Californias Lawsuit Against Activision Blizzard Explained

California’s Lawsuit Against Activision Blizzard Explained

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A lawsuit filed by the State of California outlines Call of Duty and World of Warcraft’s Activision Blizzard’s harassment against female employees.

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Californias Lawsuit Against Activision Blizzard Explained

Unfortunately, the gaming industry is not impervious to harassment allegations in the workplace. Much like the many accusations against Ubisoft last year, Activision Blizzard now finds itself in a lawsuit against the State of California for violations of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act following a two-year investigation based on arising issues of “frat-boy culture.” Please note that this article contains mentions of suicide and sexual harassment as they pertain to the case.

Also similar to Ubisoft, Activision Blizzard is one of the biggest entities in gaming, exposing a common pattern of workplace discrimination and harassment in the industry. Made up of the massive subsidiaries Activision and Blizzard, the studio is best-known for AAA titles such as Overwatch, World of Warcraft, and Call of Duty, making it the largest games company in terms of revenue. This means that the case could result in waves of change throughout the gaming industry if the defendant is found guilty of the accusations.

The Allegations Against Activision Blizzard

Californias Lawsuit Against Activision Blizzard Explained

In short, the Call of Duty studio is being sued by the State of California for not complying with California workplace regulations and gender discrimination. Some alleged examples include lowered pay for female employees in comparison to their male peers, and the women see more terminations and are promoted more slowly. This is unsurprising to some considering women only make up about 20% of Activision Blizzard’s workforce, and its top executive staff is exclusively white and male. Additionally, California’s claims say that many women have been forced to leave the company.

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But the term that’s gone viral since the case became public is the charge of “frat-boy culture” at Activision Blizzard, resulting in a “breeding ground” for targeted harassment against women, the accusations claim. Examples of these practices include “cube crawls” in which the male employees would drink heavy amounts of alcohol and crawl through the office’s cubicles, sometimes groping women. Male employees also often get to spend much of their work time playing video games and putting their responsibilities on the female associates, as well as come into work hungover, and speak openly and inappropriately about romantic encounters and female employees. The accusations also claim that the male employees at Activision Blizzard joke openly about rape.

Unsurprisingly, the workplace practices at Activision Blizzard are particularly discriminatory for women of color, according to the lawsuit. One instance cites a Black employee who waited two years to be made a permanent member of the staff, while her male coworkers were made into permanent employees before she was. Another Black employee was subjected to “micromanaging” that her male counterparts were not.

In possibly the most disturbing instance outlined in the lawsuit against Overwatch 2’s parent company, one female employee committed suicide after suffering sexual harassment, which went so far as a nude photo of the woman being passed around at a company holiday party. The woman took her own life while on a business trip with her supervisor, who brought sex toys and lubricant with him.

Activision Blizzard’s Response to the Allegations

Activision Blizzard is actively denying the allegations made by California. It says that the allegations do not accurately represent today’s Blizzard, as most of the “frat-boy” claims were primarily against Blizzard. The Diablo studio also says that the accusations are “distorted and false,” and claims the Department of Fair Employment and Housing are simply “unaccountable state bureaucrats.”

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While the company still holds that it values diversity and “[strives] to foster a workplace that offers inclusivity for everyone,” this situation may, unfortunately, start and end much like allegations against Ubisoft. Employees at the Assassin’s Creed studio report that it has failed to change its work culture despite the outpouring of accusations.

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