Activision Blizzard staff will hold a strike to show their collective frustration with the company’s response to the lawsuit highlighting bullying, sexual harassment and more within the workplace.
As originally reported by Bloomberg, the decision to strike has been building since the lawsuit was filed by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing on July 22. It’s alleged that Activision was guilty of harbouring a “frat boy workplace culture”.
Activision Blizzard employees are demanding that the company eliminates a number of mandatory clauses that are found in all staff contracts (both current and future). This includes that new practices are brought in regarding recruiting, interviewing, hiring and promotion to help with diversity. The publication of data on relative compensation, promotion rates and salary ranges for “all genders and ethnicities” at the firm is also included.
On top of this, staff want to bring in a third party to audit Activision’s upper management (including its hierarchy) and HR department.
Numerous figures from the games industry have come out in support of the move, including God of War creative director Cory Barlog.
fully support all my dev friends at Activision Blizzard as they stand up against this reprehensibly shit treatment.
our industry needs to be better. ✊❤️ https://t.co/6oeho8uGie
— cory balrog 🖖 (@corybarlog) July 27, 2021
“Activision Blizzard employees will strike tomorrow outside Blizzard’s campus to protest the company’s responses to the discrimination lawsuit and to demand more equitable treatment for staff,” wrote Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier (via ).
