California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing is taking Activision Blizzard to court for sexual discrimination. The companies response was to deny it ever happened, or if it did it was in the past so it did not have to change anything.
Apparently, hundreds of Activision Blizzard employees disagreed with that approach and walked off the job. Thousands of employees also signed a petition expressing their disagreements with the company's response and what they perceived as missing from the company's actions to date.
It looks like the company bigwigs were not really expecting that. Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has adopted a more conciliatory stance and apologise for the company's "tone deaf" response earlier.
Kotick promised swift action against anyone found to have violated the company's policies on non-discrimination. And the company issued a statement that said employees need not fear retaliation for joining in the planned walkout.
"We support employees' right to express their opinions and concerns safely and respectfully, without fear of retaliation", Activision Blizzard said in a comment on the walkout.
"We know there are a variety of topics that need to be considered. However, the leadership team at Activision Blizzard is also committed to long-lasting change, listening, and continuing the important work to create a safe and inclusive workplace that we can all be proud of."
"I am sorry that we did not provide the right empathy and understanding", Kotick said late yesterday.
He was referencing an internal memo to employees from Fran Townsend, chief compliance officer, that denied the allegations in the lawsuit as if the company were trying to aggressively combat the state agency rather than consider the possibility that some of the testimony from its employees might be valid.
Meanwhile, Kotaku reported a story about some of the most disturbing parts of the state agency's case, saying that Blizzard executives had once set up a "Crosby suite" in homage to disgraced actor Bill Cosby. It highlighted the behaviour of Alex Afrasaibi — former creative director on World of Warcraft who was named in the lawsuit — during the BlizzCon 2013 event. Images surfaced of the Blizzard people who attended the suite and text messages with crude views of women.
In the photo of the Crosby Suite, was Greg Street who explained in a tweet that the room was a green room at BlizzCon where many employees took breaks. He said he never saw anything inappropriate beyond drinking during the convention.
He said, looking back, he was embarrassed at the room's nickname and said he wasn't aware of its significance at the time.
"All of that said, I understand that the story puts everyone in a tough spot, and I'm sorry for that. I hope my reputation here at Riot [where he now works] and your individual experiences with me give you a strong sense of the person I am and the values I hold", Street said.
