Mike Morhaime Response to Blizzard Lawsuit

[Ivarr]

Source on this? And was it done at work? I'm not a Lore fan, but that's a pretty damning statement.

Yeah it's disgusting. Where did Lore share the nudes of his ex girlfriend? Appalling!

[ClassicPeon]

So I'm trying hard to follow your stance.

I get that you feel things are being blown out of proportions and not jump to conclusions, that is fine. However, from my observation, you are still taking a side that favours deniability on Blizzards part, while indirectly placing the blame on the situation on the supposed victims because you view this as being little more than gender politics issues being overblown. That is the context I'm getting from your posts.

So really, your own stance contradicts your own position. Aren't you also jumping to conclusions that this whole deal is overblown? Because that is the tone of your argument, yet you have zero evidence to back this either, and this viewpoint is not a default neutral or objective stance, its a conclusive opinion on how you view the situation at hand.

However, from my observation,

And this is where you went wrong.

[MoanaLisa]

Sincere or not, Mike and Chris have work to do if they want to save any part of their legacies. They need to chew on the fact that they are responsible, negligent, but can still make a difference and change the narrative on their fate going forward. If they don't, they'll also have to cope with the fact that WoW could be dead because of their past negligence. No, CA won't shut WoW down, but I don't see a large player base in the future for a game designed by predators with no big changes going forward. Blizzard, Mike, Chris are going to have to do something big or WoW is going to suffer bigtime.

Hard to imagine what Mike or Chris could really do, much less something big, since they are no longer with Blizzard. However this plays out legally there's not much they can do except sit by and hope for the best. Really, apart from statements, they are bystanders at this point. If they were negligent about any of the issues raised in the lawsuit—I don't see how Morhaime escapes this with respect to pay, discrimination, advancement and other parts of the corporate culture—it will likely come out unless there is a quick settlement.

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Human resources failed this company big time. There the ones who your supposed to trust and go to if theres any work places issues.

This is a highly fictional view of how corporate human resources works in the real world. There are exceptions but for the most part HR is not the friend of an employee.

[Triceron]

And this is where you went wrong.

Then answer me directly. Because its only ever going to be my observation as long as you tell me to observe the context of what you've been saying and avoiding giving a direct response on your stance and opinion. I can only assume you are arguing in bad faith since you are so adamant at avoiding direct explanation.

I literally asked what you were talking about and you refused to give an answer. And you still refuse to explain yourself. You have the right not to answer, and I have the right to draw suspicions around your inability to engage in conversation.

I don't want to simply assume that you are arguing in bad faith and dismiss your points if you actually have a genuine stance you are taking. And even if you think my observation is wrong, your arguments are still very one-sided, with no real evidence to support your stance. This is especially hypocritical if you are then suggesting others to not jump to conclusions.

[ClassicPeon]

Then answer me directly. Because its only ever going to be my observation as long as you tell me to observe the context of what you've been saying and avoiding giving a direct response on your stance and opinion. I can only assume you are arguing in bad faith since you are so adamant at avoiding direct explanation.

I literally asked what you were talking about and you refused to give an answer. And you still refuse to explain yourself. You have the right not to answer, and I have the right to draw suspicions around your inability to engage in conversation.

I don't want to simply assume that you are arguing in bad faith and dismiss your points if you actually have a genuine stance you are taking. And even if you think my observation is wrong, your arguments are still very one-sided, with no real evidence to support your stance. This is especially hypocritical if you are then suggesting others to not jump to conclusions.

I dont know why you would think i am arguing in bad faith. When you ask someone "what are you talking about" without any further explanation thats something i just cant take seriously. Like what am i supposed to do? Just repeat all my written text again?

I dont feel like i have anythning to explain - especialle if you are going to ask as broadly as that.

I'm always game for engaging in conversation - literally usually answer anyone writing at me.

[Makabreska]

Human resources failed this company big time.

Looking at similar case at Ubisoft, where HR's main job was covering up for years sexual abuse, I'd say they did a pretty good job.

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Sincere or not, Mike and Chris have work to do if they want to save any part of their legacies. They need to chew on the fact that they are responsible, negligent, but can still make a difference and change the narrative on their fate going forward. If they don't, they'll also have to cope with the fact that WoW could be dead because of their past negligence. No, CA won't shut WoW down, but I don't see a large player base in the future for a game designed by predators with no big changes going forward. Blizzard, Mike, Chris are going to have to do something big or WoW is going to suffer bigtime.

Look what happened at Ubi. All they had to do was quickly release trailer for Valhalla, and then the game breaks record sales. The truth is this - gamers rarely care, if issues don't affect their gameplay directly. But Blizz is unlucky having their major releases not ready to distract people.

[Magnagarde]

The only time I would expect Mike Morhaime to apologize for allegations is if he swept some of this under the rug during his long tenure at Blizzard. I otherwise see no reason for him to apologize publicly for something that happened in a place that employs thousands upon thousands of people. I guess some of it was swept under the rug seeing as so many people are coming out of the woodwork to apologize left, right and centre for something seemingly completely unrelated to them.

[Marrilaife]

The truth is this - gamers rarely care, if issues don't affect their gameplay directly.

Ofc they don't care, remember the free Hong Kong thing? People stopped caring very fast.

Corpos do this thing because they know they can sweep it under the rug, Ubisoft, Riot and many other companies, for example in the movie industry, have the culture of downplaying sexual harassment and "boys will be boys" or "he's just like this when he's drunk" or "if he's hitting on you treat it as a compliment" etc. etc.

Tbh when the Joshpriest drama happened I remember in my guild a lot of people immediately doubted the accusations are real and started downplaying it - gamers aren't any better than the devs. People were sympathizing more with Sco because "he lost everything" (newsflash: he's back and Method sponsors more players across multiple games than ever before, apparently nothing of the drama mattered in the long run) than with the girl Josh abused.

Gaming devs care more about inserting "strong female characters" with big boobs rather than caring for real female employees next to them. I love the hypocrisy Blizzard did with all the "female voices of Warcraft" panels on Blizzcons for the PR points, while in reality all they care is profits and stock value going up, not any moral values.

Wow will keep making money from Classic even if development on retail updates takes a hit, so even less reason for anybody higher up to care.

[Mentacyde]

Why is nobody talking about the systemic discrimination via racism/sexism alongside this issue?

[Magnagarde]

Ofc they don't care, remember the free Hong Kong thing? People stopped caring very fast.

The reason why people stopped caring very quickly is because the majority doesn't care about and doesn't want to have politics in their game. For the majority of people games are a medium for escape into virtual worlds they can relax in.

Tbh when the Joshpriest drama happened I remember in my guild a lot of people immediately doubted the accusations are real and started downplaying it - gamers aren't any better than the devs.

The biggest issue with the Joshpriest thing is that people actively, to this day, keep trying to turn games into group therapy or quasi courts of some sorts. Test the allegations and if they're true, wrap that thing up according to the law and continue providing for the average gamer because that's what they're there for. Gaming forums and related content have become like the crimes, arrests and accidents section of a newspaper.

The second most important thing out of all of this, appart from seeing this investigation through and providing proper change in the work environment, is that this has the potential to turn the tables on Blizzard, make them care more about the kind of product they provide because they're bound to lose money over this and money is the only language understood over there.

[MoanaLisa]

Why is nobody talking about the systemic discrimination via racism/sexism alongside this issue?

More people should be since that's really the heart of the lawsuit—pay disparity, advancement opportunities, etc.—and likely to be a bigger problem for Blizzard than anything else.

[Kathranis]

I cant wait for Golden and Danuser to start making excuses, even though they were directly working with Afrasiabi.

Well, Golden is on the Story and Franchise Development team, not the WoW team, and she only started working at the Blizzard offices in 2018, before that she worked from her home in Colorado on a temp contract. She doesn't write the game story for WoW, she writes for cinematics and tie-in media, and also works on other Blizzard games.

Danuser, I don't know. He's been on the WoW team for 5~ years, is basically Afrasiabi's replacement, and would have worked under him. He's also been the main point of contact between the WoW and Story and Franchise Development teams for a while.

Afrasiabi has seemingly been out of the picture since 8.2.5. I think the last we heard from him, outside of some Classic promo stuff, was a 2018 Blizzcon interview where he said he was treating BFA like the last expansion. So maybe he knew the writing was on the wall.


Anyway, point is, the overlap between Golden's and Afrasiabi's time at the company is minimal, they were in different departments, and if anything it would have been Danuser acting as a go-between.

[Skylarking]

Source on this? And was it done at work? I'm not a Lore fan, but that's a pretty damning statement.

I was quite surprised about this too. Like, is anyone that has been hired by blizz not done some stupid shit lol. Seems to be a requirement. But nevertheless I would say his accusation of Mike still holds true.

[TyrianFC]

The only time I would expect Mike Morhaime to apologize for allegations is if he swept some of this under the rug during his long tenure at Blizzard. I otherwise see no reason for him to apologize publicly for something that happened in a place that employs thousands upon thousands of people. I guess some of it was swept under the rug seeing as so many people are coming out of the woodwork to apologize left, right and centre for something seemingly completely unrelated to them.

You see no reason?

The reason is because Mike has founded a new company (Dreamhaven?) that he does NOT want to get caught up in this mess, both by his name association andor any ex-blizzard employees who were hired. Otherwise his new company/baby is going to be covered in shit right from the get go, too.

Hes trying to get ahead of the narrative and put this (bullshit) apology out and essentially wipe his hands clean - and hope its enough to avoid Dreamhaven getting caught up in the mess.

His apology is just as much a business decision as it is a personal one.

[Nightstalker]

also as a side note, lore is not a saint because if he knew and did nothing he is just as guilty. also why trust a man who shares nudes of his exgf after a break up?

Any source for that claim?

[Magnagarde]

You see no reason?

The reason is because Mike has founded a new company (Dreamhaven?) that he does NOT want to get caught up in this mess, both by his name association andor any ex-blizzard employees who were hired. Otherwise his new company/baby is going to be covered in shit right from the get go, too.

Hes trying to get ahead of the narrative and put this (bullshit) apology out and essentially wipe his hands clean - and hope its enough to avoid Dreamhaven getting caught up in the mess.

His apology is just as much a business decision as it is a personal one.

I know why he did it and what his thought process behind it possibly is. He may try to get ahead of the narrative and I can definitely see why he'd try to do that, but the narrative already got ahead of him the moment the lawsuit dropped; no amount of sorry is going to change that, but I can see how he's looking to shield Dreamhaven from this. I definitely expected a response, but one that falls within the domain of clear condemnation and elaboration as to what was done to counter such behaviour. While he did write about that too, apologizing to the extent that he did overaccentuates his position in influencing every single employees' day-to-day experiences.

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Lawsuits of this kind can destroy brands and for company like Blizzard brand is a huge thing.

What has damanged the Blizzard brand the most are the mediocre game releases and updates. Had this happened at a time of their strenght in terms of product quality, you'd have an army of people to back them up with their money regardless of what is going on.

[Amsden]

Honestly, if you're going to quit Activision or Blizzard games over this you also need to quit Ubisoft and probably quit gaming in general. This is an industry wide problem and if you believe otherwise you're fooling yourself.

[DingDongKing]

I’m not going to stop playing games made by Blizzard because of this, BUT I would not be opposed to doing so if things don’t change sharpish. The fact that current employees are so vocally disagreeing with their own employer tells you how screwed up this all is. And the leadership in the organisation needs to sort it out. Or it’s a pisstake.

[Newname1234567890]

So to be clear this was the Blizzard part of Activision Blizzard?

[MoanaLisa]

The reason is because Mike has founded a new company (Dreamhaven?) that he does NOT want to get caught up in this mess, both by his name association andor any ex-blizzard employees who were hired.

With respect to his tenure there and the creation of a corporate culture that was at best, loose, and at worst discriminatory about pay, he's already caught up. There are people defending Morhaime that are certain that Brack after 3 years should have cleaned up the mess that Morhaime left behind after more than 12+ years (being nice about how I'm phrasing that).

The problem with a founding clique of people that stayed around for years and then apparently started to jump ship when California started looking at their business practices is that it's already too late not to be 'caught up' in the net.