Mike Morhaime Response to Blizzard Lawsuit

[chaud]

Mike Morhaime Response to Blizzard Lawsuit
Mike Morhaime posted a response to the Blizzard lawsuit. He stepped down from his position at Blizzard in 2018.

I have read the full complaint against Activision Blizzard and many of the other stories. It is all very disturbing and difficult to read. I am ashamed. It feels like everything I thought I stood for has been washed away. What’s worse but even more important, real people have been harmed, and some women had terrible experiences.

I was at Blizzard for 28 years. During that time, I tried very hard to create an environment that was safe and welcoming for people of all genders and backgrounds. I knew that it was not perfect, but clearly we were far from that goal. The fact that so many women were mistreated and were not supported means we let them down. In addition, we did not succeed in making it feel safe for people to tell their truth. It is no consolation that other companies have faced similar challenges. I wanted us to be different, better.

Harassment and discrimination exist. They are prevalent in our industry. It is the responsibility of leadership to keep all employees feeling safe, supported, and treated equitably, regardless of gender and background. It is the responsibility of leadership to stamp out toxicity and harassment in any form, across all levels of the company. To the Blizzard women who experienced any of these things, I am extremely sorry that I failed you.

I realize that these are just words, but I wanted to acknowledge the women who had awful experiences. I hear you, I believe you, and I am so sorry to have let you down. I want to hear your stories, if you are willing to share them. As a leader in our industry, I can and will use my influence to help drive positive change and to combat misogyny, discrimination, and harassment wherever I can. I believe we can do better, and I believe the gaming industry can be a place where women and minorities are welcomed, included, supported, recognized, rewarded, and ultimately unimpeded from the opportunity to make the types of contributions that all of us join this industry to make. I want the mark I leave on this industry to be something that we can all be proud of.

-Mike

[damonskye]

What an absolutely bullshit statement to make.

Does Morhaime seriously expect us all to believe that he didn’t know everything that was happening inside his company? Does anyone believe that nonsense?

[Monoliith]

I have chosen to believe this statement overall, and hope that he means it.

And after the way the "good guys" have been treating the VICTIMS of these people on social media, I want nothing to do with them. Use your energy to spread positivity to the victims, don't waste it on the victimizers. It will do nothing except give them ammunition in court to explain why THEY are suddenly the victim. And for the love of god, if you can't say anything polite or kind to the people who work at/with blizzard, but are VERY OBVIOUSLY not part of this culture, keep your mouth shut.

Do not start replying to me with hate comment's, ill just report and block you without reading it.

[bmjclark]

0/10. Didn't even mention his household's Saint

In all seriousness, I'd kind of believe that he wouldn't necessarily have known. He's was the president, he probably barely interacted with these people on a daily basis and I'm sure when he did, people didn't pull this shit in front of him. I'm not 100% saying that he is squeaky clean in it but its definitely possible he didn't know just how bad things were.

[FelPlague]

https://twitter.com/cherthedev/statu...407635457?s=20

Uh oh, just as I thought.

[Porimlys]

"real people and some women"

jesus christ

[Triceron]

Not quite sure what you guys are expecting to hear.

You want him to admit he knew everything about all those things when theres an active investigation going on that very likely involves him on it?

This is a PR statement to placate those who think silence admits guilt, thats it. He admits fault and is taking responsibility for it. Any more than that wouldn't even be advisable from a legal standpoint. You guys think he'd publicly say 'I knew everything and did nothing about it. Take me to jail, I deserve it'?

[FelPlague]

I have chosen to believe this statement overall, and hope that he means it.

And after the way the "good guys" have been treating the VICTIMS of these people on social media, I want nothing to do with them. Use your energy to spread positivity to the victims, don't waste it on the victimizers. It will do nothing except give them ammunition in court to explain why THEY are suddenly the victim. And for the love of god, if you can't say anything polite or kind to the people who work at/with blizzard, but are VERY OBVIOUSLY not part of this culture, keep your mouth shut.

Do not start replying to me with hate comment's, ill just report and block you without reading it.

https://twitter.com/cherthedev/statu...407635457?s=20
You shouldn't beleive him.

- - - Updated - - -

0/10. Didn't even mention his household's Saint

In all seriousness, I'd kind of believe that he wouldn't necessarily have known. He's was the president, he probably barely interacted with these people on a daily basis and I'm sure when he did, people didn't pull this shit in front of him. I'm not 100% saying that he is squeaky clean in it but its definitely possible he didn't know just how bad things were.

He knew, Be even punished people for bringing it to him, I wonder if that is why he fired 600 people in 2012.

[Monoliith]

https://twitter.com/cherthedev/statu...407635457?s=20
You shouldn't beleive him.

I should do what I feel is appropriate. And I feel following the example of Hazel is appropriate.

https://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1srp04b

[Goldielocks]

I mean he clearly states that he failed them. Even if he knew or not, it was his job to know. Either he was a bad person or a bad president. Not good.

This response is better than others I’ve seen, but it doesn’t really matter anyways. People are out for blood. He can show a picture of himself deep bowing with his forehead touching the floor and someone would say “not enough.”

[FelPlague]

I mean he clearly states that he failed them. Even if he knew or not, it was his job to know. Either he was a bad person or a bad president. Not good.

This response is better than others I’ve seen, but it doesn’t really matter anyways. People are out for blood. He can show a picture of himself deep bowing with his forehead touching the floor and someone would say “not enough.”

Except the entire response is a lie. https://twitter.com/cherthedev/statu...407635457?s=20

- - - Updated - - -

I should do what I feel is appropriate. And I feel following the example of Hazel is appropriate.

https://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1srp04b

Feel free ,but don't believe his statement, and don't fool yourself that his statement is true when it's literally not.

Your free to believe whatever you want, but if you believe he's innocent we are gunna tell ya to sodd off.

[Unholyground]

To be fair at a certain point you get so far up the ladder you can't see everyone at the bottom anymore, it is true with all huge companies.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

kinda reads as "I Knew I did nothing but please keep giving me monay at my new company" to me.

[Kathranis]

Bridenbecker has now also been outed. As I suspected when Afrasiabi was named in the complaint, this absolutely is an issue with the "old guard" that so many people here have deified.

I don't want to point fingers, but with everything that's come out, it's hard to imagine that Morhaime, Brack, even Metzen and Kaplan, and the rest of that inner circle of executives (I think almost all of them held "Vice President of X" titles) didn't at least know what was going on. It seems like at best they turned a blind eye to it.

I mean, these guys worked closely together for decades. How could they not have known?

[Lorgar Aurelian]

https://twitter.com/cherthedev/statu...407635457?s=20

Uh oh, just as I thought.

ah so worse then "I knew i did nothing" it was "I knew and i helped it keep happening" classy.

[FelPlague]

To be fair at a certain point you get so far up the ladder you can't see everyone at the bottom anymore, it is true with all huge companies.

One of the people who was abused has already outted him as a liar. She contacted him to try and deal with some of the abuse she was going through and got in trouble for it.

[wargone]

The good old" oh no something bad happend i am so sorry, now lets forget about it"

[Zyky]

Man, what a brilliant yet heartless move. Washing his hands clean of this horrendous culture that grew unabated in his shadow, acting like there was nothing he could have done about it, trying to preserve that 'old blizzard' brand that will drive business to his new company.

God this guy is clever.

I mean, we'll find out by the end of the lawsuit. If he gets named in it, as many of these events would have happened during his time there, then we know that he knew and is just bullshitting right now.

[Alexeht]

sounds like a circlejerk SJW response, which probably means he was in the centre of it but he wants to score some WOKEpoints xD

[ablib]

Not sure how Cher Scarlett's response means Morhaime is a liar. She didn't state who reprimanded her for cc'ing the CEO. It's also highly unlikely he read the email.

So....what her take on it looks like, is she emails the CEO on a matter, and some low level scrub manager, slaps her wrist for "ZOMG, you just sent that to the CEO?!?!?"

That's what it reads like anyways. She's free to clarify the record.