After two years of investigation, the state agency “California Department of Fair Employment and Housing” filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard. The allegations focus on sexism in the workplace. However, the leadership of Activision Blizzard appears disoriented and divided in crisis management.
There is no guide on how to handle an official lawsuit over sexism within your own company. No management book in the world can teach you that. In an ideal world, sexism wouldn’t occur at all in one’s own company.
But we are not at that point. Publisher Activision Blizzard is now precisely in this situation. The management must deal with the crisis now. I do not claim to have a solution for the company. However, I do claim to state: The initial handling of the sexism lawsuit could hardly have been more wrong.
The summary of the lawsuit:
What went wrong at Activision Blizzard after the lawsuit?
- After the lawsuit was filed on July 22 over sexism and sexual harassment, an official statement from Activision Blizzard quickly followed. The focus is primarily on the team around World of Warcraft.
- However, the statement expressed outrage towards the lawsuit. Activision Blizzard accused the California agency of working “shamefully and unprofessionally”.
- The statement was followed by internal emails from management to their teams. These emails were mixed in tone.
- The emails from Blizzard CEO J. Allen Brack and Activision CEO Bobby Kotick acknowledged the internal problems at first and vowed to work on these together with their teams.
- Meanwhile, Frances Townsend (Chief Compliance Officer) chased an email claiming that the allegations in the lawsuit painted a false picture of the company and that some accusations were factually incorrect. The problem is that Townsend has only been with Activision Blizzard for 4 months.
I do not understand much of the reaction.
It is unusual that the first official statement from Activision Blizzard came so quickly. There were barely 24 hours between the filing of the lawsuit and the statement.
It is incomprehensible why the statement has such an aggressive tone and completely denies that there are problems within the company. They even hinted between the lines that they might simply leave California.
This reads as if it were written quickly and charged with emotion. Emotion is, of course, normal here – it should be. Still, it is thoughtless.
On top of that, there is an email from Townsend, who, as Chief Compliance Officer, should be dealing with such matters but only talks about the absolute lack of problems.
What is completely missing from these initial reactions is empathy towards the teams. There is a lack of empathy towards potential victims of sexism and sexual harassment within the company.
A lawsuit from an official agency that has been investigating for two years is a completely different matter than a single tweet that could have been sent by a disgruntled team member.
What signal does all this send to the people who work there?
I can understand why development on World of Warcraft is currently at a standstill and the team is too angry and traumatized to work.
The Snowball Rolls, Grows into a Raging Avalanche
Following the events, statements (via reddit) from former and current employees did not take long to arrive. New reports appear daily since the lawsuit:
The statements confirm much of what is mentioned in the lawsuit against Activision Blizzard. I will not elaborate on the statements because some of them make me sick. Broadly speaking, reports of:
- Abuse of power
- massive drug use in the workplace
- objectification of women
- a HR department that allegedly did not take complaints seriously and gossiped about the problems of individuals
- sexual harassment
- no equal opportunities between men and women in careers
- a toxic boys’ club mentality
This culminates in a letter from the teams to management, which has already been signed by more than 1,500 people. An excerpt:
We, the undersigned, agree that the statements from Activision Blizzard, Inc. and their legal counsel regarding the DFEH lawsuit and the subsequent internal statement from Frances Townsend are abhorrent and offensive to everything we believe our company should stand for. To put it clearly: Our values as employees are not accurately reflected in the words and actions of our leadership.
It goes on to state that the teams have lost trust in their management to create a safe environment.
I can’t blame them. An aggressive denial of this lawsuit would not be the first thing I would want to hear as an employee.
– Sexism in the gaming industry: “I thought that was just part of it”
– Harvard professor should save Riot from sexism
– Insider report paints a grim picture of Ubisoft – sexism as a system
The Future is Crucial and Still Uncertain
Currently, it is difficult to assess how things will proceed with Activision Blizzard. It is no longer a secret that many large gaming studios have massive problems with a toxic corporate culture. The industry is currently undergoing change.
What could be possible consequences? When it became known that a similar picture emerged at Ubisoft, some top managers had to leave. They wanted to rebuild and dismantle the old guard. After all, untouchable managers contributed significantly to the problem.
This could now also threaten the managers at Activision Blizzard and it is not unlikely. It is highly questionable whether Frances Townsend will be able to keep her job.
A similar picture emerged at Riot. There they engaged a Harvard professor at the time, focusing on helping companies become more diverse and inclusive. After a discrimination lawsuit, Riot also paid 10 million dollars to 1,000 women as compensation.
Since then, Riot seems to have consistently worked on the problem and also comes up with positive headlines against sexism.
Activision Blizzard would do well to respond to the demands of their teams. A new statement should definitely demonstrate willingness to change before the public.
It is clear that Activision Blizzard has a hard piece of work ahead. It would certainly not be wrong to seek external help, as Riot did in the past.
Most importantly, it is crucial to listen to individuals now. Without downplaying fears, anger, and sorrow. This is what Activision Blizzard overlooked in their initial reaction. This is what those affected often painfully miss.
