A rift is widening between many employees at Activision Blizzard and those in charge of the corporation, who have issued a wide range of statements regarding a lawsuit by the state of California alleging mistreatment of women within the company.

There have been a series of these statements, both issued externally and to Activision Blizzard employees themselves. The original statement published alongside the Bloomberg story on the lawsuit spent a large amount of time laying into the conduct of the investigators, whom the company called “state bureaucrats”:

“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.”

That was followed up by internal emails to staff, including one from Blizzard President J. Allen Brack, who is personally named in the lawsuit:

Many point out the weirdness of Brack saying that feminist Gloria Steinem was a “revered saint in the Brack household,” along with other statements that seem to dispute the original pushback on the lawsuit.

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Bungie Issues Statement On Activision Blizzard Harassment Allegations


After that, Activision CCO Fran Townsend, a former Homeland Security advisor to the Bush administration, issued another statement that very much doubled down on initial defenses of the culture at the company:

While Townsend speaks to her positive experiences as a woman in management, many highlight the fact that she’s only been with the company for seven months.

That last statement reportedly set off a number of employees. A source close to those working at Activision Blizzard relayed the following to me after that last email was sent out:

"Everyone is just crying and angry, especially as leadership keeps trying to minimize them and their feelings and gaslight what they remember."

Some Activision Blizzard employees are speaking publicly about their displeasure with the company, and there was even a partial work stoppage on the WoW team yesterday:

Others specifically name not just the accusations, but the corporate response as being poor:

Many, many others do not want to speak publicly about the issue for fear of the type of retaliation that Activision Blizzard claims does not exist within the company.

What seems to be happening is that corporate is issuing public statements denying many of these problems exist while simultaneously highlighting things the company does to mitigate these problems. Given that this is not just a complaint, but an actual lawsuit, there’s no doubt some level of “refusing to admit guilt” here that could be used in the case. A true apology would be an admission, and so here we are, with a wide gap between what the executives are saying and what the workers are feeling.

This is an unfurling mess that is only going to get more complicated as time goes on. We’ll see who speaks out next, more employees or another corporate executive

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Bungie Publishes Statement Against

 "Harassment, Abuse, And Inequality" In

 Games Industry



"It's our responsibility to ensure this type of

 behavior is not tolerated at Bungie at any

 level," wrote the developer.


By Otto Kratky on July 23, 2021 





Destiny developer Bungie has taken to Twitter to speak out against what it calls "a persistent culture of harassment, abuse, and inequality that exists in our industry." The statement, a thread on Twitter of six different posts, comes days after a lawsuit was filed against Activision Blizzard by the state of California for its "frat boy" culture.

Bungie's statement is a clear message against any kind of discrimination in the games industry, saying, "While the accounts in this week's news are difficult to read, we hope they will lead to justice, awareness, and accountability."

The developer also spoke on its own efforts to quash any toxic behavior that may take place in its own offices. "It's our responsibility to ensure this type of behavior is not tolerated at Bungie at any level," reads the statement. "And that we never excuse it or sweep it under the rug."

Bungie worked with Blizzard Activision until 2019 developing both Destiny titles while under the publisher. The two companies split, with Bungie retaining the rights to Destiny.

The lawsuit against Activision Blizzard alleges that the company perpetrated a systematic "frat boy" culture that manifested in equal pay violations, sex discrimination, and sexual harassment. According to the lawsuit, African American women and other people of color were disproportionately impacted by these practices.

Activision Blizzard's response to the lawsuit included a swift denunciation of the body that issued it, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing. "While we find this behavior to be disgraceful and unprofessional, it is unfortunately an example of how they [the DFEH] have conducted themselves throughout the course of their investigation," reads the statement. "It is this type of irresponsible behavior from unaccountable State bureaucrats that are driving many of the State’s best businesses out of California."

Abuse in the games industry is commonplace, but it has begun to garner more attention in recent years. Ubisoft, the massive french publisher behind numerous popular franchises, including Far Cry and Rainbow Six, faced a swarm of abuse and harassment allegations just last year. Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot recently shared the multiple ways the company has changed in response to a report claiming it had taken no extra efforts to prevent abuse.