“My name is Christine, I work at Blizzard, a division of Activision, for four years. I still work here. I didn’t want to have to be up here doing this but we need to make major changes at Activision Blizzard. Working at Blizzard was my dream job. When I first heard about all the talented people working at Blizzard, I knew that was somewhere that I wanted to work and somewhere I could excel in my career. I was so excited to be a part of a community that seemed to so much care about there employees. Unfortunately that didn’t happen for me.”
Those are the words of Christine, a Blizzard employee who, together with her attorney Lisa Bloom gave a statement outside of Blizzard’s headquarters in Irvine, California, on Wednesday evening.
The employee alleges that, since being employed at Blizzard, she has been subjected to rude comments about her body, unwanted sexual advancements, being touched inappropriately, subjected to alcohol infused team events, cube crawls, an invitation to have casual sex with a supervisor and being surrounded by a frat boy culture. You can watch her full statement below.
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“When I complained to my supervisors I was told they are just joking and I should get over it. I began to remove myself from work events to avoid all the sexual comments and groping. I was told not to go to HR. I was told the harassing men where just trying to be friends with me. I was told they did nothing wrong by law,” Christine adds.
“After I complained about the sexual harassment I was demoted. I was then further harassed and retaliated against. I had been denied my full profit sharing, denied shares in the company and have had minimal raises in the four years I’ve been employed with Blizzard. Fighting to keep my job in a toxic workplace culture has taken a severe toll on my mental health. I’m up here today because I want to fight for a safe work environment for employees. Blizzard has some amazing people that work for them but we need to feel safe and supported by people in leadership roles and hold people accountable for their actions,” Christine concluded.
Following Christine’s claims, Bloom spoke out and alleged that many of the victims of sexual harassment and Blizzard’s so-called frat boy culture are still suffering today.
The attorney then listed the numerous lawsuits filed against Activision Blizzard by numerous government agencies calling them admirable but quickly asked how the victims were being helped.
“We demand that Activision Blizzard prioritise its many sexual harassment victims beginning now. We don’t need more corporate blah, blah, blah, it’s time for action,” said Bloom.
The attorney then outlined three demands it has for Activision Blizzard:
- A streamlined, fast and fair process for victims to resolve their legal claims with an expanded victim compensation fund in excess of $100 million.
- A real apology to victims who have had to cope with sexual harassment and other ills within the company on a daily basis.
- A review by a neutral third party (not a law firm) into the career damage employees have experienced in the throngs of Activision Blizzard’s culture.
Christine is the first person who is actively employed by Blizzard to speak out about the toxic culture in the workplace and we commend her for the bravery that takes.
Activision Blizzard did give a statement to The Verge but if you were hoping for that statement to say much, you’ll be disappointed.
“We appreciate the courage of our current and former employees in coming forward with reports of misconduct, and we are truly sorry for any victims of people whose conduct did not live up to our values,” a nameless Activision Blizzard spokesperson said.
We’re still in a state of shock given that after many months of revelations and allegations, Activision Blizzard’s top brass remains unchanged.
Chief executive officer Bobby Kotick was even elected as the person who will report to the Activision Blizzard board of directors about the progress the Workplace Responsibility Committee, despite being accused of keeping information about harassment at the firm, from the board.
We now await Activision Blizzard’s response to these allegations, if it responds at all.
