With a problem still far from being solved, it seems that it is not only the employees and leadership of Activision Blizzard who are standing firm against the sexual harassment scandal that has so tainted the company, but the executive director of Sony Interactive Jim Ryan also criticized the company’s latest response.
Although it is about a filtered message being written through a hands-free, without a doubt this email from Ryan leaves no doubt: “We reached out to Activision immediately after the article was published to express our deep concern and ask how they plan to address the claims made in the article.”, His message began,“We do not believe that your response statements adequately address the situation«.
A discontent that although it seems minor, could have a really big impact if you really want to position yourself against the company. And is that Sony is undoubtedly one of Activision Blizzard’s most important partners, with a well-known and close relationship in which PlayStation’s great interest in some Call of Duty content stands out, a game that ranks among the 5 most played titles on the new console, even ahead of all its exclusives.
And it is that as revealed from The Wall Street Journal in a report that has turned out to be the most incendiary, it seems that Bobby Kotick, the CEO of Activision Blizzard, not only knew of many of the worst cases of abuse produced within your company for all these years, but in some cases, you could also have acted to protect accused employees rather than support victims, thus fostering the creation of the toxic culture that has now plunged the company into controversy.
According to a report published by Game Developer, Activision Blizzard also defended Kotick during a general meeting that the company organized after the American newspaper published its report. When asked if its new zero tolerance policy would apply to the executive, the company told employees that «they had no evidence»Of the claims against Kotick due to the fact that they relate to an incident that «it happened a decade ago«.
Thus, this controversial answer is now turning towards two assumptions, with a possible application to Kotick’s alleged defense of Treyarch co-founder Dan Bunting, whose elimination was recommended by Activision Blizzard HR before the company began its internal interventions, thus avoiding its relationship with all this scandal; or if on the contrary, they refer to the accusations that Kotick himself faces about his alleged death threat to one of his assistants.
On the other hand, other statements shared by Engadget from a spokesperson for the developer, assure that from the company they think that “a misleading view of Activision Blizzard and our CEO«, Even the board of directors to issue an official statement expressing continued support for Kotick’s leadership.
For their part, started from the moment all this information began to circulate publicly, the company’s employees announced that they would organize a new strike. What is clear is that Activision Blizzard is trying to overcome this storm by blindly supporting its current organization chart, despite the fact that more and more partners, employees and fans are showing their discontent.
