Mike Morhaime Response to Blizzard Lawsuit

Mike Morhaime Response to Blizzard Lawsuit
Mike Morhaime posted a response to the Blizzard lawsuit. He stepped down from his position at Blizzard in 2018.
Originally Posted by MMO-Champion
I have read the full complaint against Activision Blizzard and many of the other stories. It is all very disturbing and difficult to read. I am ashamed. It feels like everything I thought I stood for has been washed away. What’s worse but even more important, real people have been harmed, and some women had terrible experiences.

I was at Blizzard for 28 years. During that time, I tried very hard to create an environment that was safe and welcoming for people of all genders and backgrounds. I knew that it was not perfect, but clearly we were far from that goal. The fact that so many women were mistreated and were not supported means we let them down. In addition, we did not succeed in making it feel safe for people to tell their truth. It is no consolation that other companies have faced similar challenges. I wanted us to be different, better.

Harassment and discrimination exist. They are prevalent in our industry. It is the responsibility of leadership to keep all employees feeling safe, supported, and treated equitably, regardless of gender and background. It is the responsibility of leadership to stamp out toxicity and harassment in any form, across all levels of the company. To the Blizzard women who experienced any of these things, I am extremely sorry that I failed you.

I realize that these are just words, but I wanted to acknowledge the women who had awful experiences. I hear you, I believe you, and I am so sorry to have let you down. I want to hear your stories, if you are willing to share them. As a leader in our industry, I can and will use my influence to help drive positive change and to combat misogyny, discrimination, and harassment wherever I can. I believe we can do better, and I believe the gaming industry can be a place where women and minorities are welcomed, included, supported, recognized, rewarded, and ultimately unimpeded from the opportunity to make the types of contributions that all of us join this industry to make. I want the mark I leave on this industry to be something that we can all be proud of.

-Mike
This article was originally published in forum thread: Mike Morhaime Response to Blizzard Lawsuit started by chaud View original post
Published on 2021-07-24 05:53 AM
620 Comments
Comments 605 Comments
  1. Ragedaug's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Goldielocks View Post
    I mean he clearly states that he failed them. Even if he knew or not, it was his job to know. Either he was a bad person or a bad president. Not good.

    This response is better than others I’ve seen, but it doesn’t really matter anyways. People are out for blood. He can show a picture of himself deep bowing with his forehead touching the floor and someone would say “not enough.”
    If he knew about it and did nothing to stop it, or worse enabled retribution against the accusers, then it doesn't matter how low he bows or how contrite he can be or what type of "champion" he could be going forward. I would be that someone who would say it was not enough.

    That said, very few stories have only one side, which is one of the reasons we have courts. I'm not going to sit here and cast judgement on him. My hope is that whoever is guilty in this ordeal will be found out and punished accordingly.
  1. Xilurm's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Ivarr View Post
    Can I just point out how all this corporate woke bullshit that Blizzard has gleefully lead the vanguard in during the past couple of years was nothing but pandering and lecturing to the customer, nothing of it was a sincere human idea.
    I feel so fucking nice knowing it was all bullshit from the get go. It literally all started after the Blitzchung controversy. All the fucking pandering. They were just trying to save face.
    It was too damn obvious.
  1. Jester Joe's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Ivarr View Post
    With his fucking pronouns in the bio.

    It's vacuous bullshit. All of it.
    Again, he literally said he reported anything he saw. Is he perfect, no. But acting like he's suddenly the culprit is just trying to twist the situation around.
  1. ArenaDk's Avatar
    If everybody knew, and it was so wide spread, it shouldnt be to hard to show some hard evidence. Words are nice and all but dont matter
  1. Jester Joe's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by ArenaDk View Post
    If everybody knew, and it was so wide spread, it shouldnt be to hard to show some hard evidence. Words are nice and all but dont matter
    I mean, that's literally what testifying is about and witnesses. That's called evidence.
  1. Xilurm's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Jester Joe View Post
    What are you even on about.

    She clearly says she was under the impression from something she was told.

    And Lore literally said right after what you posted that he knew and reported everything he saw.
    https://twitter.com/devolore/status/1418870901999902723

    Don't try twisting that around.
    Twisting? Against who? It seems to me like Mike knew about it. Lore knew about and while he did report it, he didn't report it to the right people.
  1. Raven's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by ArenaDk View Post
    If everybody knew, and it was so wide spread, it shouldnt be to hard to show some hard evidence. Words are nice and all but dont matter
    Yeah and since they are being sued im sure the hard evidence is saved for the court room.
  1. Jester Joe's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Xilurm View Post
    Twisting? Against who? It seems to me like Mike knew about it. Lore knew about and while he did report it, he didn't report it to the right people.
    Except that wraps back right into what this case is about.

    If you read the court case, they literally list off that the employees felt as if HR was useless, that no reports were ever handled, etc.

    You can't report it to the right people if the right people don't exist.
  1. uuuhname's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Xilurm View Post
    Twisting? Against who? It seems to me like Mike knew about it. Lore knew about and while he did report it, he didn't report it to the right people.
    who else is he supposed to report it to? like, it's pretty obvious this is a problem with the management at nearly every level.
  1. ArenaDk's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Jester Joe View Post
    I mean, that's literally what testifying is about and witnesses. That's called evidence.
    Testifying in court maybe. However even that isnt enough to convict someone of such a serious crime. All the current stuff? has no weight
  1. Ivarr's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Jester Joe View Post
    Again, he literally said he reported anything he saw. Is he perfect, no. But acting like he's suddenly the culprit is just trying to twist the situation around.
    Not my intention of pointing him as a culprit. That would be shooting the messenger. I'm glad that people like him are now airing the dirty laundry.
  1. Xilurm's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Jester Joe View Post
    Except that wraps back right into what this case is about.

    If you read the court case, they literally list off that the employees felt as if HR was useless, that no reports were ever handled, etc.

    You can't report it to the right people if the right people don't exist.
    Quote Originally Posted by uuuhname View Post
    who else is he supposed to report it to? like, it's pretty obvious this is a problem with the management at nearly every level.
    Someone on the outside. Kotaku, Polygon, IGN, Jason Schreier, idk. He used to be a big wow youtuber iirc. Someone would've listened.
  1. Video Games's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Xilurm View Post
    Lmao. According to that tweet it also means Lore knew about it aswell.

    Look at what Cher is saying to him now.

    https://twitter.com/cherthedev/statu...16459925868548

    These guys are trying to eat each other now so they prove themselves innocent before it's too late.
    Lol. I fucking hate lore so him getting called out makes me tingly down there
  1. Aurora's Avatar
    Like so many in upper management he chose to turn a blind eye to all of this. He could have made a difference but chose not to get his hands dirty and did nothing, profit and personal comfort over the safety of those he employed.

    There isn't much more to say other than he's a failed CEO and carries that failure with him to Dreamhaven.
  1. Chapel's Avatar
    'to tell their truth.'

    The Truth. There is no 'personal' truth level. There is 'the truth' and then there is 'personal opinion'.

    Yes, someone can 'feel' discriminated against while not actually being discriminated against. That doesn't make it 'their truth', it makes it their opinion. It is not the truth.

    Choosing a highly knowledgeable friend for a team instead of being told to 'balance for diversity', is not discrimination. It is choosing to work with a friend to make the job easier and more productive.

    Paying someone less for the same position (and experience in that position) due to their gender is discrimination, but not picking them for a higher paying position because they aren't as qualified is not.

    So, what is the case about? Disgruntled for not getting picked? Discriminated against by not getting the position when you were more qualified? Literally paid less when equally experienced in the same position?

    We need facts, the truth... not 'their truth' or it is not believable.
  1. Jester Joe's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by ArenaDk View Post
    Testifying in court maybe. However even that isnt enough to convict someone of such a serious crime. All the current stuff? has no weight
    What do you think they'll be doing with this? Just spreading it now and saying nothing then?

    And it's going to carry weight when you have multiple people telling the same exact story.

    Quote Originally Posted by Ivarr View Post
    Not my intention of pointing him as a culprit. That would be shooting the messenger. I'm glad that people like him are now airing the dirty laundry.
    Just seems weird to attack him for having his pronouns in his bio then.

    Quote Originally Posted by Xilurm View Post
    Someone on the outside. Kotaku, Polygon, IGN, Jason Schreier, idk. He used to be a big wow youtuber iirc. Someone would've listened.
    People have always been blasting Blizzard though for things like how they pay their employees, and past decisions, etc.
    Nothing ever actually got a huge amount of traction since Blitzchung.

    And reporting to those companies doesn't mean they can do much more. It sounds like for the last two years at least they've already had the worst reporting can do, getting investigated by the State.

    Quote Originally Posted by Video Games View Post
    Lol. I fucking hate lore so him getting called out makes me tingly down there
    ಠ_ಠ
  1. Triceron's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Jester Joe View Post
    Except again, reports don't feel ignored if something was fixed.

    Are you also missing that Alex Afrasiabi was named as one of the biggest offenders and he only left Blizzard a year ago?
    Didn't he quit on his own accord?

    He was not laid off or fired to our knowledge. You're just talking about the symptom going away, not about dealing with the disease. We have absolutely no insight on how Blizzard has been dealing with this stuff since Brack took over. And frankly, none of the PR stuff can be trusted, especially given that there is an ongoing investigation right now.

    We don't even know who else was actively part of this 'Frat boy' culture. The current focus seems to be on Afrasiabi as an offender, with many others implied but unnamed.
  1. uuuhname's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Xilurm View Post
    Someone on the outside. Kotaku, Polygon, IGN, Jason Schreier, idk. He used to be a big wow youtuber iirc. Someone would've listened.
    alright, but there have been stories published about this for years now and none of those got any real traction, heck even when they laid off hundreds of Esports employees that died down in a matter of days. as long as he cooperated with the investigation then good on him.
  1. Berndorf's Avatar
    Morhaime's letter was 10x better than Brack's in terms of taking some responsibility but we also know that he knew about at least some women's experiences of harassment and didn't do much and was promoting men who he likely knew had some sort of history of it.
  1. ArenaDk's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Jester Joe View Post
    What do you think they'll be doing with this? Just spreading it now and saying nothing then?

    And it's going to carry weight when you have multiple people telling the same exact story.



    Just seems weird to attack him for having his pronouns in his bio then.



    People have always been blasting Blizzard though for things like how they pay their employees, and past decisions, etc.
    Nothing ever actually got a huge amount of traction since Blitzchung.

    And reporting to those companies doesn't mean they can do much more. It sounds like for the last two years at least they've already had the worst reporting can do, getting investigated by the State.



    ಠ_ಠ
    hundred lies dont make one truth. But it seems for you blizzard already guilty.

    And sure they can save it for later, but until than everyone is inoccent
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