A Letter From CEO Bobby Kotick to All Employees
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker)
This has been a difficult and upsetting week.

I want to recognize and thank all those who have come forward in the past and in recent days. I so appreciate your courage. Every voice matters - and we will do a better job of listening now, and in the future.

Our initial responses to the issues we face together, and to your concerns, were, quite frankly, tone deaf.

It is imperative that we acknowledge all perspectives and experiences and respect the feelings of those who have been mistreated in any way. I am sorry that we did not provide the right empathy and understanding.

Many of you have told us that active outreach comes from caring so deeply for the Company. That so many people have reached out and shared thoughts, suggestions, and highlighted opportunities for improvement is a powerful reflection of how you care for our communities of colleagues and players – and for each other. Ensuring that we have a safe and welcoming work environment is my highest priority. The leadership team has heard you loud and clear.

We are taking swift action to be the compassionate, caring company you came to work for and to ensure a safe environment. There is no place anywhere at our Company for discrimination, harassment, or unequal treatment of any kind. We will do everything possible to make sure that together, we improve and build the kind of inclusive workplace that is essential to foster creativity and inspiration.

I have asked the law firm WilmerHale to conduct a review of our policies and procedures to ensure that we have and maintain best practices to promote a respectful and inclusive workplace. This work will begin immediately. The WilmerHale team will be led by Stephanie Avakian, who is a member of the management team at WilmerHale and was most recently the Director of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement.

We encourage anyone with an experience you believe violates our policies or in any way made you uncomfortable in the workplace to use any of our many existing channels for reporting or to reach out to Stephanie. She and her team at WilmerHale will be available to speak with you on a confidential basis and can be reached at ATVI@wilmerhale.com or 202-247-2725. Your outreach will be kept confidential. Of course, NO retaliation will be tolerated.

We are committed to long-lasting change. Effective immediately, we will be taking the following actions:

  • Employee Support. We will continue to investigate each and every claim and will not hesitate to take decisive action. To strengthen our capabilities in this area we are adding additional senior staff and other resources to both the Compliance team and the Employee Relations team.
  • Listening Sessions. We know many of you have inspired ideas on how to improve our culture. We will be creating safe spaces, moderated by third parties, for you to speak out and share areas for improvement.
  • Personnel Changes. We are immediately evaluating managers and leaders across the Company. Anyone found to have impeded the integrity of our processes for evaluating claims and imposing appropriate consequences will be terminated.
  • Hiring Practices. Earlier this year I sent an email requiring all hiring managers to ensure they have diverse candidate slates for all open positions. We will be adding compliance resources to ensure that our hiring managers are in fact adhering to this directive.
  • In-game Changes. We have heard the input from employee and player communities that some of our in-game content is inappropriate. We are removing that content.
  • Your well-being remains my priority and I will spare no company resource ensuring that our company has the most welcoming, comfortable, and safe culture possible.

You have my unwavering commitment that we will improve our company together, and we will be the most inspiring, inclusive entertainment company
in the world.

Yours sincerely,

Bobby

Blizzard Offers Paid Time Off For Employees Participating in Walk-Out
Jason Schreier tweeted today that Blizzard has offered paid time off to any employee participating in tomorrow's walk-out.


This article was originally published in forum thread: A Letter From CEO Bobby Kotick to All Employees started by Stoy View original post
Comments 1053 Comments
  1. uuuhname's Avatar
    he can say he's sorry by quitting. which he won't ever do, so, glad you chimed in bob.

    Ha!
  1. Kyphael's Avatar
    I have no idea what's going on.
  1. Chakah's Avatar
    "offer paid time off" = burn 4 hours of your vacation bank..

    lol - suckers
  1. cuafpr's Avatar
    probably the best response yet, esp since it lists actions to be taken. Now the key will be transparency.

    and I'm sorry but LOL at the PTO for a walkout??? I mean it's what a couple of hours and you are giving them PTO? why should that even need to be a thing, it should have gone without saying. they can't be that big of clock watchers they were actually going to dock pay for the walkout... right?
  1. justandulas's Avatar
    Poppa Kotick saw the stock plummeting and said "ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL"
  1. Soon-TM's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Trade Prince Bobby View Post
    Personnel Changes. We are immediately evaluating managers and leaders across the Company. Anyone found to have impeded the integrity of our processes for evaluating claims and imposing appropriate consequences will be terminated.
    The only part that isn't a PR trope. While I like the way he says it, it remains to be seen how decisive and effective will the culling be.

    Quote Originally Posted by ro9ue View Post
    Glad Bobby got my email about the Vulpera.
    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, ggwp m8
  1. Aphelios's Avatar
    Hopefully they hire another diversity and inclusion officer.
  1. huehuehue's Avatar
    In-game Changes. We have heard the input from employee and player communities that some of our in-game content is inappropriate. We are removing that content.
    lets get a few bulldozers to Goldshire Inn
  1. Tehalbino's Avatar
    Hiring Practices. Earlier this year I sent an email requiring all hiring managers to ensure they have diverse candidate slates for all open positions. We will be adding compliance resources to ensure that our hiring managers are in fact adhering to this directive.
    Who cares about a quality product or a cohesive workforce when you have quotas to meet.

    Sure fosters a good work environment when there are people incapable of performing the tasks asked of them, while everyone including themselves knows it.
  1. Chriisto's Avatar
    Any chance you could funnel some of the money WoW generates back into the game while you are at it? Most raiders will be finished in a few weeks and then it's no content for 7+ months while your team of greasy incels gets wasted and freaks out the ladies instead of working.
  1. oldgeezer's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Kyphael View Post
    I have no idea what's going on.
    It'll all be sorted in the law courts. A great deal of money will change hands, and some people will become very rich. It's America, after all.

    After that, nothing really will change, other than 'lessons have been learned etc', and the world will continue to turn on its axis.
  1. dlld's Avatar
    Bobby most likely doesn't give a shit as many has stated, but he doesn't really have to, he cares about the company doing well financially (which in turn means he does himself) and if internal and external forces continue to demand change and the bottom line will be negatively affected until said change happens, then he's forced to make them.
  1. Sluvs's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by uuuhname View Post
    sure are a lot of "snowflakes" in these threads crying about things that don't involve them. like, what do you care who has what bits? you weirdo? you one of those people accosting women at the bathroom to see if they belong there?
    Not sure, if you are trolling or not, but one of the complaint listed in the lawsuit is that women were not promoted(even when better qualified than the other candidates) and lacked any real presence in leadership. So, theoretically, putting more women in position could have prevented a lot of sexual harassment since they could have a support system.
  1. Nimin's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by huehuehue View Post
    lets get a few bulldozers to Goldshire Inn
    What's wrong with Goldshire Inn now?
  1. uuuhname's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Sluvs View Post
    Not sure, if you are trolling or not, but one of the complaint listed in the lawsuit is that women were not promoted(even when better qualified than the other candidates) and lacked any real presence in leadership. So, theoretically, putting more women in position could have prevented a lot of sexual harassment since they could have a support system.
    I'm aware of that. it's a comment on the cries about "pandering to snowflake libs".
  1. aceperson's Avatar
    read the first line and i already have to stop and call bs... kotick is literally on the record saying he wanted to make game design unfun. he WANTED this kind of atmosphere. this is what he purposefully made activision blizzard into. the only thing that's tough on him is how much less money he is going to get from trading in his stock since the stock tanked $6 today.
  1. Garretdejiko's Avatar

    This is what it takes to have words from the big man (or his secretary). It's not much, but it was enough. He knows it'll get worse.
    Imagine what would happen if people outright stopped playing this game.

    Quote Originally Posted by Aphelios View Post
    Really can't wait for the court of Twitter to dig up Bobby's sexual harassment case.

    Also, +1 for hiring a do nothing firm to increase your diversity and inclusivity by another 10,000 points. It's super effective!
    He appeared on an Epstein related contact list, nothing happened.
  1. Chickat's Avatar
    I don't give a shit why a company makes changes, and neither should you. Positive changes should be encouraged, no matter the ulterior motive of the one making those changes. Like a company "Virtue signaling" during pride month. Who cares why they did it? Of course, it's to make more money. It's still a good thing.
  1. Yarathir's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Chickat View Post
    I don't give a shit why a company makes changes, and neither should you. Positive changes should be encouraged, no matter the ulterior motive of the one making those changes. Like a company "Virtue signaling" during pride month. Who cares why they did it? Of course, it's to make more money. It's still a good thing.
    Not everyone revels in naivete is why.
  1. jediknight12's Avatar
    Unless it's sexual harassment or other abusive conduct this is all leftwing liberal crap, I don't care if the male or female is more talented they may not mesh/work well with that team for many reasons other than what sex they are.

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