Blizzard
Activision Blizzard and developer Blizzard Entertainment are not getting out of the negative headlines right now. A California agency recently filed a lawsuit alleging discrimination, sexual harassment, and bullying. As a result, a huge shitstorm broke out over the two companies, which also called many former employees and executives of Blizzard Entertainment on the scene. Meanwhile, Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street, who used to work as lead designer for World of Warcraft, has spoken out. The trigger for his statement via Twitter was a republished video from BlizzCon 2010 that showed sexist behavior.At that time, during a panel about World of Warcraft, a woman spoke up and asked, whether there couldn't be female heroes in the MMO who didn't look like they came from a Victoria's Secret catalog. The developers present, which in addition to Street also included J. Allen Brack and the particularly heavily accused Alex Afrasiabi, took the question anything but seriously and instead joked around - much to the displeasure of the questioner. Greg Street regrets this very incident now.
"Look, it was a shitty answer back then and it must have not aged well. I wish I had said something better then. (...) Me I apologize to the player who asked this question and to everyone who was disappointed with our 'answer'. I think there are more important voices that need to be heard right now, but the video is a good reminder that we are can do better. "
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Source: Twitter
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Here’s The Letter 1,000 Activision Blizzard Employees Signed And Sent To Their Managers
LOS ANGELES, CA - JUNE 11: A view of the Activision Blizzard booth during the 2013 E3 Electronic ... [+] Entertainment Expo at Los Angeles Convention Center on June 11, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Daniel Boczarski/WireImage)
WireImageActivision Blizzard employees have issued their own statement regarding their corporate bosses’ response to the recent lawsuit by the state of California, which accuses the company of fostering a hostile environment for women at the company for years.
While the details of the lawsuit itself are harrowing, the new letter, signed by over 1,000 current and former Activision Blizzard employees, is mainly focused on the corporate response to the lawsuit, in which the current leadership of the company has not apologized for the alleged abuses. Much of the focus is on a recent statement issued by Frances Townsend, a former Bush Homeland Security advisor who is now the CCO of the company and has been there less than a year. In it, she described her own positive experience within the company as a woman, and doubled down on Activision Blizzard’s initial corporate statement decrying the claims in the “rushed” lawsuit as “distorted” or “false.”
Her statement in particular enraged many employees, and was the main impetus for this letter. After it was issued, a Zoom meeting was held between a few hundred employees and their bosses, and at one point, Activision executive Joshua Taub admitted Townsend’s response “wasn’t the right communication.”
The current state of Activision Blizzard is allegedly approaching a work stoppage in some departments, given the severity of the lawsuit's claims and distress over the corporate response. On Twitter, World of Warcraft Senior Systems Designer Jeff Hamilton says that “almost no work is being done” on the game right now because of what’s going on.
Supposedly there are more company meetings on deck to address the issues, with no doubt more internal reporting of what goes on there to come. For now, here’s the full text of the letter that Activision Blizzard employees sent their bosses:
To the Leaders of Activision Blizzard,
We, the undersigned, agree that the statements from Activision Blizzard, Inc. and their legal counsel regarding the DFEH lawsuit, as well as the subsequent internal statement from Frances Townsend, are abhorrent and insulting to all that we believe our company should stand for. To put it clearly and unequivocally, our values as employees are not accurately reflected in the words and actions of our leadership.
We believe these statements have damaged our ongoing quest for equality inside and outside of our industry. Categorizing the claims that have been made as “distorted, and in many cases false” creates a company atmosphere that disbelieves victims. It also casts doubt on our organizations’ ability to hold abusers accountable for their actions and foster a safe environment for victims to come forward in the future. These statements make it clear that our leadership is not putting our values first. Immediate corrections are needed from the highest level of our organization.
Our company executives have claimed that actions will be taken to protect us, but in the face of legal action — and the troubling official responses that followed — we no longer trust that our leaders will place employee safety above their own interests. To claim this is a “truly meritless and irresponsible lawsuit,” while seeing so many current and former employees speak out about their own experiences regarding harassment and abuse, is simply unacceptable.
We call for official statements that recognize the seriousness of these allegations and demonstrate compassion for victims of harassment and assault. We call on Frances Townsend to stand by her word to step down as Executive Sponsor of the ABK Employee Women’s Network as a result of the damaging nature of her statement. We call on the executive leadership team to work with us on new and meaningful efforts that ensure employees — as well as our community — have a safe place to speak out and come forward.
We stand with all our friends, teammates, and colleagues, as well as the members of our dedicated community, who have experienced mistreatment or harassment of any kind. We will not be silenced, we will not stand aside, and we will not give up until the company we love is a workplace we can all feel proud to be a part of again. We will be the change.
Update: The letter is now nearing 2,000 signatures, according to organizers.
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