Blizzard Employee Letter to Leadership, Other Responses to Lawsuit

[chaud]

Blizzard Employee Letter to Leadership
Over 1000 employees signed an letter to the leadership of Activision Blizzard. Polygon shared this letter.

To the Leaders of Activision Blizzard,

We, the undersigned, agree that the statements from Activision Blizzard, Inc. and their legal counsel regarding the DFEH lawsuit, as well as the subsequent internal statement from Frances Townsend, are abhorrent and insulting to all that we believe our company should stand for. To put it clearly and unequivocally, our values as employees are not accurately reflected in the words and actions of our leadership.

We believe these statements have damaged our ongoing quest for equality inside and outside of our industry. Categorizing the claims that have been made as “distorted, and in many cases false” creates a company atmosphere that disbelieves victims. It also casts doubt on our organizations’ ability to hold abusers accountable for their actions and foster a safe environment for victims to come forward in the future. These statements make it clear that our leadership is not putting our values first. Immediate corrections are needed from the highest level of our organization.

Our company executives have claimed that actions will be taken to protect us, but in the face of legal action — and the troubling official responses that followed — we no longer trust that our leaders will place employee safety above their own interests. To claim this is a “truly meritless and irresponsible lawsuit,” while seeing so many current and former employees speak out about their own experiences regarding harassment and abuse, is simply unacceptable.

We call for official statements that recognize the seriousness of these allegations and demonstrate compassion for victims of harassment and assault. We call on Frances Townsend to stand by her word to step down as Executive Sponsor of the ABK Employee Women’s Network as a result of the damaging nature of her statement. We call on the executive leadership team to work with us on new and meaningful efforts that ensure employees — as well as our community — have a safe place to speak out and come forward.

We stand with all our friends, teammates, and colleagues, as well as the members of our dedicated community, who have experienced mistreatment or harassment of any kind. We will not be silenced, we will not stand aside, and we will not give up until the company we love is a workplace we can all feel proud to be a part of again. We will be the change.

Chris Metzen Responds to Lawsuit Allegations
Metzen shared an apology and response on Twitter, with a followup specifically about Alex Afrasiabi.

As for Alex. I loved working with him and jamming in story meetings. He was someone I thought very highly of on the job, but we never interacted outside of story jams and such. I was never his boss. We never really interacted outside of doing the work or taking smoke breaks. We haven’t worked closely together sorry nice WotLK. I never heard a peep about him other than that he could be tough on his team or an asshole from time to time. So learning all this the past week has been just utterly shocking. Just reprehensible shit.

Jeff Hamilton on Upcoming Content Delay
Jeff Hamilton shared that the development team may be taking time to process what is happening with the allegations and lawsuit.

OK. I’m still hopeful my team will make a statement, but Activision’s statement was terrible, so here's what I believe. I know many of my colleagues believe this as well:

I believe all allegations of sexual harassment deserve to be taken seriously and in good faith, and any perpetrators of sexual harassment deserve both removal from the company and criminal investigation.

I believe strongly in equal treatment and equal protection. Regardless of gender or race, everyone deserves a safe and supportive environment in which to work and live.

Our society at large is often not equal, and people with less systemic power due to marginalization need more systemic protection to ensure their fair treatment. It is clear that Human Resources has failed at this systemic protection.

I am viscerally disgusted by the horrible trauma that has been inflicted upon my coworkers, friends, and colleagues.

I find Activision’s corporate response wholly unacceptable. I don't stand by it, any of it. It is evil to usurp a victim’s story into a rhetorical bludgeon, and it is abhorrent to reply to these accusations with anything other than a well-thought-out plan to correct these abuses.

I don’t know what to do. I don’t have all the answers. I can tell you, almost no work is being done on World of Warcraft right now while this obscenity plays out. And that benefits nobody - not the players, not the developers, not the shareholders.

Activision’s response to this is currently taking a group of world-class developers and making them so mad and traumatized they’re rendered unable to keep making a great game.

I deeply love my team. I believe in my coworkers. I have recommended this place as a beacon to people I care deeply about, and in my personal experience, it has been that beacon. But it is DAMNINGLY OBVIOUS that that experience has not been universal. The people who were harmed by abuse - they deserved that experience too.

Alex Klontzas on Upcoming Content Delay
Alex Klontzas shared his thoughts on any delay of upcoming content.

Ghostcrawler Responses to BlizzCon Video
An old video from the BlizzCon 2010 Q&A resurfaced recently, and Ghostcrawler responded, as he was sitting on the panel at the time.

There’s a 10 year old Blizzcon video going around of players doing a Q&A with a panel of devs of which I was a member. Look, it was a shitty answer at the time and it certainly hasn’t aged well. I wish I had said something better then.

You can’t really see the people asking the questions well from the stage, and I feel terrible now seeing the look on her face. I have more experience now answering questions live, but no doubt that won’t be my last shitty answer. I apologize for those as well as for this one.

I think some folks are interpreting my saying I will make mistakes again as some kind of blasé attitude about the situation of women in the gaming industry. That’s my interpretation of their interpretation anyway…

I think devs talking to players is really important. I want to encourage studios to keep doing it. But I know it’s scary for a lot of developers. They are afraid they will say the wrong thing and make players or their company mad. The only way to get better is to do it a lot…

I have been doing it for 23 years plus or minus. I still make mistakes. It happens. Learn from it. Apologize and move on. I hope the lesson that anyone is taking from that Blizzcon video is *not* how risky it is to talk to the community…

I was talking internally to Riot the other day and I was trying to compliment a team and ended up insulting them instead. I felt like shit for a couple of days. It happens…

I was only talking about the video, and really only because tha_rami brought it up, and I respect the hell out of him. I wasn’t trying to call whatever happened at Blizzard an accident. I hope I didn’t contribute to that and I even hope I made the culture a little better…

I’m not trying to speak for Blizzard and I’m certainly not trying to speak for the women or POCs at Blizzard. I do believe men in leadership roles have a responsibility, a duty, to make sure women and other marginalized folks feel welcome, happy, and successful at our studios…

I mean really all men at a studio do, but especially the leaders of the studio. I take that very seriously at Riot, and we have worked very hard to make our company a better place to work…

As I have said, I think we are doing well, but it’s a long journey, and it won’t be me but the women of Riot who ultimately decide if succeeded or not…

I find the video embarrassing and I apologize to the player who asked the question and all others who were disappointed with our “answer.” I think there are more important voices that we need to hear right now. But the video can be a reminder that we can be better.

GC out

Hmmm.... by comparison to other MMO's, especially Eastern MMO's, WoW has been very reasonable in its depiction of female characters. I have never sensed WoW has oversexualized any of its characters. Blizz has problems but this isn't one of them.
For me, the issue is the way we answered not the actual topic (Source)

[Nelle]

"And Here We Go" - The Joker

[yshdmt]

WHO CARES. You haven't even posted about TBC Phase 2. Stop posting about this drama.

[Marakara]

The 2010 video in question (saving you a google search that I just had to do): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi5dQzZp3f0&t=268s

[Sentynel]

So are they gonna freeze subs? Because this bald fuck just said they aren't working on content updates.

Who the fuck is this guy to tell me I am part of the problem?

[McNeil]

So they had to delay Shadowlands for a month, then 9.1 took 7-8 months, now they already announce another delay for 9.2 while we don't even know if they caught up from the previous drought. It seems safe to assume that 9.2 will be the final patch releasing somewhere early 2022.

[Inoculate]

It's time for people to stop subbing to WoW and to boycott this company until it actually makes changes.

[Implosivo]

So are they gonna freeze subs? Because this bald fuck just said they aren't working on content updates.

Who the fuck is this guy to tell me I am part of the problem?

You know…you can like…unsub? You sound like a trash can of a human being coming out against peoples appearances when they say something you don’t like, real sociopath vibes. I don’t think social games are right for you

[Al Gorefiend]

I truly believe this is the end of WoW's life. I mean seriously as both a long time member of this sub and scrolling through all the "wow is dead/dying, this will kill wow etc." I think for real this time.

[Sentynel]

all of you have to pause and think about this. this is an incredibly important moment for anyone who plays blizzard games. it literally does not matter right now, for at least a period of time, what the games are doing. i ask y'all to have a bigger picture. they should absolutely keep posting updates on this-it's so important. i can't believe what i'm reading on here, and alex is absolutely correct. i beg you to look beyond yourselves. come on people. idk im just so sad this is the community response.

No, we don't have to pause. We don't have to do anything with this bullshit. If a company has internal issues among its employees/management, it's their responsibility to sort it out, don't fucking try to blame your customer base for your fucked up work culture. Not while you charge $15/mo for your product that you literally stopped to develop.

Tomorrow they gonna announce they're shutting down the servers or what?

[Daedius]

So are they gonna freeze subs? Because this bald fuck just said they aren't working on content updates.

Who the fuck is this guy to tell me I am part of the problem?

No kidding. Failing of their leadership and toxic workplace, and he has the audacity of passing 'some' blame on THEIR PAYING CUSTOMERS...??

Seriously, fuck Blizzard! I won't be buying another Blizzard product like I've done with EA since the mid 2000s...

[FlemmMinis]

I truly believe this is the end of WoW's life. I mean seriously as both a long time member of this sub and scrolling through all the "wow is dead/dying, this will kill wow etc." I think for real this time.

Agreed. It feels kinda apocalyptic right now.

[Ezzet]

Snowflakes in this chat, calling other "trash can". We are paying customers and just because some people at blizzard can't keep their hands away from others we are getting punished and "blamed" as part of the problem for wanting a product we pay for and they happily still charge for. Please get of your high horse.

[exsanguinate]

Agreed. It feels kinda apocalyptic right now.

Agree. People talking about "tomorrow no one will care anymore" but this time I feel like this will cause a lot of damage

[mysticx]

So are they gonna freeze subs? Because this bald fuck just said they aren't working on content updates.

Who the fuck is this guy to tell me I am part of the problem?

So wait, you read what's going on out there, and your sole reaction is "But... muh content updates!", REALLY?

I'm not sure about "Part of the problem", but at least try having some perspective on this horrible situation.

[willtron]

WHO CARES. You haven't even posted about TBC Phase 2. Stop posting about this drama.

Shut the fuck up.

Good for the employees calling them out like that. I hope they keep the pressure up.

[Magnagarde]

Devs like Alex Klontzas are the reason why WoW is in the worst state ever.
They are living in their little dev bubble and always blame the paying customer instead of themselves, even for enabling sexual harassment.

Alex didn't get the memo that providing what you're being paid for is part of being a decent human being.

[Sentynel]

they aren't blaming you for company culture. they are saying part of the "problem" as a different issue, meaning that people demanding they work, in spite of a horrific event, are causing them significant distress. this isn't complicated. take a single second. i also want SL content. i also want 9.2. i want these people to be in a decent state of mind when they make it, not reeling from a total company-breaking moment. holy heck.

Is it so otherwordly to think that I and millions of others who don't give a flying fuck about this internal company issue expect some form of service for our money? I am not giving them $15 a month so that they can jerk off and cry on Twitter while freezing production.

[Implosivo]

Snowflakes in this chat, calling other "trash can". We are paying customers and just because some people at blizzard can't keep their hands away from others we are getting punished and "blamed" as part of the problem for wanting a product we pay for and they happily still charge for. Please get of your high horse.

People attacking a blizzard employees appearance because a business decision, and you think that isn’t trash can behavior? You think that’s the behavior of a mature adult? This thread is really showing the man babies that is the WoW base. Entitled little man children crapping their diapers “I pay fwifween dollaws change my diapey blizz peas”

[saixilein]

I really love how everyone here is shittung about blizzard and some stupid creeps of the company, but still consuming enough products from companys that doingthe same and/or worse, like giving a shit about humanrights, worktimes, childwork or steal ressources from poor countrys.

But hey, u can shit about blizz bow, so you feel like a good person and dont have to feeld bad when u consume other bad things.