Blizzard responded

[Vaeana-area-52 (Vaeana)]

@Joyéuse-emerald-dream

State employees are apolitical civil servants

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha

No.

[Gorerat-bleeding-hollow]

Eerily sounds a lot like the excusing/gaslighting you see in every response from an abusive partner.

“They rushed to file an inaccurate complaint…” …after a two year investigation.

Yeah okay Blizzard, have fun in court.

[Cathbadh-dalaran]

Not really.

JAB will retire to “spend more time with his family.” A few others will be canned. Afasiabi will be charged criminally, as will the manager who was with the woman who killed herself.
Blizzard will write checks with NDAs attached. They’ll release a new store mount. Bobby K will get another bonus. Everything else will continue as it is.

[Leafbeard-medivh]

The moment Blizzard starts victim-blaming, they will crumble.

Their defense is naturally to shift blame away from themselves, but if they start poking at the accusers and the deceased, they’ll be incinerated publicly.

They should just settle and move on. I can’t imagine the testimony that will come out in a trial and I doubt it will paint Blizzard in a good light.

[Notagin-kul-tiras (Notagin)]

@Skoomacat-amanthul

Google couldn’t be toppled.
Facebook couldn’t be toppled.

Microsoft got sort of toppled or at least got their momentum slowed. GWB may not have been a good president (see WMD in Iraq) but his administration was tougher on antitrust and corporate white collar crime.

Google, FB and Amazon got huge under the Obama administration which relied on many ex-Clintonites (yeah, yeah, technically the MS antitrust action was initiated at the end of Clinton’s term).

[Gorerat-bleeding-hollow]

This whole response is basically Blizzard declaring war on the DFEH and the victims. I had to double check and find a source because I wasn’t sure this was a real response, and thought OP might be trolling us.

Whoever wrote this statement or okay’d it is a massive idiot.

[Honeymoon-suramar (Honeymoon)]

Blizzard’s denial looks an awful lot like somebody is a huge fan of Trump’s “frothing at the mouth, name-calling, and blaming everyone else while looking progressively guiltier” defense.

It’s beyond unprofessional.

[Scüffed-firetree]

Yep. They went full Trumper and started blaming the whole state of California

[Revlol-misha (Revlol)]

@Gorerat-bleeding-hollow

and the victims.

Alleged victims

[Gorerat-bleeding-hollow]

You’re right, they’re being sued by the state because of a lot of alleging. /s

Has nothing to do with two years of investigation by the DFEH.

[Sakimura-stormrage]

This response is pathetic. Defensive and immature.

[Hordak-argent-dawn]

No they should not.

That would merely incentivize more people to make false claims if they know Blizzard will pay out if someone screams loud enough. No this cycle of stupid needs to be broken. I don’t care which side your on in this matter, we both need to be assured that justice is done and not mob style intimidation tactics by a government agency.

I mean if Blizzard is guilty? Sure. Absolutely they need to pay. But if they are innocent and this is false? That needs to come out too. Some battles need to be fought. Take it all the way and either sink or sail with the facts. I want to see them take the victory or death approach to this, because that’s a battle worth having “IF” the facts are on their side.

The if however is the big question here, and none of us have the actual facts right now.

[Thequixote-staghelm (Thequixote)]

@Hordak-argent-dawn

Well it did happen to Avenetti recently. Could be a similar shake-down attempt. A lot of the wording read like “Pay us for this to go away or we’ll go to jury trial.” but even then the wordage makes it clear they’d probably be crucified by a jury outside of Sacramento or San Francisco.

Another thing to consider, two years of budget spent on an investigation needs to result in something.

Wonder if that relationship was properly declared to HR ( assuming that would be the policy ) Blizzard bringing it up in their statement makes me think they’re fairly confident that incident was grossly miss portrayed.

[Scüffed-firetree]

@Hordak-argent-dawn

mob style intimidation tactics by a government agency.

Ah yes the time old mob tradition of completing a 2 year investigation and filing a lawsuit.

[Hordak-argent-dawn]

The difference between us is simple.

I know what goes on in Californian Courts. You clearly do not.

[Revlol-misha (Revlol)]

@Gorerat-bleeding-hollow

Has nothing to do with two years of investigation by the DFEH.

Plenty of bogus investigations last for years, this occurs because they can’t find anything worth of value to their case, and thus need to create warped narratives to try and win via smear campaign.

That’s how it works.

[Taeoria-kargath]

Good luck, that state will only ever be ran by the current group. They are to far gone to save. There is little good that state offers anymore and I wish companies would move east to give opportunity to others that don’t want to live in that worthless state.

[Notagin-kul-tiras (Notagin)]

Almost like ActiBlizz is trying to make Blizzard look inept? lol

[Esdel-dalaran]

This should start with…

“If caught…”

@Thequixote-staghelm

We value diversity and strive to foster a workplace that offers inclusivity for everyone. There is no place in our company or industry, or any industry, for sexual misconduct or harassment of any kind. We take every allegation seriously and investigate all claims. In cases related to misconduct, action was taken to address the issue.

[Arlec-stormrage (Arlec)]

Here’s some advice for my dear friends at Blizzard-Activision:

“Bamboo is flexible, bending with the wind but never breaking, capable of adapting to any circumstance. It suggests resilience, meaning that we have the ability to bounce back even from the most difficult times. . . . Your ability to thrive depends, in the end, on your attitude to your life circumstances. Take everything in stride with grace, putting forth energy when it is needed, yet always staying calm inwardly.”