Activision-Blizzard Sued By California

[Flarelaine]

If it comes back Metzen was involved then my soul is destroyed

If even half of it is true, he must have at least known about some of it.

[s_bushido]

So Blizzard pushes a bunch of woke shit on us, but at the same time still treating their female workers like garbage.

Will this be the day when the idiots who whine constantly about "woke shit" finally figure out that it's literally only about profits? That companies only care about selling a message of inclusivity and diversity because people want to buy it?

No, probably not.

They'll probably continue to think it's some grand Marxist conspiracy to...I don't know...indoctrinate the children into the evil belief that it's okay to be friends with people who are different to them. Or something.

[Orby]

Will this be the day when the idiots who whine constantly about "woke shit" finally figure out that it's literally only about profits? That companies only care about selling a message of inclusivity and diversity because people want to buy it?

No, probably not.

They'll probably continue to think it's some grand Marxist conspiracy to...I don't know...indoctrinate the children into the evil belief that it's okay to be friends with people who are different to them. Or something.

Also there was reports of the guy who felt pushed out by Blizzard who were racist to him. So imagine how many of the LGBTQI+ community who are in Blizzard who are teased for being who they are. I pretty much bet my dollar there is homophobia, and such going on in Blizzard all the while pushing out this fake woke shit like they mean it. Never believe it when it comes to big corporations. As a bi guy myself I never buy into it. I can enjoy p[ride month without the companies telling me 'I'm with you' they can fuck off, as well as can all the other big corp giants.

[Milchshake]

A big corporate business being alt-right minded? I would post a Pikachu shocked face right if I could :P

Small companies can also be very toxic and tyrannical.

Also for context, remember all those gross out comedies that came out in the 90's ... with all the lazy jokes centered around bigotry.

Its like frat boys were running the companies and writing the movies.

[Necromantic]

I'm not at all surprised considering I know a guy who has worked there for years and has told me all kinds of shady things that go on. GMs and moderators making fun customers, blatant favoritism, the sad restructuring of hiring requirements (or lack thereof) and a case like this.

This stuff happens in many places but most companies now-a-days take firm stances against harassment.

[anon5123]

I doubt someone would just randomly make this shit up

yeah, we all know women would NEVER lie about men in order to "cancel" them

never ever

[Sunseeker]

This is...on another level. Like, there was real, earnest effort put into reaching a new level of cruelty. And a woman fucking killed herself over it.

What the ever loving fuck.

[DarkAmbient]

What the was the point of mentioning the dude's butt plug and lube? I am genuinely bemused by that.

Also I wonder how much people like Ion and Metzen knew about this shit. Seems hard to believe they were unaware. What did they do about it? Makes me think twice about why those old big name devs left the company.

[RadasNoir]

If even half of it is true, he must have at least known about some of it.

I suspect that's a big part of why Blizzard has hemorrhaged older employees over the years. Either they were apart of the harassment, and got out to avoid allegations, or they were aware of the harassment, and got out before they had to answer uncomfortable questions about why they didn't intervene or say anything. Considering how far back the investigation goes, however, it may turn out to have not been enough to save them.

Good, good, I hope they don't fuck it up and that no one can just weasel themselves out with enough money.

The cynic in me says that this is exactly what will happen. There will be a big uproar, and some employees might be made into sacrificial lambs, but the whole thing will eventually blow over and be quietly settled out of court. Blizzard will keep trucking, possibly even with a similarly toxic work environment, and some of the richer and/or more well-connected offenders will likely still be working there in some capacity.

Both Riot and Ubisoft went through something similar relatively recently, and while people still occasionally bring up how scummy they, it's still seems like it's just been business as usual since the allegations. The same thing will happen with Blizzard.

[uuuhname]

They already do. They have rainbow pride shirts on the Blizzard store, and two Overwatch characters are gay/lesbian; Soldier: 76, and Tracer.

Jesus Christ are we still childishly assuming slapping a gay flag on your merch means anything beyond selling said merch?

[Edward Wu]

Christ, man, I really hope Chris Metzen doesn't turn out to be a piece of shit.

That's like the one guy I hope remains pure throughout all this.

[lockybalboa]

Christ, man, I really hope Chris Metzen doesn't turn out to be a piece of shit.

That's like the one guy I hope remains pure throughout all this.

He does have the pervertic look.. Fingers crossed..

[Biglog]

Reading through the whole complaint, the extent to how bad and widespread this has been is disgusting and shocking. There are some far worse incidents mentioned in the filing than even the examples the OP listed. This definitely was far more than 1 or 2 isolated incidents, the case refers to claims by MANY female Blizzard employees. Insinuating that this is 1 or 2 women that possibly just made it up is gross, and shows you probably didn't even bother reading the filing. My immediate reaction is concern for the women working at Blizzard today. I can't help but think of those that I've met and talked to at Blizzcon and what they have quietly endured. Second, I hope this drives major rapid change there. Third, this is bad enough to cause me to re-evaluate my financial support of Blizzard. This has to be fixed.

Also, keep in mind this isn't a slimy lawsuit-happy law firm just tossing out a suit trying to make some money or force a settlement, it's the state. And I know the media outlets on the right like to bash the US state of California while waving the US flag in the other, but that's been addressed in another thread. Cancel culture is another frequent target of theirs, but there is a problem with that. If someone is cancelled for illegitimate reasons, that shouldn't happen. But in about 90% of cases of people complaining about cancel culture, they got cancelled for very legit reasons but try to claim innocence by attacking cancel culture. If a person treats women in the workplace like the filing describes, they are a pos, that's not a problem with cancel culture or them being 'silenced'. There are a lot of people that have convinced themselves that attacking cancel culture allows them to deflect and behave in racist, sexist, and/or hateful ways without taking any responsibility.

[Jastall]

If it comes back Metzen was involved then my soul is destroyed

Wouldn't be surprised if he, at best, turned a blind eye. Many of Blizzard's higher-ups were friends who knew each other for half a lifetime at least, in this situation you cover your mates and/or don't see them doing something wrong as wrong sometimes.

Honestly gaming companies (hell tech and IT in general even) are widely known to be boy's clubs and not a great place for many women to work. I have a friend working at Ubisoft Montreal, it's her dream job working for one of her favorite game companies and she almost quite several times over sexual harassment. It's generalized and she says what leaked to the media wasn't the half of it, one time she was groped by two new guys within two days, who heard from other assholes that they could have their way with the "easy" women at work.

And this response saying the lawsuit is "an attack from irresponsible State bureaucrats"... Wow. What a way to not start this on the right foot. If anything this type of lashing out makes me more convinced the allegations are genuine.

[Flarelaine]

I suspect that's a big part of why Blizzard has hemorrhaged older employees over the years. Either they were apart of the harassment, and got out to avoid allegations, or they were aware of the harassment, and got out before they had to answer uncomfortable questions about why they didn't intervene or say anything.

I concur.

And now we are left wondering which of them is which of the above.

- - - Updated - - -

yeah, we all know women would NEVER lie about men in order to "cancel" them

never ever

That is the sort of generalizing misogynistic comment that led to closing the other threads on this issue. This is a topic that deserves an open thread to discuss, but keep it clean.

[AeneasBK]

They were a couple... which the report conveniently left out.

No it doesn't (?) Page 15.

[Adamas102]

I think it's just bad apples in the workplace

Yep, and as the saying goes “one bad apple spoils the bunch”.

[rayvio]

it's awful that this has been going on for so long without any or with very little consequence. while it's possible some of the allegations are exaggerated or false, it's very unlikely that it's all false. hopefully those responsible will be fired and face legal consequences and the company will be more proactive in fighting these issues in future
most likely though there'll be a few firings, a few apologies, a few payoffs and things will continue with little change. but we can hope

[anon5123]

That is the sort of generalizing misogynistic comment that led to closing the other threads on this issue. This is a topic that deserves an open thread to discuss, but keep it clean.

So if I don't instantly fully-believe every single allegation a woman makes, I'm "misogynistic" ?

fucking lmao

Excuse me for believing that people are innocent until proven guilty.

[Hugnomo]

When a bunch of us here on mmo-c noticed that Afrasiabi left silently we were already suspecting something like this. Disgraceful and expected.