The situation surrounding Activision CEO Bobby Kotick has gone from bad to worse. That’s an incredible statement seeing as how there had already been rumors circulating around potential sexual misconduct by the CEO of the game developer for years. The Wall Street Journal recently published findings of an investigation that their team conducted of the whole ordeal. Their findings include alleged death threats by Kotick on top of sexual misconduct allegations as well as covering up other high-ranking employees’ sexual misconduct episodes. In the wake of all of this current employees of the company are planning to stage a walk-out. Calling for Kotick to be fired or immediately resign. Meanwhile, gaming fans on Twitter are calling for a complete boycott of the games produced by the studio.
The Wall Street Journal Claims Kotick Covered A Rape Allegation Made By An Employee
Steven Simko, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsJust how bad of a working environment was experienced by Activision Blizzard employees? The Wall Street Journal is reporting that they heard the testimony of a woman who is a former employee of the company. She worked in the Sledge Hammer Games division of the company producing the recently released Call of Duty: Vanguard. She shared an explicit story with the paper in which she claims that she was rapped numerous times by a supervisor. This employee mentions that she was pressured to drink too much alcohol at work parties and even during regular office hours. To then be rapped by an unnamed man. The incidents allegedly took place through 2016 and into 2017.
More Than 500 Sexual Misconduct Cases Reportedly Reached Kotick’s Desk
Activision President and CEO Bobby Kotick, Allen & Company, 2015In the recently released investigation it’s mentioned that company employees filled more than 500 complaints of some type of sexual misconduct against their co-workers. Some of those complaints potentially coming against Kotick himself. Activision Blizzard has responded to the original publication by the Wall Street Journal. In their statement they are essentially backing their CEO Bobby Kotick. Claiming that the information shared by the journal is blatantly false. An Activision Blizzard spokesperson told GamesBeat
“We are disappointed in the Wall Street Journal’s report, which presents an inaccurate and misleading view of Activision Blizzard and our CEO. Instances of sexual misconduct that were brought to his attention were acted upon.”
Fans On Social Media Are Calling For A Total Boycott Of The Publisher’s Games
Activision Blizzard was already on thin ice with fans to begin with. As we mentioned, these allegations of sexual misconduct by high-ranking officials have plagued the company for a while. Perhaps for many fans the explicit nature of the stories published in the Wall Street Journal pushed things over the edge. One of the more eloquent Twitter users who wrote on the topic goes by the username @benno4461 he writes,
“It’s clear beyond any doubt that money is the biggest influence in what has transpired. I would genuinely encourage anyone and everyone to boycott Activision/Blizzard. I’ve done so for about a year+ and it’s been great. These ppl don’t listen to voices, use your wallet.”
Other fans have joined the boycott initiative. At this point, the studio was already trying to fight these allegations in court. The fight in the court of public opinion though seems to be one they just can’t win no matter how good of a defense team they can put together.
Don't give your money to Blizzard or Activision. The developers are not getting paid by the copy and they're frankly being abused. If you don't like what they are doing to their developers simply don't buy it. It's a simple as that. Company gets paid, it's not going to listen. https://t.co/F6BcMug9Dh
— Dollow Rlance (@DollowR) November 16, 2021
