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Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick addresses harrassment lawsuit, commits to improvements

The statement outlines the need for improvement, which begins with a review of policies by an external company and includes five immediate actions.

Sam Chandler

July 27, 2021 6:17 PM

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Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has released an official statement that was originally sent to all employees of the company. The statement concerns the recent lawsuit filed by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing. In the statement, Kotick apologises for not providing the “right empathy and understanding” and lays out five immediate actions the company is taking to improve the workplace.

The statement by Bobby Kotick was posted online on Activision’s investor page on July 27, 2021 and includes an apology, a review of the company’s policies, as well as five immediate actions the company will be taking to improve workplace safety. This statement comes a few days after it was reported that California is suing Activision Blizzard over sexual harassment and discrimination.

Breaking: Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick sent out a company wide email today addressing the lawsuit and following responses. Activision has published the email.

“Our initial responses to the issues we face together, and to your concerns, were, quite frankly, tone deaf.” pic.twitter.com/nttaeX74B4

— CharlieIntel - Call of Duty News (@charlieINTEL) July 28, 2021

The actions, which are effective immediately, are as follows:

1. Employee Support. We will continue to investigate each and every claim and will not hesitate to take decisive action. To strengthen our capabilities in this area we are adding additional senior staff and other resources to both the Compliance team and the Employee Relations team.
2. Listening Sessions. We know many of you have inspired ideas on how to improve our culture. We will be creating safe spaces, moderated by third parties, for you to speak out and share areas for improvement.
3. Personnel Changes. We are immediately evaluating managers and leaders across the Company. Anyone found to have impeded the integrity of our processes for evaluating claims and imposing appropriate consequences will be terminated.
4. Hiring Practices. Earlier this year I sent an email requiring all hiring managers to ensure they have diverse candidate slates for all open positions. We will be adding compliance resources to ensure that our hiring managers are in fact adhering to this directive.
5. In-game Changes. We have heard the input from employee and player communities that some of our in-game content is inappropriate. We are removing that content.

Of note is that those in management and leadership positions will be evaluated and those found to have “impeded the integrity” of Activision Blizzard’s processes for reporting claims and partaking in retaliation will be terminated.

These are all positive steps to address issues that appear to be deep-seeded within the company. While this is a great first step, no doubt more will be done over the coming days and months, especially as the employees band together to force improvement – as is being done with a planned walkout protest.

Shacknews will be sure to keep you updated as the situation with Activision Blizzard unfolds.

Sam Chandler

Head of Guides

Hailing from the land down under, Sam Chandler brings a bit of the southern hemisphere flair to his work. After bouncing round a few universities, securing a bachelor degree, and entering the video game industry, he's found his new family here at Shacknews as Head of Guides. There's nothing he loves more than crafting a guide that will help someone. If you need help with a guide, or notice something not quite right, you can message him on X: @SamuelChandler