News from the lovely world of the Games Industry.

[The Minsky Moment]

Of course, and he may realize it, now.

The accuracy of that conclusion depends on how prevalent you think the capacity for honest self-critical evaluation is among corporate leaders.

The alternative is he is just saying whatever the PR guy is telling him to say until the immediate crisis blows over.

[Syt]

https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/more-shocking-activision-blizzard-revelations-bobby-kotick-once-told-an-assistant-he-was-going-to-have-her-killed/#comment-jump

More shocking Activision Blizzard revelations: Bobby Kotick once told an assistant he was going to have her killed

A new report in the Wall Street Journal paints an unflattering picture of Activision-Blizzard

A new report in the Wall Street Journal details further incidents of harassment and sexual harassment at Activision-Blizzard, some dating back to 2006. The report, which Activision characterized as "inaccurate" in its own statement today, details Jen Oneal's short reign as Blizzard co-head, and why she left, and also includes allegations about CEO Bobby Kotick's own behaviour and how the company's leadership has historically responded to such issues.

Jen Oneal was promoted to co-head of Blizzard in August 2021, making her the first woman to lead one of Activision's business units. This was widely seen as a positive step for Blizzard amidst these grim allegations and ugliness. A few months later Oneal has come out as someone who has experienced this harassment herself, and announced her intention to leave: This is simply staggering.

In September 2021 Oneal emailed an Activision lawyer to announce her intent to resign, saying "it was clear that the company would never prioritize our people the right way", alleging she had been sexually harassed earlier in her career at Activision, and that she was paid less than her male co-head Mike Ybarra. "I have been tokenized, marginalized, and discriminated against," wrote Oneal.

It was announced on November 2 that Oneal is leaving Blizzard at the end of the year.

The main allegations about Kotick are that, in 2006, he left a threatening voicemail on an assistant's phone in which he threatened to have her killed. The assistant complained and Kotick settled the matter out-of-court. Activision spokesperson Helaine Klasky told the WSJ:  "Mr. Kotick quickly apologized 16 years ago for the obviously hyperbolic and inappropriate voice mail, and he deeply regrets the exaggeration and tone in his voice mail to this day."

Another allegation is that Kotick personally intervened in the case of Dan Bunting, then co-head of Activision's Treyarch studio, a key part of the Call of Duty series. Bunting was accused by a female employee of sexually harassing her in 2017 after a night of drinking. Activision launched an internal investigation in 2019 when this was reported and recommended Bunting be fired but Kotick intervened to keep him. Bunting was instead given counseling and allowed to remain at Activision. However, after the WSJ began enquiring about this incident, Bunting has now left Activision.

The report goes on to detail rape allegations made against Javier Panameno, a Sledgehammer Games supervisor. The accuser's lawyer alleged he also had sexually harassed a second woman at the studio. The employee who accused him of the assaults reported that 2017 incident to the police: No charges were brought. The assaults were reported to Activision in 2018, and Panemeno was fired two months later.

The accuser's lawyer added that, while her client had not reported the incidents to Activision before leaving in November 2017, she had reported them to Sledgehammer's HR department while at the company.

The report also alleges that former Blizzard technology chief Ben Kilgore faced multiple allegations of sexual harassment over several years, and lied in an internal investigation about a relationship with a lower level employee. Kilgore was fired in 2018 with Kotick's approval.

Kotick has been subpoenaed by the Securities and Exchange Commission for an investigation into how the company handled misconduct and disclosed it (thus what Kotick knew and when, and what he told others such as the board, is very important).

Per the WSJ: "The board of directors was blindsided by the California lawsuit's allegations, including that an Activision employee killed herself after a photo of her vagina allegedly was circulated at a company party, according to people familiar with the board."

Activision's board said in a statement it had been "informed at all times with respect to the status of regulatory matters."

At the time an email was circulated around Activision-Blizzard staff by Frances Townsend, one of the company's female executives. Townsend would take an enormous amount of flak for this email, and Kotick backtracked the statement and called it "tone deaf."

Bobby Kotick drafted that statement, and directed Townsend to send it. Townsend had to apologise to a company women's group she led and was asked to resign, which she did. "Ms. Townsend should not be blamed for this mistake," said Activision spokeswoman Helaine Klasky.

These new revelations have to be viewed in the wider context of the allegations against Activision-Blizzard and various ongoing legal actions. The company is in court against the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, facing allegations that it routinely ignored complaints by female employees of harassment, sexual harassment and discrimination. The WSJ claims that since this action was launched in July Activision has received more than 500 HR complaints from current and former employees alleging "harassment, sexual assault, bullying, pay disparities and other issues."

Shortly after the WSJ article went live, Activision-Blizzard made public a statement that had earlier been circulated among employees. In it Kotick writes:

"There's an article today that paints an inaccurate and misleading view of our company, of me personally, and my leadership.

"I want to say two important things about this: First, we are incredibly fortunate to have the most talented people in our industry all so committed to constant improvement. And I share this commitment. The second thing I want to say is that anyone who doubts my conviction to be the most welcoming, inclusive workplace doesn't really appreciate how important this is to me."

Kotick's statement goes on to say Activision-Blizzard is "moving forward with a new zero tolerance policy for inappropriate behavior—and zero means zero. Any reprehensible conduct is simply unacceptable. Over the last few years our industry has had an uncomfortable spotlight that's been illuminating opportunities for us to change. And we must all, including me, embrace this need for change, so we can bring our very best selves to the very best place to work."

Activision-Blizzard's own, separate response to the story reiterated: "We are disappointed in the Wall Street Journal's report, which presents a misleading view of Activision Blizzard and our CEO. Instances of sexual misconduct that were brought to his attention were acted upon."

The studio remains locked in multiple court battles of harassment allegations dating back years. Kotick has always been a part of this story, inasmuch as it's about an institutional problem at the company he more-or-less built into an institution, but until this point he's been in the typical CEO position of issuing statements and promising change. This report drags his behaviour and decision-making into question, and does so in the context of serious harassment allegations and whether senior employees were ever given preferential treatment.

Activision-Blizzard continues to contest these allegations on multiple fronts but its own board will now be asking the obvious question: Kotick built Activision into what it is, but is he the man that can turn the page on this chapter in its history? We may get the answer to that sooner than you think.

[viper37]

Of course, and he may realize it, now.

The accuracy of that conclusion depends on how prevalent you think the capacity for honest self-critical evaluation is among corporate leaders.

The alternative is he is just saying whatever the PR guy is telling him to say until the immediate crisis blows over.

I don't think he wants to change things.  But I also don't think he has a choice to change things now.

[Razgovory]

That does seem to reinforce Jake's "shitheel" hypothesis.

[Syt]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-11-17/playstation-chief-criticizes-activision-response-to-allegations

PlayStation Chief Criticizes Activision's Response to Crisis

Sony Group Corp.'s PlayStation Chief Jim Ryan admonished Activision Blizzard Inc. Wednesday for an inadequate response to allegations that Chief Executive Officer Bobby Kotick was aware of sexual misconduct and harassment claims at the game publisher for years and that he had mistreated women.

In an email to employees reviewed by Bloomberg, Ryan linked to the Wall Street Journal's Tuesday report. He wrote that he and his leadership were "disheartened and frankly stunned to read" that Activision "has not done enough to address a deep-seated culture of discrimination and harassment."

"We outreached to Activision immediately after the article was published to express our deep concern and to ask how they plan to address the claims made in the article," he wrote. "We do not believe their statements of response properly address the situation."

As one of the video game industry's biggest console manufacturers, Sony has long had a close relationship with Activision, which produces hits like Call of Duty and World of Warcraft. In addition to publishing most of its games on PlayStation consoles, Activision has worked with Sony on elaborate marketing deals. The last few entries in the Call of Duty series, including this year's Call of Duty: Vanguard, have featured exclusive modes and content for the PlayStation.

Activision is also under fire from its own employees. More than 100 walked out Tuesday and called for Kotick's resignation. The board issued a statement standing by Kotick. Activision shares fell 2.5% in New York on Wednesday afternoon.

This seems unusual. Normally, games companies don't comment much on the shit happening in other companies (though I assume there's contracts between ActiBlizz and Sony for their titles to be on PlayStation so that they felt they had to say something to disassociate themselves from this).

[viper37]

Activision Blizzard investigated Activision Blizzard and found Activision Blizzard didn't do anything wrong

[viper37]

Activision Blizzard investigated Activision Blizzard and found Activision Blizzard didn't do anything wrong

Oh, and it says the media made them look bad, too

Amid all the news on Overwatch 2 and Diablo Immortal, Activision Blizzard has filed a document with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in which it affirms that, after an internal investigation, it concluded its own board did not fail to act when presented with allegations of harassment.

"Contrary to many of the allegations, the board and its external advisors have determined that there is no evidence to suggest that Activision Blizzard senior executives ever intentionally ignored or attempted to downplay the instances of gender harassment that occurred and were reported," Activision Blizzard wrote in the filing.

The report does acknowledge there were problems within the company and that such a conclusion does little to address the concerns of those harmed. "Indeed, a single instance of someone feeling diminished at Activision Blizzard is one too many," it wrote. However, in a report from one of the consultants Activision Blizzard engaged to review harassment filings and the company's responses, the document said, "based on the volume of reports, the amount of misconduct reflected is comparatively low for a company the size of Activision Blizzard." It's kind of strange to say in one breath "one is too many" and then cite a consultant saying it could have been worse.

The filing continues with the programs the company has implemented to make restitution. It cites the addition of a new diversity and inclusion executive, a program designed to train and attract employees from underrepresented areas, and its $18 million compensation fund established by its settlement with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or EEOC. (For reference Activision Blizzard reported Call of Duty alone made the company $3 billion in 2020.)

But, in another example of "you could just not say that," the company took a swipe at the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) — which tried to block the EEOC settlement since it might release the company from the state's own case against it — and the media.

"It must be said that the company has been subject to an unrelenting barrage of media criticism that attempts to paint the entire company (and many innocent employees) with the stain of a very small portion of our employee population who engaged in bad behavior and were disciplined for it," the company wrote. "Much of this originated with the highly inflammatory, made-for-press allegations of the DFEH."

I guess when there's a new allegation cropping up almost daily with stories of stolen breast milk, alcohol-fueled "cube crawls," the now-infamous "Cosby suite," the fact that the CEO likely knew about all of it, the board's patent refusal to disavow said CEO despite employee objections, three employee walkouts, a strike and — let's not forget — the persistent instances of union busting for which there are at least two National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) complaints, it can get pretty unrelenting. It's also worth noting that while the DFEH filing did make the public aware about the "cube crawls" and the "Cosby suite," a lot of the other allegations brought forward were from independent reporting and Activision Blizzard's own current and former employees.

[Syt]

[Syt]

https://www.pcgamer.com/blizzard-developers-say-mandatory-return-to-office-policy-has-cost-us-some-amazing-people/

Blizzard developers say mandatory return-to-office policy has 'cost us some amazing people'
By Rick Lane published about 16 hours ago

Loss of talent is forcing producers to create "crisis maps" in development planning.

Activision Blizzard's mandatory return-to-office policy is causing an unnecessary loss of talent, to the point where it could affect development of major titles like World of Warcraft and Diablo 4, according to some Blizzard developers.

As reported by Kotaku, the company mandated that Activision employees return to the office for three days a week on April 10 this year, while Blizzard workers would be expected to follow suit on July 10. But several developers have spoken out about the ramifications this has had for employment.

"Being loud about it because I've lost yet *another* person this week," game producer Adam "Glaxigrav" tweeted in April. "Blizzard is losing amazing talent because someone in power doesn't listen to the game directors who make his products." Adam further stated that "We are creating crisis maps of what we can or cannot ship. THAT is the loss of capacity we're facing."

Other Blizzard employees added their own thoughts to Adam's tweet. "Forced RTO has cost us some amazing people and will continue to cost us more in the coming months", wrote senior designer Allison Steele. "It is a terrible, shortsighted, self-destructive policy that is only weakening our ability to deliver the kind of game we want to make." An example of the effect ABK's policy is having can be found in the replies to Steele's tweet. "I've received a job offer for Blizzard, and the move to Irvine was mandatory...which is a no-go for me" wrote Ubisoft AI programmer Stéphane Wantiez.

Kotaku also spoke to an employee on the Diablo 4 team on the condition of anonymity, who said they believed their days at Blizzard "are numbered", that none of their managers are on board with the return-to-office policy, and that several other people on the team had also given notice. The same employee also speculated that Blizzard is "tightening its belt right now and they want people to leave", which may affect Blizzard's plans for Diablo IV's post-release updates.

It's worth noting that the mandatory office attendance doesn't apply to ABK's executives. Recently hired execs like Chief Administrative Officer Brian Bulatao, and Chief Communications Officer Lulu Cheng Meservey, have full-time remote status.

Return to office policies have been a divisive subject in the games industry of late. Recently, a Unity manager was fired(opens in new tab) after referring to an exec's RTO solution as "out of touch" on Twitter. Meanwhile, other companies like Bungie (opens in new tab)and Respawn Entertainment have fully embraced remote-working.

The Unity firing mentioned comes after this tweet by her:

a Unity exec just shared that they rent a secondary apt in SF to make it easier to be in the office- maybe we should all just do this to make it easier to RTO?   This company has lost it. Completely out of touch.

Story: https://www.pcgamer.com/unity-manager-publicly-states-company-is-out-of-touch-is-fired-within-three-hours/

[Grey Fox]

I've held the same job for 15 years. My current employer is now 4 days a week in the office. For the 1st time in 15 years I'm looking for a new job. It won't easy tho since that QA conditions are usually so bad I am not looking into another QA job.

[Jacob]

While I agree with the Unity manager's opinion, I don't think there's anything unexpected in getting fired for using social media to call out your executive management's hypocrisy... at least if you're not protected by a collective agreement of some sort.

[grumbler]

While I agree with the Unity manager's opinion, I don't think there's anything unexpected in getting fired for using social media to call out your executive management's hypocrisy... at least if you're not protected by a collective agreement of some sort.

Agreed, and that's one reason why creative companies so often die after reaching a certain size; the very people most valuable to them are the people most likely to piss off the suits.

[HVC]

If everyone goes RTO the talent will eventual get reshuffled in the industry. I think WFH as it existed during Covid is a losing battle. For good or for bad.

[The Minsky Moment]

If everyone goes RTO the talent will eventual get reshuffled in the industry. I think WFH as it existed during Covid is a losing battle. For good or for bad.

I don't know much about the dynamics of the industry, but it doesn't immediately strike me as having impenetrably high barriers to entry.  If that is so, some player or players are going to try to seize a recruiting advantage by offering more flexible work rules.

[Jacob]

Yeah, I'm with Minsky here.

My studio is sticking with hybrid on an organizational scale - meaning we have some folks who are fully remote, some who are fully in office, and some who WFH/WIO in some combination. It works for us and is one data point potential candidates evaluate when deciding whether to accept an offer. I don't see any indications that this is going to change in the reasonable future.

My thoughts on the topic:

1. There are definitely attractive hires who will not consider in-office-required positions. Companies that insist on in-office will take a hit there.

2. At the same time, I'm sure large organizations (like Activision) can survive mandating in-office, but there'll be a price (and some advantages too).

3. There will definitely be organizations - small and large - who'll make "we are fully remote" a point of competitive advantage (meaning the people mentioned in point 1. will be able to find work).

4. A significant amount of game dev - especially at the AAA level - is done by distributed teams anyhow. If, say, 75% of your work is collaborating with staff at offices other than your own then the potential advantages of being in the office (vs working remotely) can be signficantly reduced.

5. Microsoft - which may still end up acquiring Activision (I think?) - allows remote work.