Activision Blizzard sued by California Department of Fair Employment

I’d imagine you should to be fair, the timelines mentioned very much pre-date any outside influences that this would usually get pinned on. Id imagine those guys who went off and formed other studios will be summoned over this, as this was under their stewardship.

Anyone with half a wrinkle in their brain knows Roux’s tweets against “white males” were a provocation against white supremacy and male privilege.
To talk about them in front of actual and serious harassment in the company, involving tens of people and spanning probably decades, it means being completely clueless about this kind of phenomena at best, and actively trying to protect a system of privilege and iniquity at worst.

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Are you in the process of applying for Blizzard or are you just some 30 years old coomer that doesnt understand how this world works

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I am well aware how the world works and would never apply for Blizz. Why u mad tho?

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Because its a place to work at. Sure you can try to flirt IF the other person wants to. If he or she doesnt then you stop entirely. Its that simple.

Your question determines this to be a lie.

Well, obviously. Did I say otherwise?

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Honestly, I’m disappointed, but not actually shocked. I’m barely surprised. I think I kind of just assume that all large companies are rotten at the core in some way or another…

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Passing on nudes of a blizz employee
Big boy in a desk bringing lube and a butt plug on a company trip

Sounds about like blizz alright

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You still dont hit on them during work. You can do so after work. Managing to do that isnt hard whatsoever.

I did spot one person who’s been there a heckuva long time, but we don’t really know when it started. He could’ve been fine for almost two decades and then finally gone crazy.

He seems to have been let go as well.

Most of the complain is about institutional problems.

I’ll say this though: It’s interesting that this is coming out now and not previously. Was it always like this?

We knew about the low pay and the massive stock options of early employees, who were almost all male, but that’s simply an artefact of how the company was started and wasn’t proof of sexism.

But there’s plenty of allegations in that paper beyond that, true. I just have severe problems sorting out the timelines.

I’m just enough of a cynic to always assume corporate rot to some degree, even with companies that I support in one way or another. I did not expect for it to have festered to this extent with Blizzard however, and the reasons behind the legal charges are inexcusably horrid.

So this is just like Ubisoft, and as we know, they got barely affected by all the harassment reports. CEO will say some PR bs and then everyone will go as if it never happened.

Remember when that voice actor was deleted from WoW due to an allegation that turned out to be fake? Yeah.

These allegations need to be taken seriously, of course. But I just find it amazing how everyone jumps the gun on these things before letting the legal process unfold.

There is a difference in who is suing tho. For Ubisoft it was mainly a collective lawsuit of ordinary citizens. In Blizzards case its the State that is suing them. One is easier to deal with than the other.

Also Ubisofts case appears to continue as of recently.

We shall see what happens, but as far as i know exactly same things happened in both companies (harassment, rape jokes, inequality, etc), Ubisoft is also french company so maybe rules are different about suing them.

I think my takeaway from all of this is that it was part of the culture spanning across the decades. I think it would have been a sign of the times back in the 2000s but I’m just majorly disappointed at this point, and would happily see justice served.

Here is the full statement Activision Blizzard provided to The Verge and other publications, which calls the lawsuit “irresponsible behavior from unaccountable State bureaucrats that are driving many of the State’s best businesses out of California”:

We value diversity and strive to foster a workplace that offers inclusivity for everyone. There is no place in our company or industry, or any industry, for sexual misconduct or harassment of any kind. We take every allegation seriously and investigate all claims. In cases related to misconduct, action was taken to address the issue.

The DFEH includes distorted, and in many cases false, descriptions of Blizzard’s past. We have been extremely cooperative with the DFEH throughout their investigation, including providing them with extensive data and ample documentation, but they refused to inform us what issues they perceived. They were required by law to adequately investigate and to have good faith discussions with us to better understand and to resolve any claims or concerns before going to litigation, but they failed to do so. Instead, they rushed to file an inaccurate complaint, as we will demonstrate in court. We are sickened by the reprehensible conduct of the DFEH to drag into the complaint the tragic suicide of an employee whose passing has no bearing whatsoever on this case and with no regard for her grieving family. While we find this behavior to be disgraceful and unprofessional, it is unfortunately an example of how they have conducted themselves throughout the course of their investigation. It is this type of irresponsible behavior from unaccountable State bureaucrats that are driving many of the State’s best businesses out of California.

The picture the DFEH paints is not the Blizzard workplace of today. Over the past several years and continuing since the initial investigation started, we’ve made significant changes to address company culture and reflect more diversity within our leadership teams. We’ve amplified internal programs and channels for employees to report violations, including the “ASK List” with a confidential integrity hotline, and introduced an Employee Relations team dedicated to investigating employee concerns. We have strengthened our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion and combined our Employee Networks at a global level, to provide additional support. Employees must also undergo regular anti-harassment training and have done so for many years.

We put tremendous effort in creating fair and rewarding compensation packages and policies that reflect our culture and business, and we strive to pay all employees fairly for equal or substantially similar work. We take a variety of proactive steps to ensure that pay is driven by non-discriminatory factors. For example, we reward and compensate employees based on their performance, and we conduct extensive anti-discrimination trainings including for those who are part of the compensation process.

We are confident in our ability to demonstrate our practices as an equal opportunity employer that fosters a supportive, diverse, and inclusive workplace for our people, and we are committed to continuing this effort in the years to come. It is a shame that the DFEH did not want to engage with us on what they thought they were seeing in their investigation.

Also in that article

The California DFEH was also involved with a major sexual harassment and discrimination suit against Riot Games, which initially landed at a settlement of just $10 million before the DFEH suggested it should be $400 million or more.

Ubisoft was embroiled in a huge sexual harassment scandal last year, one whose roots may go back a decade; an October survey revealed that a full quarter of all Ubisoft employees said they’d seen or experienced sexual harassment.

Brewdog in the UK is another example where this has just been swept under the carpet.

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Might be. There is one fundamental difference tho in these cases. Lawsuits are more than just expensive. Especially in the US. You can have your opponement run dry pretty effectively or settle with some payment to have the case dropped (which many take due to not wanting to go bankrupt themself). Battle of ressources pretty much. Having more ressources than the state tho? Ye good luck with that.

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The “opponent” here is the State of California : I guess it won’t run out of ressources lmao.