Destiny 2 Maker takes a closer look at Activision Blizzard claims

the studio behind Halo and now destiny Posted a statement on Twitter yesterday, addressing allegations of widespread sexual harassment and alleged discrimination in a new trial brought by California regulators against Activision Blizzard. “We have a responsibility to recognize, reflect and do what we can to push back a persistent culture of harassment, abuse and inequality that exists in our industry,” the company wrote.

Bungie posted the statement on Twitter but also linked and posted it on his weekly blog post on the state of Destiny 2. Although he did not directly name Activision Blizzard, the former business partner stressed that he believes victims when they come forward and “is committed to doing everything in our power to combat harassment. systemic, sexism, abuse and inequality “.

Here is the full statement:

Bungie aims to empower our employees, no matter who they are, where they come from or how they identify with themselves.

We have a responsibility to recognize, reflect and do what we can to push back a persistent culture of harassment, abuse and inequality that exists in our industry.

It is our responsibility to ensure that this type of behavior is not tolerated at Bungie on any level, and that we never apologize or sweep it under the rug.

While this week’s news accounts are hard to read, we hope they lead to justice, awareness and accountability.

We have a zero tolerance policy at Bungie for the environments that support this toxic culture, and we’re committed to eradicating them to stand up for those who are at risk.

Women, POCs and under-represented communities have nothing to gain from reliving their trauma. We believe them when they report abuse or harassment.

We don’t pretend that Bungie is perfect and that no one has been harassed while working here, but we won’t tolerate it and we will face it head-on. And we will continue to do the job every day to be better.

Our goal is to continue to improve the experience for everyone who works at Bungie and to do our part to make the gaming industry as a whole more welcoming and inclusive.

A few years after leaving behind Microsoft and the Halo series it created there in 2007, Bungie announced a 10-year publishing deal with Activision Blizzard. The first game to arrive under this new deal was the Sci-Fi Epic destiny, followed by several expansions and finally a sequel in 2017. But according to reports the relationship was acrimonious, with Activision Blizzard pushing the studio for more annualized releases in the vein of Call of Duty. Bungie finally separated from the publisher early 2019.

“Even happier that we’ve broken up with Activision now,” James Haywood, Bungie Tool Engineer wrote on Twitter.

Like Forbes‘Paul Tassi points out, Bungie has formed inclusion clubs over the past year, including Women at Bungie, Black at Bungie, and Trans at Bungie, to help improve the workplace. And as many have discussed on Twitter over the past two days, issues of harassment and discrimination are endemic to the games industry, and no studio or company is immune, though few have been put forward. in light with the gravity of what is presented. in the current Activision Blizzard lawsuit.