A lawsuit has been filed against Activision Blizzard by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, which says that the company has abused, discriminated against, and retaliated against its female employees and that this is not true. Activision Blizzard has said that the claims are not true. The full details of the Activision Blizzard lawsuit (warning: rape, suicide, abuse, harassment) are being added as new information comes in. This is how it works:
An Activision Blizzard executive sent out a mass email to employees earlier today, and he or she seemed to tell them not to sign and send in union authorization cards through the Communication Workers of America (CWA). The state of California filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard in July. The state did a two-year investigation into the company’s workplace and came up with accusations of gender discrimination, sexual harassment, and a bad work environment.
Amid its lawsuit and other lawsuits and investigations that have been filed against the company since the State of California’s first filing in July, talks about unionisation efforts began. At the end of July, Jeff Strain, an ex-Blizzard game developer, wrote an open letter that called for unionisation at Activision Blizzard, which makes video games. Former employee: “I have nothing to fear from unionisation, nor does any company that pays employees fairly and equitably, gives them good health insurance, shows respect and civility to women, people of colour, LGBTQ+ people, and encourages a healthy, whole life.” If this week doesn’t show us that game industry workers need true support and basic protections like they did this week, I can’t imagine how much worse it will get before we know that they need it.
There were a lot of negative reactions from employees who saw Bulatao’s email. Adam Fletcher, for example, is the global community development lead for Blizzard IP Diablo “The person I’m picturing is waking up and saying to themselves, “This will help with everything!” ‘You did well!’ I say after I send the email.” Emails between Activision Blizzard executives and staff have been seen by the public before. Chief compliance officer Frances Townsend wrote an open letter that detailed the departure of more than 20 developers and supervisors, as well as the “disciplinary action” that was taken against another 20. Townsend’s message, on the other hand, said that the company still hasn’t met the needs of its employees.
Having the CEOs of Playstation, Nintendo, and Xbox all speak out against Activision Blizzard and say that the company hasn’t done enough to address its many accusations, the future of Activision Blizzard rightly looks like it’s in a state of uncertainty. These concerns about the company’s messages in general, but especially to its employees, are logical. If the game industry giant wants to put in place measures and structures to protect its employees, it’s worth wondering what those protections would look like, given this recent email.
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