Mike Morhaime Response to Blizzard Lawsuit

[Skirdus]

I feel like this is turning into another "Shadman" situation where someone in a group of influential creators does some extremely fucked up shit that many of said creators were seemingly aware of but either did nothing about it or failed to properly condemn it.

The difference being of course that Shadman is blatant and public about his fucked up shit, whereas this was behind closed curtains for YEARS and only now that it's been made public are others starting to condemn it

[Spike`]

I call it bullshit but lets go for it that he didn't know about the sex harassments

Well the lawsuit is also a lot about women having inferior salary, are we going to buy it that he also didn't know that being the CEO ?

[hydrium]

Mike was running the show and created the environment that allowed this to happen long before JAB took over.

Don't get me wrong, JAB is a moron barely fit to run a lemonade stand let alone Blizzard, but Mike was ultimately the one that created this monster.

In short, fuck Mike and fuck JAB.

[Wangming]

Even if Ion knew something, do you actually belive he as a Game director have the power to fire senior members ? i doubt he even has the power to fire low level devs, hiring and firing is handled higher up.

No Mike just hired Afrasiabi knowing he was a complete toxic idiot before he even joined Blizzard and then didnt know anything about what was going on with Afrasiabi for around 14 years.

I don't recall saying that. We don't know what Ion's stance is on the issue as he didn't say anything yet. But while I can picture Executives not being aware of the full scope of the problem, Ion should be aware of at least what the WoW team is doing. Because that is litereally his job. Not trying to shit on Ion. Not now anyway. Just trying to constrast his position in the company to Mike's. Now in this case Mike may have known because complaints could have risen to his level. He may have been aware of the full scope of the problem, despite his insistence of the contrary.

But when we talk about CEOs in general, I can totally expect them to not be fully aware of how smaller divisions are doing. Especially if those smaller divisions are lead by people causing the problems.

- - - Updated - - -

It amazes me how many people are coming out of the woodwork to talk about what happened at blizzard. You were there, you knew, and you did nothing. Coming out after the fact just confirms it.

Well as one former employee posted, the hiring process including signing an agreement that you will never sue Blizzard.

Plus while it is quite fashionable to hate on Blizzard due to a lot of botched released and their repeated displays of being out of touch with the community, I don't doubt for a minute that if somebody came out during the peak of Wrath of the Lich King and said dev team members abused her, most people wouldn't believe them. Hell, even with all the damning testimonies some posters still believe that this is just some attack on white men by woke culture.

It is not easy to take the chance of being the only one. And if you come out? What then? Do you go back to Blizzard hoping the lawsuit did its job? Or you look for another job because simply being vindicated won't pay your bills?

[justandulas]

You may want to read Josh Allen's response.

Lore basically called Morhaime out on his BS and alleged that he definitely 100% knew about the allegations against Afrasiabi and the other instances of cube crawls and sexual harassment.

Lore has absolutely 0 credibility here for a couple of reasons. 1, he has his own issues and is saving face any way he can... and most importantly... 2) he is best bro's with J Allen Brack and will say or do anything to deflect the heat off his boss and best bro.

Lore has no credibility here, but if you did want to say Morhaime knew... there is an email from a female employee from 2018 that she claims she mailed directly to mike... but also but 2018 mike was basically a figurehead and already halfway out the door and may not have actually been involved in the day to day

[Askyl]

It just feels like Mike seriously didn't understand the situation and didn't take it seriously because "That shit can't happen here, Blizzard is good and I have created this". I'm quite certain he really honestly didn't think it was this bad. No one expects the people you trust or run a company with to do bad things.

Just as a parents trust each other, no home would be good with both parents thinking the other one is evil and would do bad things to their kids. And when bad stuff is brought up, it's easy to mellow it down because you really don't want it to be serious or don't really understand the issue.

People really gotta understand that and not just nuke others for "THEY SHOULD HAVE"-reasons. Like, people who really haven't done anything wrong and step up now are being hated on because "WHY DIDNT YOU DO IT EARLIER LOLOLOL". Because they didn't want to risk their job? Being burned by Blizzard could really hurt your career. You guys hating on Blizzard is just as fucking bad as the predators working there. Even some of the book writers have been threatened to death because they wrote a damn book for Blizzard and "Let this happen".

But with that said, it's his job to know, and I really hope he comes up with a much better apology than that. It really looked PR-friendly and as if he didn't write it him self. Throw in some punches on Blizzard and pretend to care and it'll all be fine.

He can do better than that.

[Jester Joe]

Lore has absolutely 0 credibility here for a couple of reasons. 1, he has his own issues and is saving face any way he can... and most importantly... 2) he is best bro's with J Allen Brack and will say or do anything to deflect the heat off his boss and best bro.

Lore has no credibility here, but if you did want to say Morhaime knew... there is an email from a female employee from 2018 that she claims she mailed directly to mike... but also but 2018 mike was basically a figurehead and already halfway out the door and may not have actually been involved in the day to day

I mean, Lore also called out current leadership so I don't think it's about deflecting.

https://twitter.com/devolore/status/1418857789640740865

[justandulas]

I mean, Lore also called out current leadership so I don't think it's about deflecting.

https://twitter.com/devolore/status/1418857789640740865

i think its more than likely tbh, that they're all guilty or at least complicit in letting this happen for so long. It's just a bad situation all around

EDIT: and reading Lore's posts, it does seem like he's trying to deflect ALL the blame he can away from his good friend J Allen Brack who is specifically mentioned in the lawsuit about a dozen times. There's no mention of Mike Morhaime anywhere in this suit. Lore may be right about Mike knowing, i tend to believe that, but he isn't doing this for any noble reason... he's only speaking out to try to save his friend J Allen Brack and nothing more.

[Makabreska]

I mean, Lore also called out current leadership so I don't think it's about deflecting.

https://twitter.com/devolore/status/1418857789640740865

This was kinda weird to me. Does he expect a huge leadership shake-up? Because if it doesn't happen, they will remember his Tweet.

[Raven]

i think its more than likely tbh, that they're all guilty or at least complicit in letting this happen for so long. It's just a bad situation all around

EDIT: and reading Lore's posts, it does seem like he's trying to deflect ALL the blame he can away from his good friend J Allen Brack who is specifically mentioned in the lawsuit about a dozen times. There's no mention of Mike Morhaime anywhere in this suit. Lore may be right about Mike knowing, i tend to believe that, but he isn't doing this for any noble reason... he's only speaking out to try to save his friend J Allen Brack and nothing more.

If he´s trying to deflect away from Brack a line like "Don't get me wrong, current leadership is fucking up hard right now too."
is really not doing a good job at that.

[Sett]

He's guilty.

[justandulas]

If he´s trying to deflect away from Brack a line like "Don't get me wrong, current leadership is fucking up hard right now too."
is really not doing a good job at that.

I read that as a critique of management's tone deaf statements less than critique of his buddy J. Allen brack. Brack is specifically mentioned in the suit, mike isn't. All this "blame mike" talk may have merit, but it does seem like Lore is just trying his damndest to save his buddy from consequences by saying "he isn't responsible, he inherited it" when J Allen Brack was covering for Afrisabi LONG before he became president according to the suit, this was something going back about a decade with J Allen Brack (covering for Afrisabi) if you believe the suit which i do.

[Makabreska]

https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comment...t_at_blizzard/

[Gaidax]

*snip*

I just don't get some people here trying to defend Mike fucking Morhaime, the guy who headed the company for 28 years and who literally turned a blind eye to the whole thing. The deflections as if he was oblivious to the whole thing are so fucking hilarious, I'm spilling my coffee here.

We can hammer JAB all day long and probably should, because you don't get promoted to CEO from janitor, he surely was one of the higher ranking management bois who most certainly too had a clue and had enough power to act.

But really, the CEO of the company, leadership of which did all that alleged shit while being promoted just fine, was Mike Morehaime. So yes he's bloody responsible and saying he did not see/know what his buddy buddies he put in executive positions did is like Obama's "come on, man" kind of thing.

So yeah Mike did not know? Come on, man...

[THEORACLE64]

He's guilty.

A dumb comment.

[Triceron]

It amazes me how many people are coming out of the woodwork to talk about what happened at blizzard. You were there, you knew, and you did nothing. Coming out after the fact just confirms it.

Personally I've refused to do something over ethical issues. I even contacted my professional body and a lawyer friend I trust for advice. I lost my job over that particular instance. I wouldn't have changed a thing and that was no where near as bad as whats outlined in this lawsuit.

Was your ethical issue sexual harassment? If not, perhaps best not equate the two as if you know what it feels like to be in that same position.

[justandulas]

I just don't get some people here trying to defend Mike fucking Morhaime, the guy who headed the company for 28 years and who literally turned a blind eye to the whole thing. The deflections as if he was oblivious to the whole thing are so fucking hilarious, I'm spilling my coffee here.

We can hammer JAB all day long and probably should, because you don't get promoted to CEO from janitor, he surely was one of the higher ranking management bois who most certainly too had a clue and had enough power to act.

But really, the CEO of the company, leadership of which did all that alleged shit while being promoted just fine, was Mike Morehaime. So yes he's bloody responsible and saying he did not see/know what his buddy buddies he put in executive positions did is like Obama's "come on, man" kind of thing.

So yeah Mike did not know? Come on, man...

I said i think Mike's guilty too, but he clearly isn't AS guilty as covering it up as JAB or he'd be the one listed in the lawsuit, him no longer working there would not stop his name being part of this lawsuit. Maybe the state needs to make an amendment and look into his role into this too, there seems to be plenty of heresay and evidence in that regard.

[Arvandor]

2 years of investigation..

this is high level crime shit!

[justandulas]

2 years of investigation..

this is high level crime shit!

and the thing about state or federal charges... they don't file them against corporations unless they are 100% confident they'll win. It's why the FBI has like a 99% conviction rate. They will take years gathering every crumb of evidence and then some until it's an open/shut case.

Blizzard better be thinking settlement with the state because the state will not lose this

[Kumorii]

https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comment...t_at_blizzard/

Think it's time for anyone with stock to perhaps sell it.