American publishing house Activision Blizzard faced a crisis that could affect the entire activities of the company. And the situation continues to deteriorate with each passing day.
Last straw
This week, California state officials filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard, accusing the company’s management of instilling a culture of “student brotherhood”, as well as systematic discrimination against female employees who were subjected to sexual harassment, bullying, problems with career advancement, and so on. One case of suicide related to bullying and harassment was also reported.
The lawsuit was the result of a two-year investigation, officials said. In response, Vice President of Activision Blizzard Francis Townsen accused the Californian authorities of using false descriptions of the company’s false past. The company especially did not like the fact that the information about the suicide was made public.
The news of the lawsuit caused a lot of outrage and bewilderment in the gaming community. At the same time, the main blow fell on the studio. Blizzard, which is based in California.
Blizzard President Jay Allen Brack in internal correspondence personally applied to subordinates, declaring the inadmissibility of harassment in the workplace. He also said that everyone can file a complaint with the studio managers on condition of anonymity.
“I feel anger, sadness and a whole range of other emotions, but I am also grateful for the opportunity to work with a group of leaders and thousands of employees who have joined me to become better,” he said.
However, the management’s reaction still sparked widespread discontent among the company’s employees, who believe that the problems and sacrifices are real. As a result, they organized a flash mob on social media, publicly declaring their opposition to attempts by publishers to downplay the problems. How added lead designer World of warcraft Jeremy Feasel, On July 24, a strike was organized at Blizzard.
Former employees also spoke out. Ex-producer Diablo ii Mike Kern has long boycotted Blizzard products and actively criticized the current management of the company. On July 22, he announced that he made the decision to remove the mention of working in the studio from his social media profiles.
“The latest news was the last straw. It’s time to move on.” stressed Kern.
Former Blizzard CEO Mike Morheim posted a big statement on social media. He apologized to the injured women, stating that he was trying to create a safe atmosphere in the studio. However, the news suggests that the top manager failed his job, for which Morheim is very ashamed.
“I let you down,” he wrote, adding that a culture of discrimination and harassment still dominates the gaming industry.
The same way spoke out and former vice president of the studio Chris Metzen… He blames himself for creating an unhealthy culture in the office that encourages harassment and inequality.
“I would like my apology to have any meaning. It is not,” he said.
Boycott
The players who organized protests in World of Warcraft were even more active. People are encouraged to unsubscribe and leave the game altogether.
Developers are also required to remove or rename several characters named after the former creative director of the MMO. Alexa Afrasiabi… The fact is that the developer’s name appears in the lawsuit. It is known that in 2023 he suddenly left Blizzard, but the reasons were not announced. At the same time, the case file mentions that he molested women, and his number was nicknamed “Lux Cosby” (in honor of the notorious actor Bill Cosby).
The popular streamer did not stand aside either. Zach Asmongoldwho had a conflict with a Blizzard product manager a few weeks ago Adam Holiski… The blogger actively criticized the developers for the failed policy. In the end, Holiski called Zach an “asshole.” The message was later deleted, but the damage to the reputation was done.
The streamer himself is now playing Final Fantasy XIV, becoming the unofficial leader of the World of Warcraft refugee movement. The new scandal shocked Zach, but he admitted that he felt “rehabilitated”. The fact is that Blizzard publicly fought against “toxic behavior” of players, and streamers were criticized for bad jokes.
Even the studio hastened to distance itself from Activision Blizzard Bungie, who worked under the wing of the publishing house for several years. Now the creators Halo and Destiny declare that they oppose the creation of a “toxic culture” in the workplace.
“We do not pretend that Bungie is flawless and that no one was harassed while working in the studio, but we will not tolerate this behavior and will fight.” celebrated in the press release.
The media also began to join the boycott of Activision Blizzard. In particular, portals refused to write news about the publishing house The Gamer, GameXplain, CineLinx and others.
The journalist acted a little differently Bloomberg Jason Schreier… He has published a lot of material on creating a strategy Warcraft III: Reforged…
It turned out that the developers initially wanted to release a high-quality remaster of the classic game with new cutscenes and reworking of dialogues. However, Activision Blizzard did not believe in the success of the project and allocated an insufficient budget.
As a result, Blizzard had to abandon many of the planned things. The management also underestimated the scale of the work, and the company was afraid to postpone the release date due to the fact that pre-orders were already available.
Officials at Activision Blizzard told Bloomberg that the main problem with Warcraft III: Reforged was the unclear vision of the project in the early stages of development. The studio was also unable to decide what it wants to do: a remaster or a full-fledged remake.
The fall of Blizzard
The harassment scandal is yet another blow to the Blizzard studio, which has been feeling extremely bad in recent years. Experienced executives and veteran developers have left the company and have been replaced by people who do not fit their new roles.
The studio’s slowness and sluggishness is also widely known. And this already harms business, because such a strategy in modern conditions resembles suicide.
While other divisions of Activision Blizzard are constantly expanding and showing growth in revenue and audience size, players run from Blizzard projects.
An excellent example is World of Warcraft: Shadowlands… Major update Chains of Domination the community had to wait over 210 days. The mantra about the pandemic does not work for the reason that competitors were able to adapt to the new conditions.
Separately, the community is annoyed by the inadequate pricing policy and the abuse of microtransactions, which is already to blame for Activision Blizzard, which is interested in maximizing profit. However, this does not make it easier for the players, because their interests were in the background.
As a result, a tectonic shift has emerged on the market in recent months, following which the new king of IMO should become Final fantasy xiv… Streamer Zach Asmongold’s decision to switch to the project Square enix only intensified the migration of the audience. The Japanese company even had to impose restrictions on the registration of new accounts so as not to bring down the servers
The rest of the competitors are also on the alert. Developers The Elder Scrolls Online set up a real pipeline for the release of add-ons. For the above 210 days, the studio ZeniMax released three DLCs. But there is still Black desert, Guild Wars 2, RuneScape and other MMOs.
Blizzard is not doing better in other areas. Release Overwatch proved to be a major success that the studio was unable to develop. The decisions were fatal to move towards esports, as well as to start developing Overwatch 2… Many players do not understand why a sequel is needed at all. Apparently, Blizzard wanted to quickly release a new shooter, but the legendary slowness came to the team sideways.
The litigation may well lead to the fact that the leadership of Activision Blizzard decide on a large-scale restructuring of the troubled studio. The prerequisites for this already exist. It’s no secret that the lion’s share of the publishing house’s internal studios are now working on a franchise. Call of duty, which is becoming an increasingly fat “cash cow”.
According to Jason Schreier, Activision Blizzard is unhappy with Blizzard’s performance, which is noticeably lower than the rest of the divisions. In particular, the publisher wants to focus on the development of mobile games.
This can also be bad news for players. The studio cannot be called autonomous after the departure of CEO Mike Morheim. And the scandal will allow the head of the publishing house Bobby Kotiku only to increase their influence, because of which the financial indicators will be more important than the opinions of the players.
See also: Harassment, butt plugs and suicide: Activision Blizzard was sued
Call of Duty to All Fields: Activision Blizzard Founds New Studio
