Since things start to heat up again i’ve found out that we may need a summary, a reference for later times. If you find something incorrect or you think that i’ve missed out something, feel free to comment on it:
Before i begin i feel i need to make a disclaimer of the thread is being made for informational purpose and references for the future. If its possible, don’t derail the discussion and respect each others opinions
2021 July 20-21 - The lawsuit filed and the first reports coming out
Bloomberg reports of Activision-Blizzard being sued by the state of California after two years of investigation. Blizzards statement was deemed bare bones and unacceptable
July 25 - WoW development stops for a short amount of time
Due to Blizzards horrible statement, Warcrafts Senior System Designer tweets about stopping the games production until things get better
July 27 - Bobby Koticks statement
July 28 - The Activision-Blizzard employee walkout
Hundreds walk out in protest of the employees treatment and Koticks statement which in their words have failed to address the critical elements
July 30 - ABetterABK
After the walkout the movement “A Better Activision-Blizzard King” gets formed. It later unites with “A Better Ubisoft”
Ubisoft and Riot too got hit by the same allegations
End of July - The "Cosby Suite" report
“Cosby Suite” was the name given to Afrasiabi’s BlizzCon 2013 hotel room and that the suite was a “meeting place where many, including Afrasiabi, would pose with an actual portrait of Bill Cosby while smiling”.
Kotakus report included social media publications with very disturbing group chats between the members of “The Cosby Crew”. This was the first time the OW community fully realized that our cowboys name is a namesake of one of the abusers. IRL Jesse has signed a contract about using his name for an ingame character for a game hes not part of the developer team
August 3 - Activision Blizzard President, J. Allen Brack leaves the company
August 3 - Activision Blizzards head of HR, Jesse Meschuk has left the company as well
August 3 - Shareholders file a class action lawsuit
August 8 - Overwatch League has lost almost all of their sponsors
The only ones remaining were TeamSpeak and Coca Cola with the latter reevaluating their sponsorship with OWL and returning at the Grand Finals
August 11 - Diablo 4 confirms the departure of director Luis Barriga and lead designer Jesse McCree
Though they both were part of the “Cosby Crew” Blizzard never issued a statement of the reason of their departure
August 27 - Both WoW and OW confirms removing developer references and disturbing content from their games
Later WoW has removed references to the works of the involved devs one of the most known being a painting changed to fruits
McCrees name change got announced and his story arc being delayed because of it. His new ingame name is yet to be announced. After this statement Overwatch League casters stopped calling McCree on his name and started to refer him as “cowboy” or “gunslinger”
September 14 - ABK files a lawsuit against Activision-Blizzards unfair labor practice
September 17 - Blizzards chief legal officer, Claire Hart leaves the company
September 20 - US Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating Activision Blizzard's handling of employee complaints of sexual misconduct and discrimination.
September 21 - OW2 executive producer Chacko Sonny leaves Activision-Blizzard
September 24 - California accuses Activision-Blizzard of shredding the abuse evidences
The updated lawsuit alleges that Activision Blizzard has not been cooperative with California’s investigation. It cites Activision Blizzard’s non-disclosure agreements, the requirement that employees must speak with the company before contacting the state department.
September 27 - Activision-Blizzard agrees to a settlement in Gender Discrimination Case
Activision Blizzard has created a $18 million fund to compensate and make amends to eligible claimants
October 11 - Federal Agency accuses California of ethics violation
The DFEH case has been led by two lawyers that previously worked for the EEOC, and while working for them the lawyers investigated Activision Blizzard in relation to the claims that have led to the settlement. The settlement that they are now objecting to.
October 26 - The Overwatch character formerly known as Jesse McCree has been renamed to Cole Cassidy
October 28 - Bobby Kotick asks for paycut in the wake of the legal battles. New policy changes on the way
Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick requested to cut his salary to the lowest legally possible amount in the state of California which currently is 62.500$
November 2 - Activision-Blizzard former Co-leader Jen Oneal steps down leaving Mike Ybarra the solo leader
The changes mentioned include launching a new zero-tolerance harassment policy company-wide, increasing the percentage of women and non-binary people in the workplace by 50% with a commitment to invest $250 million to accelerate opportunities for diverse talent.