Activision Blizzard confirm former ‘World Of Warcraft’ director was fired for misconduct

Activision Blizzard, which includes Candy Crush developer King, are claiming that recruiters are telling them to stop talking about the company’s toxic culture.The claim appears to have come from Valentine Powell, a senior UI engineer for World Of Warcraft, who tweeted yesterday (August 17), “I’m seeing recruiters approaching ABK workers who are pushing for change, telling them to stop being so loud.

Activision Blizzard over alleged sexual harassment, a new report claims that the company has been deadnaming transgender quality assurance (QA) staff.The report, from Kotaku, states that the company will “almost always default to legal names,” a QA tester at a contract QA studio claimed.

Blizzard Entertainment employees – two key Diablo IV figures and a World Of Warcraft designer – are no longer with the company.Diablo IV game director Luis Barriga and its lead level designer Jesse McCree, as well as World of Warcraft designer Jonathan LeCraft, have left the video game company, reports Kotaku.

Blizzard Entertainment‘s games has fallen from 46million players to 26million.As reported in GameRant, the drastic decline of players of Blizzard’s games – which include World Of Warcraft, Overwatch and Hearthstone – was revealed during Activision Blizzard‘s latest earnings call, with a chart shared on Reddit.The studio hits its peak in Q2 2021 with 46million monthly active users, a year following the launch of both Overwatch and WoW‘s Legion expansion.This figure has however continued falling

Activision Blizzard investment group spoke out against the company’s response to the lawsuit over alleged sexual harassment.In an exclusive letter from SOC executive director Dieter Waizenegger to Axios, the Activision Blizzard shareholder says that recent promises don’t go “nearly far enough to address the deep and widespread issues with equity, inclusion, and human capital management.”“No changes have been announced with respect to executive pay,” the letter adds.“Either with respect to

Overwatch League may be about to lose more sponsorships in the wake of a lawsuit alleging abuse and sexual harassment at Activision Blizzard.As reported in The Washington Post, Coca-Cola and State Farm are reassessing their partnerships with the Overwatch League.

Diablo Immortal has had its release date pushed back to 2022, following player feedback from a recent closed alpha test of the game.In a blog post, developer Blizzard Entertainment says “the game is now planned for release in the first half of 2022, which will allow us to add substantial improvements to the whole game”.Blizzard added that it “has been tuning core and endgame features”, with an emphasis on iterating and improving PvP content “to make it more accessible”, as well as fine-tuning

Blizzard Entertainment following the ongoing lawsuit and allegations on abuse and sexual harassment that has rocked the company in recent weeks.As reported in Bloomberg, an Activision Blizzard spokesperson has confirmed that Jesse Meschuk, formerly Blizzard’s senior vice president of HR, is “no longer with the company”.Meschuk was the most senior figure in Blizzard’s HR, which allegedly worked to cover up abuses.

Activision Blizzard is being sued by an investor for allegedly hiding the severity of an investigation into sexual harassment, which led to a lawsuit from the state of California.An Activision Blizzard investor has filed a federal securities fraud claim against the company, stating shareholders were “economically damaged” after Activision Blizzard reportedly downplayed and buried California’s investigation into sexual harassment from investors.The suit, noted by Bloomberg Law, alleges that

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick addressed the company’s ongoing sexual harassment lawsuit and action surrounding further allegations.Speaking to investors during a second-quarter 2021 financial results call yesterday (August 3), Kotick has stated “people will be held accountable for their actions” regarding allegations of sexual harassment and a “frat boy culture” at Activision Blizzard.Regarding recent commitments to change, Kotick said:“That commitment means that we will not just

Activision Blizzard appears to have lost a major sponsor for Call of Duty esports league, with T-Mobile vanishing from recent competitive events.READ MORE: The unstoppable rise of the UK’s favourite homegrown ‘Call of Duty: Warzone’ player, JukeyzReferences to T-Mobile, which was the company’s largest non-gaming sponsor, seemed to have disappeared during the recent Stage 5 Majors competition (as spotted by Dexerto).The T-Mobile logo appears to have been obscured on competing players’ uniforms,

Blizzard Entertainment president J. Allen Brack is stepping down from his role, following a lawsuit served to the company alleging widespread sexual harassment.The announcement comes from Blizzard itself, saying in a statement that Brack will be “stepping down” to be replaced by a leadership team of Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra.“To all members of the Blizzard Community,” the statement read.

Activision Blizzard faces a lawsuit after accusations from employees that they’ve faced “constant sexual harassment, including groping, comments, and advances” in the workplace, a former senior employee has written an open letter calling for industry-wide unionization.Shared via IGN, Jeff Strain’s ‘It’s Time’ letter starts with Strain saying how “the Activision Blizzard disclosures this week have left me disgusted and repulsed — but not at all surprised.”Having joined Blizzard Entertainment in

Riot Games is being sued by the state of California for gender discrimination, sexual harassment and pay decisions, according to a recently discovered document. The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) litigation notice was spotted by a Reddit user (thanks, PC Gamer), and the class case is “not subject to arbitration.

Activision Blizzard has since cancelled all future meetings.An initial all-hands meeting was chaired on July 26, but due to a scheduling error, was only attended by around 500 employees.Another all-hands meeting was scheduled for today but has since been cancelled.According to Uppercut, Activision Blizzard is offering “discussion sessions” limited to 30 participants each for employees to raise issues and grievances surrounding the State of California lawsuit.“Any future all hands style meetings

Activision Blizzard has hired the renowned union-busting legal firm, WilmerHale, to review the company’s policies after a lawsuit accused the firm of subjecting employees to “constant sexual harassment, including groping, comments, and advances” in the workplace.Previously best known for its work with Amazon when it came to handling workers demanding better pay and working conditions, WilmerHale is generally considered to be an anti-union legal firm.

Ubisoft employees have released an open letter showing support for the Activision Blizzard walkout, and asking for their employers to do more.The letter comes shortly after Activision Blizzard employees announced a walkout to protest the company’s response to allegations laid out in a lawsuit from the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing.

Activision Blizzard will be removing references that are “not appropriate” from its 17-year old MMO World Of Warcraft, in the wake of a slate of sexual harassment allegations that have been levied against the studio.In a message posted to its official forums, credited to the entire World Of Warcraft team, the developers say that “the past days have been a time of reflection”, as they “heed the brave women who have come forward to share their experiences.”The team goes on to say “we stand

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has apologised and detailed how the business will move forward following a week of sexual harassment allegations and an ongoing lawsuit.Kotick issued the letter last night (July 27) on Activision Blizzard’s investor page. The CEO’s letter marks a major change in how the company has publicly addressed the lawsuit and allegations up until this point.Kotick sets out changes in the letter, listing five immediate actions Activision Blizzard will take.

Blizzard Entertainment has quietly unveiled its latest set of cards as part of the new Hearthstone: United In Stormwind expansion.As confirmed by Hearthstone lead designer Dean Ayala on Reddit and viewable on the official Hearthstone website, the decision to stealth drop the DLC comes in the wake of the lawsuit against Activision Blizzard.The company is accused of fostering a “frat boy” environment that has caused issues surrounding bullying, sexual harassment and more within the workplace.