It has been about a week since the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing filed a lawsuit against popular video game developer Activision Blizzard, but it’s exposed a lot of the issues that run rampant in the games industry. Activision Blizzard is known for game franchises like Call of Duty, Overwatch, and even mobile games like Candy Crush. The state of California filed a lawsuit against the company for the “frat boy” culture that exists within Activision Blizzard, with an extreme emphasis on gender discrimination that employees experience.
The lawsuit was telling enough, but things got worse for Activision Blizzard when executive vice president Frances Townsend sent an email that dismissed and belittled the allegations put forward. In response to leadership's comments, almost 1,000 current Activision Blizzard employees have signed an open letter to the company’s leaders, stating their voices will not be silenced as the investigation continues. Now, employees have staged a walkout to take place on Wednesday, July 28, 2021.
RELATED: Activision Blizzard Exec Repeats Lawsuit Is 'Meritless and Irresponsible' in Internal Email
This section mentions sexual harassment and suicide as they pertain to the lawsuit. Activision Blizzard’s “frat boy” culture is thoroughly reported in the lawsuit, including things like “cube crawls” that saw male employees harass female employees in their cubicles after getting drunk at work. Male employees would also delegate their work to female employees, instead opting to play video games at work or nursing hangovers.
Alongside gender discrimination within Activision Blizzard, Black employees, especially women of color, were also discriminated against based on allegations in the lawsuit. One employee had to deal with micromanaging that her male counterparts did not have to endure. Another Black employee waited for two years to become a permanent employee, meanwhile men who were hired after her became permanent sooner.
The most harrowing part of the lawsuit is the story of a female employee who died by suicide on a company business trip. She had reportedly suffered an immense amount of sexual harassment during her time at Activision Blizzard, including a naked picture of herself being shown off at a holiday party.
The two-year investigation and subsequent lawsuit also found that Activision Blizzard discriminated against female employees when it came to employment terms and conditions, including things like monetary compensation, promotions, assignments, and termination. Allegedly, male employees on the World of Warcraft team would also hit on female employees, continually joke or make derogatory comments about rape, and demean the women on their staff.
The lawsuit alone isn’t what prompted the walkout occurring on July 28, though present and past employees did not take well to management’s response to the lawsuit. Many more people have opened up about their time at the company online, and their experiences don’t do Activision Blizzard any favors. To get the attention of the leaders at Activision Blizzard, current employees have staged a walkout with a list of four demands they want leaders to work on implementing with them.
The employees staging the walkout specifically want better working conditions for women at Activision Blizzard, with special consideration for “women of color and transgender women, nonbinary people, and other marginalized groups.” First, the employees want to end the mandatory arbitration clauses in all current and future contracts, as “arbitration clauses protect abusers” and make it difficult for victims to get restitution.
Second, the recruitment, interviewing, hiring, and promotion policies will need to be improved to protect “women, in particular women of color and transgender women, nonbinary people, and other marginalized groups” from discriminatory hiring practices. Third, they call for the publication of compensation, salary ranges, and promotion rates of all employees to foster transparency and help marginalized groups be paid fairly.
Finally, they want a “company-wide Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion task force” to review Activision Blizzard’s executive staff, HR department, and reporting system for workplace issues. Each of the demands put in place by employees is more than fair, but this one will require the most change. It asks Activision Blizzard to completely dismantle and restructure the systems it has in place to ensure that the harassment of women and other marginalized groups at the company ceases altogether.
RELATED: Overwatch Malevento Map Pulled Amid Activision Blizzard Lawsuit Controversy
The walkout will happen from 10:00 a.m. PT to 2:00 p.m. PT at the main gate of the Blizzard Campus in Irvine, California. Employees who cannot make it to the physical walkout can voice their support online and cease working during the specified hours. Many Activision Blizzard employees have already started voicing their support for the walkout, as well as others who are not part of the company.
Getting involved at home can look similar to the way employees who cannot physically attend the walkout are participating. Those who want to voice support can use the hashtag #ActiBlizzWalkout, followed by a blue heart emoji, on social media to raise awareness. Employees also ask that those who are able to donate do so to any of the following charities:
- Black Girls Code
- Futures Without Violence
- Girls Who Code
- RAINN
- Women In Animation
- Women In Games International
All of these charities work to empower women and other marginalized groups in the gaming space. Even if those at home can’t donate, using #ActiBlizzWalkout on social media channels will help spread the word and advocate for positive change to be made. At the very least, people can vow to not play any Activision Blizzard games for the day in support of the walkout. Going one day without Diablo, Overwatch, Call of Duty, and World of Warcraft won’t be the end of the world - especially if it can help prompt meaningful change behind closed doors at Activision Blizzard.
The workplace created and fostered by Activision Blizzard over the last few years is clearly reprehensible. Women and marginalized communities deserve better than the treatment and discrimination they’ve received while working at the massive company. Hopefully, this walkout is the start of the bigger change that’s desperately needed at Activision Blizzard. Voicing support with #ActiBlizzWalkout might not seem like much, but it could be the start of substantial change.