The lawsuit alleges that Activision Blizzard has fostered a "frat boy" culture in which female employees endure regular sexual harassment and experience discrimination and retaliation.

[1] Some factors alleged by the DFEH were in connection with poor reporting of workplace harassment, but the suit also contends that Activision Blizzard overall failed to properly consider diversity in hiring and promotion practices.

The bill, authored by California senator Hannah-Beth Jackson, was intended to bypass complexities that had arisen during the Trump administration over the reporting of wage information to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

[28] As described by Vox's Aja Romano, this type of "rock star" attitude persists across major studios like Activision Blizzard and Ubisoft, and coerces newer hires to commit to long hours to show their dedication to the craft and the company or otherwise potentially be fired.

Kotick had been aware of this and similar events, according to internal documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, but had failed to inform shareholders, which belied his more recent statements he had made at the onset of the DFEH's lawsuit.

An internal investigation had led to the suggestion of firing Bunting, but Kotick had reportedly vetoed this move due to his studio's success with the Call of Duty series, and instead he was ordered to see counseling.

[38] The EEOC filed a formal suit against Activision Blizzard on September 27, 2021, in the Federal District Court for Central California, as it "was unable to secure through informal methods an acceptable conciliation agreement".

The lawsuit sought a jury trial to review the EEOC's charges of pervasive sexual harassment and discrimination, as well as an injunction for the company to cease unlawful behavior and pay restitution to affected employees.

[50] Parents of a former Activision Blizzard employee, Kerri Moynihan, a 32-year-old finance manager, who had committed suicide in 2017 during a corporate retreat, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the company in March 2022 in Los Angeles Superior Court.

The lawsuit alleges that Activision did not fully cooperate with the policy investigation into the suicide and the company's "failure to take immediate, suitable, and effective corrective action and/or all reasonable steps to prevent that workplace sexual harassment" was a major factor leading to the death.

There was also information withheld from shareholders, "A separate lawsuit into the company by the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was controversially settled for $18 million last September," creating more of a financial hit for Blizzard.

[64] In late October 2021, Kotick announced the company was taking several measures related to issues from the lawsuit, acknowledging that "The guardrails weren't in place everywhere to ensure that our values were being upheld.

The WSJ ignores important changes underway to make this the industry's most welcoming and inclusive workplace and it fails to account for the efforts of thousands of employees who work hard every day to live up to their – and our — values.

[70] According to a Wall Street Journal report in January 2022, Activision Blizzard had either pushed out or let go of 37 employees, and disciplined about 44 others as part of their internal investigation of workplace misconduct within the company since the start of DFEH's litigation.

[77][78] In addition to the matters brought up by the DFEH lawsuits, employees speaking to Axios identified that Activision Blizzard's HR departments had a significant hand in preventing any action to address sexual misconduct concerns.

The ABK Workers Alliance stated that Kotick's response was not sufficient to address the earlier demands made by employees in regards to resolving the workplace conduct and discrimination issues raised by the DFEH lawsuit.

The Alliance rejected the use of WilmerHale as the auditing firm, due to their "pre-existing relationships with Activision Blizzard and its executives" and their past case work "discouraging workers' rights and collective action".

[83] The ABK Alliance outlined the harsh conditions that many at Activision Blizzard employees working for quality assurance had, including 50 to 60 hour workweeks on average, being hired on contract and thus lacking benefits and employment security, and hostility towards transgender and other LGBT individuals.

In a statement from A Better ABK, the group said "We have instituted our own Zero Tolerance Policy...We will not be silenced until Bobby Kotick has been replaced as CEO, and continue to hold our original demand for third-party review by an employee-chosen source.

"[87][88] In December 2021, Activision let go of about a dozen contracted quality assurance (QA) staff, or game testers, for Raven Software, despite having made promises of improved wages and other benefits in the months prior.

While the action was not directly associated with the lawsuit, the tensions within the company led staff at Raven and later across other divisions of Activison Blizzard to stage another walk-off in protest of Activision's decision.

[89] A formal class action lawsuit was filed on behalf of the shareholders on August 3, 2021, in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, asserting that in light of the claims brought by DFEH's suit, Bobby Kotick and other senior management had failed to provide proper oversight to prevent the situations outlined in DFEH's suit, and that several of the past filings that Activision Blizzard made with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) contained claims that were "materially false".

[93] Among concerns SOC raised were lack of means of addressing the replacement of management found to be complicit with the sexual misconduct accusations, including how this would affect bonuses or other benefits, and the use of WilmerHale to perform the internal review partially due to the firm having "a sterling reputation as a defender of the wealthy and connected, but it has no track record of uncovering wrongdoing".

"[94] They further stated that "Activision Blizzard needs a new CEO, board chair, and lead independent director with the expertise, skill set and conviction to truly change the company's culture.

Hearthstone streamer Allie "Alliestrasza" Macpherson chose not to publish exclusive details about a new card when the allegations became public, instead creating a video in which she expressed solidarity with employees of the company.

[109] Activision Blizzard settled with the SEC in February 2023, agreeing to pay US$35 million on charges that they "lacked controls and procedures among its separate business units to collect and analyze employee complaints of workplace misconduct.

"[110] The treasurers from six states, California, Massachusetts, Illinois, Oregon, Delaware and Nevada, called on Activision Blizzard's board in November 2021 to address the allegations made against the company and their planned response.

Jeff Strain, a former Blizzard employee, wrote an open letter calling for the video game industry to consider the need to unionize to protect workers from these types of management problems.

[118] Carly Kocurek, an associate professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology, said that the response around the Activision Blizzard lawsuit was a "big deal" and could be turning point within the industry for unions to help protect workers right and assure fair treatment.

"[123] Head of Microsoft's Xbox division, Phil Spencer, said in an email to his employees that he was "disturbed and deeply troubled by the horrific events and actions" reported by the Wall Street Journal, and that they are "evaluating all aspects of our relationship with Activision Blizzard and making ongoing proactive adjustments".