News | Activision Blizzard Employees Strike Today

The strike takes place today at Blizzard’s campus in Irvine, California. The strike is both to support workers who have suffered from the toxic work culture and to criticize Activision Blizzard’s response to the allegations. The strike will start at 7:00 PM Dutch time and will run until 11:00 PM.

Employees have also released a list of requirements that they want the company to meet. For example, contracts must be overhauled, so that abusers within the company are no longer protected and victims can make a stand against them. The way in which recruitment and promotion is carried out within the publisher must also be overhauled. They also want Activision Blizzard to publish salary data and improve working conditions for all employees.

Last week, the state of California sued Activision Blizzard for discrimination and sexual harassment, based on two years of investigation. Within the company, discrimination is alleged to take place in various ways, including promotions and salary, especially among women. They would also be sexually harassed in the workplace.

It was revealed yesterday that more than 1,500 current and former Activision Blizzard employees have signed a letter condemning the company’s response to recent allegations. There are now more than 2000. The letter was drawn up after the company’s response to the allegations. An internal memo from chief compliance officer Frances Townsend also leaked. According to Townsend, the allegations paint a “distorted and inaccurate picture of the publisher and use factually incorrect, old and out of context stories”. Activision Blizzard’s public response and internal memo are said to be “abhorrent and offensive to everything we believe the company should stand for.”