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Summary
- Video game company Activision Blizzard announced a flurry of management changes following a sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuit.
- Activision Blizzard’s president J Allen Brack and its SVP of HR Jesse Meschuk both confirmed their exit from the company.
- The company’s shares fell over 3 per cent following the news.
US-based video game holding company Activision Blizzard (LON:0H8X) (NASDAQ:ATVI) announced a flurry of management changes amid facing sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuit charges from the State of California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH).
NASDAQ listed Activision Blizzard’s share price fell by 3.54 per cent, closing at USD 79.83 on Tuesday, following the news.
The move comes after the company’s CEO Bobby Kotick announced last month that anyone found guilty during the company’s process of evaluating the lawsuit’s claims will face action, including termination.
Earlier, employees in the company had proposed a walk-off on 28 July due to the rampant culture of harassment in the organisation.
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Activision Blizzard’s senior management shuffle
Activision Blizzard’s president J Allen Brack and the company’s head of global human resources, with designation senior vice president of HR, Jesse Meschuk are both confirmed to be leaving the firm following claims in the lawsuit which said employees were aware or involved in the allegations.
Mr. Brack will be replaced by Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra, as co-leaders of the company. Ms. Oneal previously was the head of Vicarious Visions, an Activision gaming studio.
While Mr. Ybarra worked at tech giant Microsoft and has over 20 years of experience, he had also handled gaming console Xbox’s online services prior to joining Blizzard.
Activision Blizzard is the maker of several popular video games such as Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Diablo games.
Sexual harassment culture in the video game industry
Activision Blizzard case is not the first video game company to have faced such charges. French video game company Ubisoft Entertainment SA faced a huge endemic sexual harassment charge in 2020.
A survey conducted by Ubisoft in October 2020 found about 25 per cent of all Ubisoft employees had faced sexual misconduct at the company. The company’s CEO Yves Guillemot promised to undertake measures to address the issues, following the survey results.
Moreover, another US-based popular video game company Riot Games, which created League of Legends, settled a US$ 10 million lawsuit with California’s DFEH in 2019 after being alleged with gender-based discrimination and sexual harassment charges. The lawsuit would compensate up to 1,000 women who worked at Riot Games.
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