November 17, 2021
More than 100 Activision Blizzard employees recently staged a walkout calling for the resignation of the company’s CEO, Bobby Kotick, following the publication of a WSJ report on the nature of harassment within the company.
While the company criticized the WSJ’s report saying that it projected an “inaccurate and misleading view” of the company, the response was not enough as employees gathered outside Blizzard’s headquarters in Irvine to demand the CEO’s resignation on Tuesday.
On closer examination of the WSJ report, some revelations include more than 500 claims of “harassment, sexual assault, bullying, pay disparities, and other issues.”
Many of these problems are said to stem from various events, including heavy drinking at company-sponsored events and the alleged rape of an employee by Sledgehammer Games supervisor Javier Panameno.
The report also stated that the resignation of former Blizzard co-chief Jennifer Oneal was triggered by sexual harassment and pay gaps with her Blizzard co-chief Mike Ybarra.
Amid the allegations, Kotick was accused of shielding some workers, including Dan Bunting, who was accused of sexually harassing a colleague in 2017.
For more information, read the original story in Arstechnica.
