Posted in: Activision, Blizzard, Games, Video Games | Tagged: activision, activision blizzard, Blizzard Entertainment

Over 1K Activision Blizzard Employees Condemn Allegation Response

A new internal development has occurred at Activision Blizzard as over 1,000 employees have condemned the company's response. The news comes from Kotaku this evening as employees shared the letter with the website. According to the report, a team drafted the open letter over the weekend and started gaining signatures from across all of the company's divisions and organizations. While we don't have the full list of names who signed the letter, here's what the main body of it said as it was sent to the company's leaders this morning.

To the Leaders of Activision Blizzard,

We, the undersigned, agree that the statements from Activision Blizzard, Inc. and their legal counsel regarding the DFEH lawsuit, as well as the subsequent internal statement from Frances Townsend, are abhorrent and insulting to all that we believe our company should stand for. To put it clearly and unequivocally, our values as employees are not accurately reflected in the words and actions of our leadership.

We believe these statements have damaged our ongoing quest for equality inside and outside of our industry. Categorizing the claims that have been made as "distorted, and in many cases false" creates a company atmosphere that disbelieves victims. It also casts doubt on our organizations' ability to hold abusers accountable for their actions and foster a safe environment for victims to come forward in the future. These statements make it clear that our leadership is not putting our values first. Immediate corrections are needed from the highest level of our organization.

Our company executives have claimed that actions will be taken to protect us, but in the face of legal action — and the troubling official responses that followed — we no longer trust that our leaders will place employee safety above their own interests. To claim this is a "truly meritless and irresponsible lawsuit," while seeing so many current and former employees speak out about their own experiences regarding harassment and abuse, is simply unacceptable.

We call for official statements that recognize the seriousness of these allegations and demonstrate compassion for victims of harassment and assault. We call on Frances Townsend to stand by her word to step down as Executive Sponsor of the ABK Employee Women's Network as a result of the damaging nature of her statement. We call on the executive leadership team to work with us on new and meaningful efforts that ensure employees — as well as our community — have a safe place to speak out and come forward.

We stand with all our friends, teammates, and colleagues, as well as the members of our dedicated community, who have experienced mistreatment or harassment of any kind. We will not be silenced, we will not stand aside, and we will not give up until the company we love is a workplace we can all feel proud to be a part of again. We will be the change.

The letter comes after the company's corporate response to a lawsuit from the state of California over what they referred to as "frat boy behavior" within the company when it came to the treatment of women. The lawsuit isn't even one week old and hasn't even made it through the court system yet, and it's already drawn the ire of players and fans. On top of what is essentially most of the company's employees according to this new letter. We're basically now waiting to see how that management will respond internally. We'll keep an eye on further developments and update you on what happens.

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