Patch 9.1 Hotfixes - July 21, 2021, Activision Blizzard Sued By California

[Xires]

Is this a new culture? Like has this been going on for over a decade without us knowing or a recent problem?

a new "culture"? No, it's a bunch of assholes who thought they could do the nasty shit they did- and now maybe they'll pay fore it. Nothing "cultural" about it.

[Velshin]

Damn I knew things were bad in Blizzard but I wasn't expecting it to be this bad....

I wonder if Jeff Kaplan sudden leaving because he knew that shit will hit the fan pretty soon?

[Xires]

Someone's an incel by the looks of it.

He's not wrong in that their are social justice warriors going around trying to cancel anybody for anything. And these days people tend to be judged before anybody knows any of the facts...especially by twitter people. But claiming that someone is an "incel" because their narrative doesn't fully support yours only creates more division and doesn't make any attempt at actual discussion. Children are behaving badly these days because adults are behaving like bad children.

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Damn I knew things were bad in Blizzard but I wasn't expecting it to be this bad....

I wonder if Jeff Kaplan sudden leaving because he knew that shit will hit the fan pretty soon?

being part of the company wouldn't absolve him of anything if he himself took part. After a while...people just want to leave- especially if it isn't even the same company you started out at 25-30 years earlier when it was still indy and not quite beholden to people in suits and ties.

[Zorachus]

Was already not fan of Shittylands lately, now with this disgusting sexual harassment news, I'm done. Cancelling my sub.

[Gadzooks]

You can't be serious right? The one man actually named in the lawsuit is Alex Afrasiabi who has been with Blizz since before WoW launched and he was allegedly involved in an incident in 2013. This goes waaaaay back. You don't get to blame this shit on Activision or whatever.

This is as old Blizzard as it fucking gets.

Let's be clear here, Alex Afrasiabi is not on trial here. He is given as one of the worst examples of how Blizzard management (J Allen specifically) failed to adequately deal with blatant misbehavior by Afrasiabi, and by extension, other employees, by the DFEH. It doesn't matter how far back it goes, who worked there at the time, the culture the state is claiming exists is the problem, and remedy for that is the purpose of this lawsuit, and it will be on the entire management and leadership of Blizzard if proven true. They're going to use stories like Afrasiabi's to show a judge and jury how and why the complaints of the women they've investigated have merit. Blizzard's lawyers will have to show that either the environment didn't exist, which is a steep hill considering Afrasiabi is no longer working there, or that they've remedied the cultural issues, and the state will argue what they've done isn't enough. At least that's what I see reading the complaint and Blizzard's response.

There's a lot of wild accusations and speculation and such - bound to happen, but if you focus on the actual complaint, and what the state wants, and then read Blizzard's response, it's not hard to avoid falling into the lures and bait from people with an agenda. This is a fairly nasty lawsuit, with significant implications for Blizzard if they lose, and the hit to their public relations couldn't have happened at a worse time, for sure. But this isn't about Afrasiabi specifically. He's just the example for the toxic workplace the state is trying to establish in defense of the employees who this is over. I'm not a lawyer, and this is my conjecture, take for what you paid for it.

[Antherios]

...He's not wrong in that their are social justice warriors going around trying to cancel anybody for anything....

I would recommend not going that route on this thread. I understand your point and have my own opinions and challenges to yours, but a mod can come any second and lock the whole thread because of "derailing", or maybe other rea$ons.

[Clbull]

Oh excuse me! I didn't see that, then clearly the whole case is bogus and infested with misinformation!

/S in case it wasn't obvious

Typos are surprisingly common in the legal world.

[DookuDookuTree]

Now that WoW is dead because of this & some of them are going to prison unless the state of california is lying, they have proof so that is how it is, FF14 will have about a million more subscribers next month & they already broke user record recently, good times in Japan.

When I say that half of Blizzard has sperm banned themselves from the games industry it's not any misunderstaning on my part, read the god damn case files that the state of california did, (Bobby is probaby safe tho :CCC but it all goes very high & there IS proof.

[ElDoorO]

USA has a sick culture, and it will continue with nothing happening. Nothing changed with Riot games, nothing will here. I litterally never hear about these things in Europe or most countries outside of the USA...In my small ass country Denmark we just had some politicians being creeps, thats about it.

Denmark is also a tiny country compared to the US. It's a simple numbers game. I know it's "hip" to hate on the US but truth is -- this is a simple numbers game.

You probably don't hear about these things because they aren't in the ecosystems you are around. You're only hearing about this specific one because of your interest in WoW (or whatever reason you visit this site).

But it's quite clear you have no understanding of the common cultures in the US.

Your statement is about as silly as those misleading headlines that say "over in Japan, they do X" when, in reality, it's just one small portion in a few businesses.

The problem here is people are incapable of honest discourse about the situation. People, like you, have broad inaccurate assumptions that take more time to dispel than spent actually discussing the actual topic.

It's more difficult to convince a person they are wrong than to fool them in the first place.

[DookuDookuTree]

Why are there idiots acting like any of this is new? It happens nearly every other year and few, if any, of the companies nailed have shutdown. How's Riot doing these days after their sexual harassment situation?

They didnt have any boss-subordinate rape suicide & Blizz has more normal players which care A LOT more than hardcores.

[Gadzooks]

Now that WoW is dead because of this & some of them are going to prison unless the state of california is lying, they have proof so that is how it is, FF14 will have about a million more subscribers next month & they already broke user record recently, good times in Japan.

When I say that half of Blizzard has sperm banned themselves from the games industry it's not any misunderstaning on my part, read the god damn case files that the state of california did, (Bobby is probaby safe tho :CCC but it all goes very high & there IS proof.

Nobody that anyone knows of is going to prison, or is in risk of prison, from this lawsuit, as it is a civil lawsuit, not a criminal one. The state is seeking remedy in the form of reparations and change of Blizzard's business practices.

Criminal charges could spring from this, but currently none have been filed, that anyone is aware of.

[fearcazic]

It's at both and multiple levels. There's complaints specifically talking about Blizzard and Activision

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Nope, they had the power, they have part of the responsibility

I received a survey about this a couple of years ago by the lawyers suing ATVI now. What I told them now (and here) is that what I saw was complete opposite at 3100. We promoted a female to run all of ATVI studios for Call of Duty. She has 0 production experience but started at ATVI as a HR intern. They recently promoted another strong female candidate to head up Call of Duty with little experience with production or Call of Duty franchise. She is smart, very smart though. No doubt both are qualified. COD has been strong and even stronger with them at the helm.

VV head of studio is female and she is now part of Blizzard leadership. Many of the steakholders I needed approvals from are female. Many leadership roles at the org are female. Everyone was treated fairly, but i'm not saying people are lying. I just never saw it myself. I think ATVI was a great place to work.

[Gadzooks]

I received a survey about this a couple of years ago by the lawyers suing ATVI now. What I told them now (and here) is that what I saw was complete opposite at 3100. We promoted a female to run all of ATVI studios for Call of Duty. She has 0 production experience but started at ATVI as a HR intern. They recently promoted another strong female candidate to head up Call of Duty with little experience with production or Call of Duty franchise. She is smart, very smart though. No doubt both are qualified. COD has been strong and even stronger with them at the helm.

VV head of studio is female and she is now part of Blizzard leadership. Many of the steakholders I needed approvals from are female. Many leadership roles at the org are female. Everyone was treated fairly, but i'm not saying people are lying. I just never saw it myself. I think ATVI was a great place to work.

ATVI has almost 10,000 employees, you can't blame every employee with this behavior, and the suit focuses on specific units within Blizzard, and potentially other units in Activision. The complaint originally filed in 2018 was focused on Blizzard, and was amended to include the entire ATVI workforce, so there may be (and most likely are) teams at Activision who engaged in bad behavior, and some that didn't. And, the WoW team has been identified as an egregious violator in the filing, and I've seen no complaints or accusations against other Blizzard teams, like Hearthstone and Diablo, while some complaints have been made against the CS teams. Until the case actually starts, and testimony is given, that's all we know, except for public statements from past and present employees of Blizzard - who are posting in support of the women being represented by the state, the Reddit thread has links to them.

My conjecture: WoW are the "rock stars" of Blizzard, who made the company blow up into the success they've had, and are given a large amount of lenience and permission from the higher ups, because WoW pays the bills and is their tentpole franchise. The leadership of Blizzard made some very, very, very poor decisions that led to this lawsuit, after scrambling after the initial complaint was filed in 2018 by the state to cover it up.

[Daedius]

What a cute response, meanwhile they make no mention of a Senior's sudden departure, Alex.

[Arrashi]

I love how their statement starts with "we luv divursite". Holy shit i get not having dignity but there should be some limits to scumbaggery.

[GreenJesus]

If my memory serves me right, ActiBlizz is well within its rights to see the evidence being used against them before litigation. Procedural stuff is not my forte, but I think this is the case.

Regardless of innocence or guilt, ActiBlizz would likely respond the same way. One has to keep in mind that even filing such claims are a huge PR issue, even if nothing comes out. Heck, these forums have tons of people ready to instantly condemn ActiBlizz just based upon the accusations, which means the PR damage is already being done. The court filing's introduction is just as accusatory as ActiBlizz's statement, as this is how the game is played.

I think people should always have a healthy bit of skepticism when it comes to matters like these, as it's never just black or white. Personally, I wouldn't put it past the DFEH (as a government body itself) to be embellishing the situation to make it seem way worse than it is. I mean California has never been known to have governmental agencies to overreach or do shady things, right? That's not to say this suit is one such instance, it may be 100% legit, but it also may not be. This is why you want to let these things play out, as you should not just automatically trust government or large corporations and what they tell you without verification.

This is also a good point.

https://www.businessinsider.com/cali...-coffee-2018-4

California cancer warnings are a perfect example of this. Legally required to label literally everything a cancer risk or risk being sued. California says "Coffee" and "staying at a hotel" is a cancer risk. California over reacts about everything besides dealing with homeless people.

[Kikazz]

sounds like it goes back to atleast 2013.

https://twitter.com/skrutsick/status...06293495762944

8 years to post about something....
that was supposedly mentally scarring,

and caused a lot of pain?>


why dont these people speak up sooner.....

[Demsi]

8 years to post about something....
that was supposedly mentally scarring,

and caused a lot of pain?>


why dont these people speak up sooner.....

There's a few reasons, fear of being fired for example, not to mention this kind of behaviour is quite normalised. There's an expectation for these women to just "deal with it" so to say

[Grim32]

There's a few reasons, fear of being fired for example, not to mention this kind of behaviour is quite normalised. There's an expectation for these women to just "deal with it" so to say

8 years is a long time. If something was that bad, you would not deal with it for that long in the real world...

[Dain6foot8]

Funny thing, cause Blizzard was part of SJW 'culture' and witch hunts. I remind that people like Swifty or voice actor for Kael'Thas were thrown under a bus just with accusation as well. I guess this is karma. I think more people from community would back Blizzard in hard time like now if Blizzard wouldn't pretend they don't know a guy from community 5 minutes after witch hunt starts.

That one is especially interesting. Quinton Flynn was fired on even less than accusations....the public announcement of his firing was made weeks after his accuser was blasted in court. She had been sock-puppetting and stalking him, his wife, and his family, and admitted to such(begrudgingly) in court. Sadly, she is severely mentally ill(per her own admission, since before knowing him) and needs help. Quinton just wanted to get an order stopping her, he didn't sue her for a dime.

So Blizz fired a guy on disproven allegations who treated his accuser with absolute tact...