Activision Blizzard backtracks on vaccine mandate removal

Raven Software quality assurance (QA) staff at Activision Blizzard are eligible for a union election.As reported by The Washington Post, a decision on Friday (April 22) from the NLRB means the Game Workers Alliance (GWA) union can now vote on its formation.This follows Activision Blizzard’s decision to not recognise the union, and Microsoft’s – who recently acquired Activision Blizzard – choice to honour whatever the outcome, meaning it shouldn’t stand in the way of the GWA when the acquisition goes through next year.We are so proud to announce that the NLRB ruled that our unit is eligible for election! Thank you to everyone supporting our campaign since our initial strike up until this very moment! Time for democracy!

Activision Blizzard has dodged another bullet as a US District Judge has dismissed an investor lawsuit against the gaming company.Last August, a group of Activision Blizzard investors had filed a class action lawsuit against the gaming giant, soon after the California Department Of Fair Employment And Housing (DFEH) sued the company over issues with its workplace culture.At the time, the Activision Blizzard investors claimed that the company had “made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose” a number of alleged issues, including discrimination, a “pervasive ‘frat boy’ workplace culture”, “unaddressed” complaints to HR and more.Yesterday (April 21), the class action suit was dismissed by a US District Judge, who said that the lawsuit suffered from “a lack of particularity”, per gamesindustry.biz. However, the judge also noted that the investors will be able to revise and re-file their complaint within 30 days if the issues are addressed.“To the extent plaintiffs allege that defendants must have known sexual harassment and discrimination were endemic by virtue of their respective positions at the company, the [first amended complaint] does not establish the requisite facts to support such a conclusion,” added the US District Judge.In response to the decision, a Activision Blizzard spokesperson said: “We are pleased with the court’s ruling that plaintiffs failed to establish their claims.” Activision Blizzard recently also settled another lawsuit with the U.S.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorFrom the T.S.A. to the Coachella festival, from your local supermarket to your local music club, mask and vaccination mandates continue to fall across the country, in the face of all credible scientific evidence that yet another coronavirus surge is not only taking place, but raging.

The public health minister has confirmed the Covid-19 vaccine has no link to a mysterious strain of hepatitis found in 13 Scots children.

The Broadway League has announced that while the owners and operators of all 41 Broadway venues will requires audiences to mask up at least through May 31, many theaters will no longer check vaccination status after April 30.

Activision Blizzard.On Tuesday (April 12), Melanie Proctor, assistant chief counsel at California’s DFEH, resigned.In an email (thanks, Bloomberg), Proctor said her resignation was in protest of her boss – chief counsel Janette Wipper – being fired by California governor Gavin Newsom.Proctor alleged that in recent weeks, Newsom and his office “began to interfere” with the DFEH’s lawsuit against Activision Blizzard.“The office of the governor repeatedly demanded advance notice of litigation strategy and of next steps in the litigation,” said Proctor, who also alleged that “as we continued to win in state court, this interference increased, mimicking the interests of Activision’s counsel.”Proctor added that Wipper had “attempted to protect” the DFEH’s independence, which she claims resulted in her being “abruptly terminated”.The lawyer said her own resignation is “in protest of the interference and Janette’s termination,” and went on to say that “justice should be administered equally, not favouring those with political influence.”A spokesperson for Newsom has responded, stating “claims of interference by our office are categorically false”.A spokesperson for Wipper has also commented, claiming the lawyer is “evaluating all avenues of legal recourse,” over her termination, including “a claim under the California Whistleblower Protection Act”.Though Activision Blizzard recently settled a lawsuit with the U.S.

this week, and the two critics apparently found common ground on the COVID-19 vaccine.“I don’t trust them to tell me the truth about what they put in there,” said Maher, host of HBO’s “Real Time.” “Most people are giving us too much credit for where we are medically,” he said. “My point of view is we are still at the infancy of understanding how the human body works.

Bloomberg, Proctor’s resignation also comes in protest over the Governor firing her boss, Chief Counsel Janette Wipper, who’d previously resigned from the case, and whom Proctor has said “attempted to protect” the agency’s independence throughout the suit.In late July 2021, a suit was brought against Activision Blizzard by the DFEH, after allegations emerged of workplace discrimination and sexual harassment.In an email to staff explaining her resignation, reviewed by Bloomberg, Proctor asserted that Newsom and his office “began to interfere” with the Activision suit, as they “repeatedly demanded advance notice of litigation strategy and of next steps in the litigation.” Proctor also alleged that, “as we continued to win in state court, this interference increased, mimicking the interests of Activision’s counsel.”Both Wipper and Proctor had already stepped down from the Activision suit earlier this month, though no explanation as to why was given.Newsom’s communications director Erin Mellon, said in a statement to Bloomberg that “claims of interference by our office are categorically false” and that the Newsom’s office “will continue to support DFEH in their efforts to fight all forms of discrimination and protect Californians.”TheWrap has reached out to the Governor’s office for comment.

Several weeks ago, Tucker Carlson gave a speech at a right wing mega church in San Diego, California, where he claimed that he has never been vaccinated against COVID-19. But Jimmy Kimmel thinks he’s straight up lying about that.So the thing is, Carlson has refused for months to answer the question publicly one way or the other, though he has ginned up anger against even tepid COVID-19 safety measures, even as U.S. deaths were skyrocketing.

Blizzard itself, the name and theme of the next World Of Warcraft expansion may have been revealed.Thanks to a public source code update on the official World Of Warcraft website, it appears as though the massively multiplayer online (MMO) game’s next expansion will be called “Dragonflight” (via Wowhead).This is supported by the mention of Base, Heroic and Epic purchase options for Dragonflight in the website’s public source code, as World Of Warcraft’s last expansion, Shadowlands, also has these three purchase options.The public source code also points to the website dragonflight.blizzard.com – which is currently inactive – and as Wowhead notes, this website appears to have been certified last week.Official news of the game’s next expansion will be coming soon, as Blizzard confirmed last month that it will be revealed on April 19, saying: “We’re excited to show you what we’ve been working on and where your adventures in Azeroth will go next.”This supposed Dragonflight expansion may be released in 2022, as since 2008’s Wrath Of the Lich King expansion for World Of Warcraft each expansion has been released two years apart. That said, the pandemic’s impact may have pushed the release back into 2023, and there’s no confirmed release date yet.Activision Blizzard is currently mired by misconduct allegations that surfaced in the middle of last year, and since Microsoft announced it was acquiring the company, multiple US Senators have accused the Xbox-owner of protecting Activision Blizzard’s CEO Bobby Kotick.Activision Blizzard also settled a federal lawsuit last month for around £13.7million, although it is still involved in other legal proceedings at this time.

Activision Blizzard has removed the Covid-19 staff vaccine mandate, saying it’s no longer required for office work.As reported by Kotaku, in a company-wide email sent from Activision Blizzard executive Brian Bulatao, it was said that all employees are expected to return to the office in June, following the Covid-19  stay-at-home restrictions.Shared by ABK Worker Alliance’s Jessica Gonzalez on Twitter, the publisher will not be enforcing proof of vaccination to be allowed back in the office.LEAKED: Brian Bulatao emailed all of ABK to talk returning to office in June. They will not be enforcing proof of vaccination.

Broadway will maintain its mask and vaccine requirements through April 30, the Broadway League announced today.

While we’ve heard from The Academy and two out of three co-hosts about the slap that occurred at Sunday’s Oscars ceremony, producer Will Packer has finally chosen to speak out publicly on the events. Packer seemed to defend the choice of letting Will Smith stay by suggesting that Chris Rock was “fine” with the actor not being removed.

Kourtney Kardashian is a woman of many skills! The 42-year-old reality star has her own wellness site,, is a mother of three, is starring on her family's new series,, and now can add nurse to her resumé. It seems she recently helped her fiancé, Travis Barker, with an injury he had. «Fiancée, best friend and now nurse. @kourtneykardash just removed my stitches,» Barker tweeted on Wednesday, with an emoji of a needle and some thread. Fiancée, best friend and now nurse.

A city of Los Angeles mandate requiring patrons to show proof of Covid-19 vaccination to enter many indoor establishments and large outdoor events is finally being eliminated, with the City Council giving approval today to an ordinance scrapping the requirement. The decision comes weeks after the state and county decided to do the same.

Activision Blizzard has settled its lawsuit with the U.S.

The settlement, which was first arranged between Activision and EEOC in September, will establish an $18 million settlement fund for any current or former ABK employee that wishes to file a claim over incidents of abuse, harassment and/or retaliation suffered while working at the video game developer. Leftover funds would be donated to charities that provide opportunities for women in game design as well as used towards the company’s diversity and inclusion initiatives which must be further developed as part of the settlement.

Activision Blizzard said Tuesday a federal court will approve its $18 million settlement with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over a lawsuit charging sexual harassment and retaliation.

Guy Lodge Film CriticA decade ago, when his documentary “How to Survive a Plague” rode a wave of festival acclaim to an Oscar nomination, journalist-turned-filmmaker David France probably didn’t imagine that a similarly titled quasi-sequel was in the cards. A superb overview of the early years of HIV-AIDS activism in the face of political indifference and ineptitude — ultimately leading to game-changing medication and pharmaceutical policy change — that film has given France a solid grounding for another feature-length study of very different if somewhat comparable global health crisis, centered on the COVID-19 pandemic and the extraordinarily accelerated scientific race for a solution.Researched and assembled with his characteristic intelligence and thoroughness, “How to Survive a Pandemic” serves as both a valuable potted history of the last two years of medical tumult and relief, and a critical progress report marking work yet to be done. Hardly the first high-profile documentary on the pandemic, but the most substantial yet to focus specifically on the trajectory of the vaccine, France’s film is assured a receptive audience when it bows on HBO next week, following docfest premiere slots in Thessaloniki and Copenhagen.