Activision Blizzard has been the topic of scrutiny for a number of years now, because of its broadly criticized “Boys’ Club” company tradition of sleazy shenanigans. And now, late on a Friday night simply earlier than the vacation season begins in earnest, The Wall Street Journal stories the embattled gaming firm can pay $50 million to settle a 2021 gender discrimination and harassment lawsuit—the identical lawsuit that seemingly prompted Microsoft’s landmark $69 billion acquisition of the Call of Duty and Overwatch writer that was lastly greenlit in October after an 18-month authorized battle.
California’s Civil Rights Department sued Activision again in 2021, claiming firm management willfully ignored worker complaints relating to pay disparity, gender- and sexuality-based harassment, and discrimination.
Activision has repeatedly denied these prices. Company representatives have additionally claimed that an inside investigation by its board of administrators concluded that the allegations in opposition to the corporate had been with out benefit. When the Microsoft acquisition closed earlier this yr, longtime Activision CEO Bobby Kotick was “requested” to keep for one more two months, via the top of 2023.
According to the Journal, which broke the story relating to the settlement, the state of California had initially estimated Activision’s legal responsibility for a far higher quantity than $50 million.
The state in 2021 estimated Activision’s legal responsibility at practically $1 billion to 2,500 workers who might need claims in opposition to the corporate, court docket paperwork present. Activision had round 13,000 workers as of the top of 2022.
Citing nameless sources conversant in the matter, the Journal goes on to assert that state companies had “initially sought an quantity a lot higher than the settlement Riot Games paid earlier this yr to settle its lawsuit.” That ruling in May 2023 touched upon related grievances regarding poisonous office tradition and resulted in a $100 million settlement for plaintiffs.
