It’s “as bad as described” in a bomb harassment lawsuit

Former Activision Blizzard (ATVI) employees come forward to share their experiences at the company after a California agency filed a civil rights complaint against the gaming giant, alleging harassment pervasive sexuality and discrimination based on gender and race.

The lawsuit, which seeks compensatory and punitive damages, as well as unpaid wages, has sparked a storm against the maker of “Call of Duty” and “World of Warcraft,” with users of social media platforms lambasting the company for its alleged behavior and several employees claiming to have also been discriminated against at Activision Blizzard.

“I was there from 2015 to 2016, and it was as bad as described in the documents at the time,” Dear Scarlett, a former software engineer for Activision Blizzard’s Battle.net, told Yahoo Finance.

In response to the lawsuit, Activision Blizzard said it takes the allegations of misconduct and harassment seriously and that action has been taken in the cases related to the lawsuit. But the company has also decided to discredit the claims of the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH).

“The DFEH includes distorted, and in many cases false, descriptions of Blizzard’s past,” the company said. “We were extremely cooperative with the DFEH throughout their investigation, including providing them with detailed data and extensive documentation, but they declined to inform us of any issues they perceived.”

The lawsuit portrays a company that has let uncontrolled harassment escalate for years, with men groping female colleagues and women being denied promotions and raises. A woman has died by suicide due to a relationship with a male supervisor, according to the complaint. The same woman was also reportedly harassed by other colleagues who shared a nude image of her at a holiday party.

The costume in particular alleges that Scarlett’s former team fostered an atmosphere of “brotherhood.”

According to the lawsuit, an employee noted that “the women on the Battle.net team were subjected to derogatory comments, the environment was akin to working in a fraternity house, and the women who were not “great players” or “grassroots players” and not in the party scene were excluded and treated as outsiders.

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Jennifer Klasing, who worked for Activision Blizzard from 2013-2020, tweeted that she suffered similar gender discrimination to that mentioned in the lawsuit.

“I was told I was ‘too blunt’ in the way I spoke, while male colleagues were never reprimanded in the same way. I have been called emotional, unreasonable and unprofessional, ”she wrote.

“I have heard of male colleagues who confront each other shouting with their manager, and [getting] promoted after.

Racial discrimination was also a problem, according to the lawsuit. When an African-American employee requested time off, she had to submit a one-page summary of how she would spend that time, which her colleagues did not have to do, according to the complaint.

Sexual harassment and gender discrimination are plaguing the gaming industry. French gaming giant Ubisoft faced a similar calculation in 2020, leading to the resignation of five executives, while a 2018 Kotaku report has revealed that the women of Riot Games, creator of the popular “League of Legends,” have experienced widespread harassment and discrimination. The company recognized the problem and developed its own diversity and inclusion team.

About half of women who are gamers have also experienced discrimination. Notably, a misogynistic movement known as Gamergate started in 2014 and has targeted game developers and female gamers under the guise of ethics in game journalism.

The California case will likely take a while to find its way to court, but this is unlikely to be the last time a games company has come under fire for its treatment of women.

For Scarlett, there is only one solution to the industry-wide problem.

“Legal repercussions would be the only way to prevent this form from being so pervasive,” she said.

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