Activision Blizzard has been sued for harassment and discrimination against women

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Content Warning: The following article discusses sexual harassment, sexual assault, and suicide.

The California Department of Employment and Fair Housing has sued Activision Blizzard for “violation of state civil rights and equal pay laws” regarding its treatment of women.

Bloomberg reports that the lawsuit is the result of a two-year investigation into the studio by the state agency, and called Activision Blizzard’s alleged “brotherly boy” culture a “breeding ground for harassment and discrimination against women.”

The lawsuit describes an atmosphere in which women have to “stave off unwanted sexual comments and the progress that their co-workers provide on an ongoing basis” and are “touched” in what the document describes as a “cube creep.”

“In the office, women are subjected to ‘cube crawls’ where employees drink copious amounts of alcohol while they ‘crawl’ their way through various cubicles in the office and often engage in inappropriate behavior towards female employees,” the lawsuit reads. “Male employees proudly come to work lounging, playing video games for extended periods of time at work while delegating responsibilities to female employees, engaging in banter about their sexual encounters, talking openly about women’s bodies, and joking about rape.”

The document goes on to explain the tragic consequences of this alleged ongoing sexual harassment, with the death of a female employee committing suicide “during a business trip with a male supervisor who brought with him butt plugs and lubricants.”

DFEH reports that numerous complaints have been submitted to HR and management, including to J Allen Brack of Blizzard Entertainment, to no avail.

“Employees were discouraged from filing a complaint as HR staff were known to be close to the alleged harassers,” the lawsuit says. “As a result of these complaints, female employees have been subjected to retaliation, including but not limited to being denied work on projects, inadvertently being transferred to different units, and being chosen to lay off.”

The lawsuit also highlights a gender pay gap across all roles and levels of seniority.

“These discriminatory hiring practices began when women were offered lower compensation, job assignments and less profitable opportunities than their male counterparts,” the document states.

The pay gap has reached its highest point, with personnel director Claudine Naughton earning an annual salary of $655,000 in 2020, while President and Chief Operating Officer Daniel Allegri, for example, earned more than $1 million. Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotik’s salary has come under fire over the past year, with the CEO recently taking a 50% pay cut.

The lawsuit also says that women at Activision Blizzard have to “work harder and for longer” to earn promotions and have the same opportunities as their male counterparts.

GamesIndustry.biz has reached out to Activision Blizzard for comment, with the spokesperson denying all accusations from the DFEH lawsuit and saying it is “not where Blizzard operates today.”

“The DFEH includes distorted, and in many cases false, descriptions of Blizzard’s past,” they said. “We have been very cooperative with the DFEH throughout their investigation, including providing them with extensive data and ample documentation, but they have refused to inform us of the issues they see. They are required by law to investigate appropriately and have good faith discussions with us to better understand and resolve any claims or concerns before resorting to litigation. But they failed to do so.”

They went on to say that the “inaccurate” complaint was “urgent”, and condemned “the dishonorable conduct of the DFEH for dragging the tragic complaint of the tragic suicide of an employee whose death has no bearing whatsoever in this case.”

They added that Activision Blizzard “promotes an inclusive workplace” and that significant changes have been made to address Activision Blizzard’s corporate culture in recent years and “reflect more diversity within our leadership teams.” The company’s leadership team can be seen on this page.

Actions the company is taking to promote a healthy workplace culture include an updated code of conduct to “emphasize a firm focus on non-retaliation,” internal channels for reporting violations, a confidential integrity hotline, the establishment of an employee relations team, and a spokesperson included. All Activision Blizzard employees must also undergo regular anti-harassment training.

“We are confident in our ability to demonstrate our practice as an equal employer that provides supportive, diverse and inclusive employment opportunities for our employees, and we are committed to continuing this effort in the years to come. It is a shame that DFEH did not want to communicate with us about what they thought they saw in their achievement.”

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