Two weeks ago, the State of California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard, pertaining to the company allegedly treating its female employees poorly. Amidst the legal problems and criticisms being aimed at Blizzard, their president, J. Allen Brack will be stepping down from his role after serving 15 years with the company. Taking his place will be Mike Ybarra and Jen Oneal, the former of which used to be the VP of Xbox, while the latter is a woman who led Vicarious Visions, who was acquired by Blizzard earlier this year after being owned by Activision since 2005.

Both leaders are deeply committed to all of our employees; to the work ahead to ensure Blizzard is the safest, most welcoming workplace possible for women, and people of any gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or background; to upholding and reinforcing our values; and to rebuilding your trust. With their many years of industry experience and deep commitment to integrity and inclusivity, Jen and Mike will lead Blizzard with care, compassion, and a dedication to excellence. You’ll hear more from Jen and Mike soon.

Source

 

[HideoKojima]

Usually it's not the CEO who decided to step down but the board of directors after calculating how bad the CEO affects the company's image and revenue.

 

[GenNaz]

In modern times, we don't need evidence anymore. Guilty undtil proven innocent.

With all due respect, eat shit. Some of y'all just don't want to acknowledge that people (specifically women) are being abused.

 

[eyeliner]

I hope Blizzard is going down. I never liked them, nor their games.

 

[mspy]

I wish I am proved wrong with time but the way I'm seeing it is that both this 2 new people that got promoted to the presidency got the job not by merit but for the looks, I bet they even picked the woman on purpose disregarding any skill or qualification just because she is a woman. I am not hating on women or anything like that, I'm just saying that picking 2 people at random that combined don't have more than 3 years working at the company seems desperate considering we are talking here about one of the biggest gaming companies in the world.

 

[AkiraKurusu]

In modern times, we don't need evidence anymore. Guilty undtil proven innocent.

Which is appalling, and more people should recognise just how morally and ethically wrong and sickening that is.

 

[spotanjo3]

The entire lawsuit in the linked previous article explains what went on.

I know but it is not going to resolve anything as I said above. That's why I am saying that hate is here to stay. Thats the problem.

 

[xdarkx]

I just find it funny how they are promoting Jen Oneal even though she only joined the company on January of this year just to get the checkbox. Would have been better if they find a replacement (regardless of gender) that is more experience within the company and would actually gives a damn about their employees and not take any political stand be it IRL and in game development. But who am I kidding. I don't imagine seeing this happening anytime soon.

 

[The Catboy]

With all due respect, eat shit. Some of y'all just don't want to acknowledge that people (specifically women) are being abused.

This is a rather common issue as it’s become a popular narrative that there are more false accusations than there really are. This popular narrative is a serious problem when dealing with cases like these or other abuse cases.

 

[Robika]

how do they treat females poorly?

One male employee planted cameras under the toilets and recorded female coworkers. You tell me!

 

[AkiraKurusu]

This is a rather common issue as it’s become a popular narrative that there are more false accusations than there really are. This popular narrative is a serious problem when dealing with cases like these or other abuse cases.

Even if the total number of false accusations is tiny, it doesn't mean all accusations should be taken and treated as true; that's doing a disservice to the victims of said false accusations, no matter how few, and is going against our rights to fair and unbiased legal trials where the presumption of innocence is of utmost importance.

It's our moral duty to doubt accusations, no matter what kind of accusation, who's making the accusation, or who's being accused.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

If we fail to doubt accusations, are we any better than those hunting supposed "witches" all those centuries ago? Than those lynch mobs last century?

 

[Xzi]

It's our moral duty to doubt accusations, no matter what kind of accusation, who's making the accusation, or who's being accused.

If we fail to doubt accusations, are we any better than those hunting supposed "witches" all those centuries ago? Than those lynch mobs last century?

It's HR's job to trust but verify, the public is free to speculate. Once resignations start happening unprompted though, that's a pretty clear indicator that at least some of the accusations are true.

 

[AbyssalMonkey]

And he walks away with all the money he earned during those years of abetting abuse. Where are his punishments? He should at the very least forfeit all his stock options in the damn company. What a fucking slap on the wrist.

Little wonder nothing changes.

 

[The Catboy]

Even if the total number of false accusations is tiny, it doesn't mean all accusations should be taken and treated as true; that's doing a disservice to the victims of said false accusations, no matter how few, and is going against our rights to fair and unbiased legal trials where the presumption of innocence is of utmost importance.

It's our moral duty to doubt accusations, no matter what kind of accusation, who's making the accusation, or who's being accused.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

If we fail to doubt accusations, are we any better than those hunting supposed "witches" all those centuries ago? Than those lynch mobs last century?

I am not suggesting that cases shouldn’t be handled properly through the court of law. What I am talking about is how accusations are commonly downplayed or dismissed based on the belief that there are high rates of false accusations. This isn’t just limited to this case, a lot of cases go unreported due the fear of being accused of being a false accusation.

 

[Julie_Pilgrim]

>ruins company
>refuses to elaborate
>leaves

 

[AkiraKurusu]

I am not suggesting that cases shouldn’t be handled properly through the court of law. What I am talking about is how accusations are commonly downplayed or dismissed based on the belief that there are high rates of false accusations. This isn’t just limited to this case, a lot of cases go unreported due the fear of being accused of being a false accusation.

Which still does not mean the accusations that are made should be treated as truthful - nor that they should be dismissed, either. Properly investigate accusations, but do not treat the accused as a felon whilst doing so just because he's being accused and investigated.
That "presumption of guilt" bullshit is also why I'm very critical of "MeToo" and similar online accusation-slinging communities; no way for the accused to defend himself, no importance given to actual evidence or legal trials. Just the fact that a woman accused a man of harassment, assault, or abuse is enough to doom him. Ugh; those abominable misandristic lynch mobs...

 

[The Catboy]

Which still does not mean the accusations that are made should be treated as truthful - nor that they should be dismissed, either. Properly investigate accusations, but do not treat the accused as a felon whilst doing so just because he's being accused and investigated.
That "presumption of guilt" bullshit is also why I'm very critical of "MeToo" and similar online accusation-slinging communities; no way for the accused to defend himself, no importance given to actual evidence or legal trials. Just the fact that a woman accused a man of harassment, assault, or abuse is enough to doom him. Ugh; those abominable misandristic lynch mobs...

I’ve literally not said anything like that, I literally said that I still believe all cases should go through a court of law. I am talking about the movement of people outright dismissing claims and that being harmful for justice.

 

[BitMasterPlus]

Now the higher ups are going "ABANDON FUCKING SHIP". This lawsuit will get more interesting, and it doesn't look like Blizzard's gonna win.

With all due respect, eat shit. Some of y'all just don't want to acknowledge that people (specifically women) are being abused.

With all due respect, would it be fair to accuse you of murder with no evidence yet you get arrested and put away for life? I'm not saying in this instance Blizzard Activision is innocent, since the accusers appear to have a case, but it's not always like that, and some people just accuse with no evidence and others just believe the accusations and want blood without even hearing the other side first. That's why "Innocent until proven guilty" is fair, so we don't ruin lives unless the person or people or company or whatever actually do something reprehensible that deserves their reputation and livelihood ruined.

No one here isn't acknowledging women aren't getting abused (and yes, men can get sexually harassed too), but it's not good just to believe someone without evidence, especially if it pertains to damaging a person's or comapny's image.

 

[DKB]

lol gg ez dumbass

 

[kevin corms]

>A lawsuit alleges workplace discrimination
>CEO chooses to resign due to the overwhelming amount of people all corroborating that workplace discrimination took place under their watch

I'm missing the part where it was suggested they were guilty of anything. I swear to god people like you thrive on getting upset over made-up situations. Seeing people get buttmad over a situation they don't even comprehend is genuinely entertaining to me.

cnn claimed many people signed some petition, I have seen no evidence this is true. It wouldn’t be the first time cnn didn’t fact check.

 

[Chary]

I'm just saying that picking 2 people at random that combined don't have more than 3 years working at the company

I just find it funny how they are promoting Jen Oneal even though she only joined the company on January of this year just to get the checkbox. Would have been better if they find a replacement (regardless of gender) that is more experience within the company and would actually gives a damn about their employees and not take any political stand be it IRL and in game development. But who am I kidding. I don't imagine seeing this happening anytime soon.

But Ybarra has 20 years of experience at Microsoft and that Jennifer Oneal was the head of Vicarious Visions--which has been owned by Activision for 16 years (but only 6 months of ownership of Blizzard...which is Activision's company, too)