Activision Blizzard Shareholder SOC Letter, Diablo II: Resurrected Early Access

[Yarathir]

Jesus, 14 pages of the same exact thing.

This is why I'm glad I switched to FFXIV 6 years ago as my main mmo. No toxic bs outside the game that's surrounding the company for years. Development is consistent and the devs care about their community. And everyone loves big butts.

Except the devs. Add sliders, damn you.

[rrayy]

You don't like making money do you?

Does the term investor not mean anything to you?

Did you even bother to look into said investor? They are an extremist organization trying to push their Socialist agenda who literally told Blizzard to hire a woman sepcecifally because she is a woman. That investor also owns a VERY small portion of the company. But I guess you are OK with discrimination as long as it is against men because that is what that "investor" is demanding

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It's sexist, obviously, but these are Blizzard's shareholders and they get to decide about their private property however they want. It's important that we respect the right to control private property because that's what 'equity' actually means.

No they don't. They don't have voting power. They can scream uintil they are blue in the face, but it does not matter. They are nothing but an extremist group trying to push their ideology.

[Manhands]

I don't really care to interface with anyone here directly on this. I'll just speak into the aether.

I think it's reasonable to question affirmative action policies. When you take a brief slice in time, such as hiring a new director at Blizzard, requiring a particular gender not only seems unfair but also limits the applicant pool. You can concoct all kinds of scenarios where it's unfair, like the denial of a qualified male applicant who has a history of fighting for minorities. However, the good-ol'-boys club is a very real thing, and if you don't enforce requirements of equity, it just doesn't happen. And when it doesn't happen, you end up with EXACTLY the kind of toxic work environment like Blizzard has. Wouldn't Blizzard be a better place to work if there were more female directors (and above) who advocated for equity? Because Blizzard wasn't fair in their hiring and promotion practices, they absolutely deserve to be given requirements for hiring like this. So broadening from the slice in time of the hiring of a director and looking more toward improving the company's overall culture, this will be good.

[uuuhname]

The group who wrote the letter. They are an extremist group run completely off their ideology,

you mean the shareholders? the people who have a vested interest in not losing money needlessly to sexual harassment suits? yes, I'm sure they are driven by the all powerful ideology of "make more money not more problems".

I swear you guys can't help but cry wolf whenever the mere threat of things not being catered specifically to you rears it head. it would be funny if it wasn't so pathetic.

[rrayy]

you mean the shareholders? the people who have a vested interest in not losing money needlessly to sexual harassment suits? yes, I'm sure they are driven by the all powerful ideology of "make more money not more problems".

I swear you guys can't help but cry wolf whenever the mere threat of things not being catered specifically to you rears it head. it would be funny if it wasn't so pathetic.

I swear you did not read the letter at all or even bothered to research just who wrote the letter. They literally demanded Blizzard to hire a women SPECIFICALLY BECAUSE SHE IS A WOMAN!. They are literally tellliing Blizzard to fight sexism by being sexist. The group who wrote the letter is an extremist group pushing their ideology. But I guess you are OK with it because you share it.

[Dartz1979]

Is there going to be a open.net for mods and stuff like that because i still have my jemella and drop mods would be nice if i can be able to use them on a private created game

[crejack]

The number of people in this thread who fail to understand that there ARE people just as qualified across a diverse spectrum. Diverse hiring is not "Hire someone with no qualifications because they got teh boobies," and it never has been.

Yeah, and thankfully these idiots are finally being ignored so we can get qualified folk of all backgrounds.

[beelgers]

you mean the shareholders? the people who have a vested interest in not losing money needlessly to sexual harassment suits? yes, I'm sure they are driven by the all powerful ideology of "make more money not more problems".

I swear you guys can't help but cry wolf whenever the mere threat of things not being catered specifically to you rears it head. it would be funny if it wasn't so pathetic.

Not speaking to one ideology or the other, but to be fair, this isn't from "shareholders" - this is from a singular shareholder that as far as I know doesn't even own more than one share. They probably just purchased the share(s) so they could call themselves a shareholder when they criticize the company. I bet they do this with more than just Blizzard. At the very least I feel I can safely assume that they aren't driven by interest in profits *from Blizzard stock*. I looked at a few articles, and I see no "news site" that has looked into how much they've invested before reporting on this. Maybe they do own a ton of stock. I doubt it, but feel free to correct me.

[beanman12345]

Not speaking to one ideology or the other, but to be fair, this isn't from "shareholders" - this is from a singular shareholder that as far as I know doesn't even own more than one share. They probably just purchased the share(s) so they could call themselves a shareholder when they criticize the company. I bet they do this with more than just Blizzard. At the very least I feel I can safely assume that they aren't driven by interest in profits *from Blizzard stock*. I looked at a few articles, and I see no "news site" that has looked into how much they've invested before reporting on this. Maybe they do own a ton of stock. I doubt it, but feel free to correct me.

It's not from a singular shareholder, it's from an investment group...

[rhorle]

I looked at a few articles, and I see no "news site" that has looked into how much they've invested before reporting on this. Maybe they do own a ton of stock. I doubt it, but feel free to correct me.

Founded in February 2006 as the CtW Investment Group, the SOC Investment Group works with pension funds sponsored by unions affiliated with the Strategic Organizing Center (SOC), a coalition of unions representing more than four million members, to enhance long-term shareholder returns through active ownership. Members of SOC affiliates participate in Taft-Hartley plans with over $250 billion in assets, which are the deferred wages of workers and their families, also called workers’ capital.

Even if they are not direct share holders they do advise/handle things for share holders. So they are just as valid as any other shareholder related group to speak out against a company. It really doesn't matter if they invest 1 share or a recent investment. A shareholder is shareholder. However this isn't the first time they've spoken out against companies and they have been doing stuff with EA recently as well.

https://www.socinvestmentgroup.com/engagements

[Berndorf]

Even if they are not direct share holders they do advise/handle things for share holders. So they are just as valid as any other shareholder related group to speak out against a company. It really doesn't matter if they invest 1 share or a recent investment. A shareholder is shareholder. However this isn't the first time they've spoken out against companies and they have been doing stuff with EA recently as well.

https://www.socinvestmentgroup.com/engagements

I think chances are they own a significant portion of shares in AB or else they wouldn't bother releasing a statement. They are calling for things to happen because if they don't they could likely pursue removing Kotick as ceo. Kotick is fully aware of this and I think there is a 95% chance he does most of what they are recommending.

[Studentsx]

The stock price is good.

[Beefhammer]

Why are people under the impression that making sure you're not going for the all white dude approach automatically means hiring less qualified people?

That's sexist mindset in itself.

Because they are afraid that they won't get hired or be in power if a woman or minority male get an opportunity to compete for the same job. A recent study came out where a group sent out 80,000 resumes. 2 male and 2 female, ones with white names and ones with black and latinX names. They did find that having white names, despite the resumes being respectively equal, were called back far more often, and white males more than any other group.

I'm sure all they want is an environment were everyone has the same opportunities to advance. Before these allegations were know publically, women weren't even given a chance to move for the most part. They were discouraged. If everyone has the opportunity then that is the equity I believe they are talking about. Not the fear that some fragile white men have of just giving position to fill a quota.

[Tooshie]

Did you even bother to look into said investor? They are an extremist organization trying to push their Socialist agenda who literally told Blizzard to hire a woman sepcecifally because she is a woman. That investor also owns a VERY small portion of the company. But I guess you are OK with discrimination as long as it is against men because that is what that "investor" is demanding

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No they don't. They don't have voting power. They can scream uintil they are blue in the face, but it does not matter. They are nothing but an extremist group trying to push their ideology.

Socialist investors? You're joking right?

[MoanaLisa]

Socialist investors? You're joking right?

Yes, the proposition is that these people are radical socialist stock investors who have an interest in how the board of directors of a capitalist for profit multi-national is ethically challenged in the face of a lawsuit that implies the company is severely ethically challenged with respect to hiring, firing, retaliation, pay equity etc. It's all high socialism, right?

I don't understand it either.

It's simply tossing around right-wing phrases without any consideration of what is actually going on here. In addition people keep saying "Blizzard" when this is really about Kotick and his board of directors. That's a different thing from Irvine but people can't be bothered to distinguish.

It's a dumb conversation.

[Talon8669]

These fucks are still crying? Jesus just get back to making the game better and slapping each others asses. Seriously though, this really just looks like a group of people trying to do a #metoo and get more money. Pay should be based on merit and qualification and that's it. Gender and sex should have zero to do with rate or pay nor should the diversity of a company. I mean honestly why would having a more diverse work force working for your company make you a better company (honest to go question btw)? You should hire base on qualification and not because you want to meet some bullshit diversity quota.

[OrangeJuice]

Obviously the early access is to increase their MAUS in an attempt to recover from the loss of MAUS over the lawsuit and FF's popularity. I recommend not playing it, at least not until next quarter. Although I know everyone will flock to it and basically undo all the progress thats happened over the last month or two.

[Swnem]

I mean... i agree with all this. But, i am more concerned about how the game can be recovered. Cause i'm not sure it can. Clearly without even recognizing issues and announcing upcoming changes.

[Queen of Hamsters]

You are a blight upon this forum. People should be hired on the content of their character and their own merit. Not the sex/gender/race/political/religious beliefs. If a particular group of people excel at a particular skill then so be it, it does not mean you discriminate against anyone on things they have no power over.

Lol, keep up the bad faith arguing and hyperbole, that's what you people do best... Aka, all you manage to do.

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Because they are afraid that they won't get hired or be in power if a woman or minority male get an opportunity to compete for the same job. A recent study came out where a group sent out 80,000 resumes. 2 male and 2 female, ones with white names and ones with black and latinX names. They did find that having white names, despite the resumes being respectively equal, were called back far more often, and white males more than any other group.

I'm sure all they want is an environment were everyone has the same opportunities to advance. Before these allegations were know publically, women weren't even given a chance to move for the most part. They were discouraged. If everyone has the opportunity then that is the equity I believe they are talking about. Not the fear that some fragile white men have of just giving position to fill a quota.

Bingo.

Anyone getting their panties in a bunch over this are just unmasking themselves, really. They're either ignorant and on high octane right-wing propaganda fuel, or they're actively trying to make it into something it is not by blatantly lying about what it means and how it'll affect people/the business. Muddy the waters, if you will.

On the day that hirings are completely gender neutral, it won't become such a crapshoot whenever brought up. Right now, it's only perceived as gender/race neutral if you're part of a specific group.

I love how gamers are projecting their pet peeves onto all of this as well. Someone's fired as a result of what's been unearthed? NO, according to Average Joe on MMO-C, it was due to X expansions being FAILS!

Leadership replaced as a result of the PR shitstorm? NO, they were CLEARLY replaced to focus on WoW and WoW alone because WoW subs + 3rd party website = somethingsomething!!!

Gamers really are worse than Star Wars fans...

[uuuhname]

I swear you did not read the letter at all or even bothered to research just who wrote the letter. They literally demanded Blizzard to hire a women SPECIFICALLY BECAUSE SHE IS A WOMAN!. They are literally tellliing Blizzard to fight sexism by being sexist. The group who wrote the letter is an extremist group pushing their ideology. But I guess you are OK with it because you share it.

so the fuck what? who cares!? granted, it's a hilariously on brand neolib/technocratic way of "solving" the problem. but my fucking god the way you guys carry on about this like that's the real problem going on at Activision-Blizzard is comical.

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Socialist investors? You're joking right?

yeah, these people don't know what the hell they're talking about beyond "anything I don't like = socialism, Marxism and communism!"