: Blizzard
Image: Blizzard

Blizzard’s Chief Legal Officer Quits Amid Lawsuit

Blizzard Entertainment’s chief legal officer, Claire Hart, has resigned from the embattled company. She announced the news in a LinkedIn post yesterday, saying that last Friday, September 17, was her final day.

Photo: Matthew Eisman, Getty Images
Photo: Matthew Eisman, Getty Images

Overwatch 2′s Boss Is Quitting Blizzard For “Some Time Off”

Chacko Sonny, who has been at Blizzard since 2016 and has worked on both Overwatch games, announced his departure to colleagues on Friday, Bloomberg reports. In addition to his role on Overwatch he was also a company vice president.

Image: Activision
Image: Activision

Activision Blizzard Settles With Federal Employment Agency For $US18 ($25) Million

Kotick, of course, is receiving effective compensation of $US154 ($211) million in 2021, meaning he could easily cover the $US18 ($25) million cost of the EEOC lawsuit settlement many times over.

Image: Blizzard
Image: Blizzard

Labour Union Suggests $US18M Activision Blizzard Settlement Akin To Pennies

Following news that Activision Blizzard plans to settle the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) complaint for just $US18 ($25) million, workers at a labour union say it doesn’t do enough to curb “corporate bad actors.”

Latest Update (October 5, 2021): Once again this round-up has been updated again with more stories.


The Cheapest NBN 1000 Plans

Looking to bump up your internet connection and save a few bucks? Here are the cheapest plans available.

At Kotaku, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.

Comments


5 responses to “Everything That Has Happened Since The Activision Blizzard Lawsuit Was Filed”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *