Activision-Blizzard Sued By California

[dope_danny]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/californi...185713762.html
California Gov. Gavin Newsom accused of meddling in sexual harassment lawsuit against 'Call of Duty' maker Activision

and like 60 minutes later Blizz floods their channels with reminders there's a new minority character in overwatch. Pay no attention to the scumbags behind the curtain.

Pure coincidence i'm sure.

[Edge-]

and like 60 minutes later Blizz floods their channels with reminders there's a new minority character in overwatch. Pay no attention to the scumbags behind the curtain.

Pure coincidence i'm sure.

Actually, yeah. There's no way they'd know when this story was dropping exactly, and there's a fair amount of production/preparation that goes into any announcement like this.

[dope_danny]

Actually, yeah. There's no way they'd know when this story was dropping exactly, and there's a fair amount of production/preparation that goes into any announcement like this.

Not like there was a cancelled blizzcon this year or anything it would have been made for. Clearly this was made specifically for today. For within the hour of this news.

Its all a coincidence. Again.

[Edge-]

Not like there was a cancelled blizzcon this year or anything it would have been made for.

This has literally nothing to do with anything. Blizzcon being canceled because they have nothing to show and don't want to deal with the pressure related to the lawsuits against them and their ongoing behavior has nothing to do with the fact that any announcement like today's requires planning and preparation and isn't something they can just casually roll out at the drop of a hat. Movement at large companies is slow.

Clearly this was made specifically for today. For within the hour of this news.

Its all a coincidence. Again.

For today? Yes, they absolutely had this planned and probably had no idea if, or when, this article would be dropping. It's not even a bad look for Blizzard, it's a bad look for Newsome.

[Edge-]

https://www.theverge.com/2022/4/29/2...ing-conditions

Add another lawsuit -

Activision Blizzard is facing another complaint to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that it’s trying to keep employees from talking about their working conditions, despite their legally protected rights to do so. The Communications Workers of America (CWA) has filed an unfair labor charge against the company, alleging that it told workers “they could not discuss issues related to the sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuit filed by state of California against the company,” according to a press release from the union.

According to the complaint, an employee was threatened by a manager after posting an article about the lawsuit in Slack and discussing holding Activision Blizzard accountable with other co-workers. According to former Blizzard senior test analyst Jessica Gonzalez, who is cited in CWA’s press release, the company has a “pattern of retaliation against workers who speak out,” which has only gotten stronger as the company faces further legal challenges and complaints.

[dope_danny]

And another one.

https://twitter.com/stephentotilo/st...90155552034818

[Elegiac]

So I know we've probably all seen the recent clownfest that is the Overwatch character diversity chart, but what's much more interesting is the timing of its publication.

Namely that it very much seems to be an intentionally controversial release to deflect attention from the fact ATVI has once again been caught trying to union bust.

January saw quality assurance workers at Activision Blizzard subsidiary Raven Software, a studio working on the Call of Duty franchise, moving to unionize following disputes related to work culture and contract renewals. Activision has been accused multiple times since the process began of sharing anti-union rhetoric in its channels and the company's law firm even accosted those employees. Now, a report from an anonymous Raven Software employee shows that Activision Blizzard has started to take action against the unionization movement.

According to a recent report from The Washington Post, Activision Blizzard has taken multiple efforts against the upcoming vote from Raven Software's QA teams to unionize. The company has reportedly laid off 12 members of the QA team since last December with several others being transferred to different departments in an attempt to quash the union election. The report also claims that, during a town hall meeting, Raven Software executives suggested that unionizing may have effects on potential promotions and benefits for employees, implying potential penalties upon a successful vote.

Activision Blizzard taking disciplinary actions against the formation of a labor union within its QA teams would follow with its rhetoric leading up to the election as the company has repeatedly spoken out against the union. Activision Blizzard previously converted much of its QA staff into full-time employees in an apparent attempt to dissuade its employees from unionizing.

[Masark]

Raven QA unionization vote was successful, 19-3

https://www.theverge.com/2022/5/23/2...rkers-alliance

[Rozz]

Reposting the OP.

In recent months, we all became acutely aware of rampant sexual harassment at Blizzard, which caused many people to publicly come forward to tell their stories. Most horrific was the story of a Blizzard employee who committed suicide after pictures of their genitals were shared by her supervisor. As terrible as that all was, we can now take a collective sigh of relief, because Activision Blizzard has come forward and cleared itself of any wrongdoing after performing an internal investigation:


- Link

TL;DR:
Activision Blizzard claims that cases of sexual harassment at the company were isolated incidents and issues in their workplace are not systemic. They claim that senior executives at the company did not facilitate or downplay instances of gendered harassment, and go on to state that the apparent prevalence of this is due to being maligned by the media (i.e.: the media "played up" issues of harassment to make them appear more widespread so that Blizzard looks like the bad guy).

Opinion:
I think it's very clear that this investigation means little-to-nothing. Performing an internal investigation in which you are incentivized to lie is obviously not going to be objective. Until a reliable, third-party is able to come in and verify what Activision Blizzard is claiming, it should not be believed as it goes against what we know to be true by virtue of widespread accounts from employees at the company, what media outlets have shown through aggregating information from private sources, and from what was revealed in the court documents.

[Sunseeker]

This just in: Company under government investigation self-investigates itself and finds everything is just fine! No need for those nosy government investigators now, you're all free to go home! What's that giant lump under the rug? Nothing, nothing at all!

[unfilteredJW]

Works for cops.

[NoiseTank13]

What was even the point of this investigation- the investors?

[tanakisha]

What was even the point of this investigation- the investors?

As an investor I see right through this. I wonder if any internal investigation like this ever provided any other response than this.

[Draco-Onis]

What was even the point of this investigation- the investors?

Making Bobby feel better.

[Alduin]

What was even the point of this investigation- the investors?

Punishing players for Dev behaviours.

[Edge-]

https://kotaku.com/call-duty-mwii-ac...vey-1849684203

Not for nothing, but union efforts keep winning against managements union busting efforts.

Also their new CCO is already pissing everyone off. And wants direct communication with their employees because that's better than being in a union, but doesn't allow employees to directly communicate by locking down chat channels. So...

https://techcrunch.com/2022/10/13/ac...al-harassment/

Also also, there's another lawsuit against Activision-Blizzard over even more allegations of abuse and harassment.

But hey, Overwatch 2 came out and CoD is coming out soon, get hype! I'm only half joking because the people that made those games are mostly all great folks and they deserve to celebrate their accomplishments. It just sucks that you have to remember you're also financially supporting Kotick and the abusers if you choose to buy anything in these games.

[Specialka]

https://kotaku.com/call-duty-mwii-ac...vey-1849684203

Not for nothing, but union efforts keep winning against managements union busting efforts.

Also their new CCO is already pissing everyone off. And wants direct communication with their employees because that's better than being in a union, but doesn't allow employees to directly communicate by locking down chat channels. So...

https://techcrunch.com/2022/10/13/ac...al-harassment/

Also also, there's another lawsuit against Activision-Blizzard over even more allegations of abuse and harassment.

But hey, Overwatch 2 came out and CoD is coming out soon, get hype! I'm only half joking because the people that made those games are mostly all great folks and they deserve to celebrate their accomplishments. It just sucks that you have to remember you're also financially supporting Kotick and the abusers if you choose to buy anything in these games.

So what ? Should I feel guilty or anything ?

[Edge-]

So what ? Should I feel guilty or anything ?

Do you think you should? Because I didn't say that.

[Specialka]

Do you think you should? Because I didn't say that.

You sure as hell implied it.

And if you did not, then great because I don't.

[Skulltaker]

So what ? Should I feel guilty or anything ?

You sure as hell implied it.

And if you did not, then great because I don't.

If you don't, what are you getting all defensive for?