Here’a a letter that was just released by Bobby Kotick. Someone minutes ago made a forum post about it.
https://investor.activision.com/news-releases/news-release-details/letter-ceo-bobby-kotick-regarding-progress-and-commitments-made
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Zero tolerance toward harassment or retaliation.
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Efforts to increase diversity
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No more arbitration for harassment cases.
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Reporting results of pay equity efforts.
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Progress updates.
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Kotick reducing his pay to the lowest amount lossible in California, which is $62,500.
It’s something, whether they stick to it is another matter entirely though
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Alot of posters are rolling their eyes at this. I also am a bit suspicious. The way money is shuffled and laundered these days… who even knows what that means any more. I guess it is a gesture of some sort.
A better gesture would be acknowledging mismanagement in the past, and maybe using some of his previous bonuses and pay - the money he made during this period of mismanagement - to pay out settlements or give bonuses to the employees who suffered.
That’s a pretty big one. I thought Blizz would fight tooth and nail to keep that. I am pleasantly surprised that they are giving some ground.
I don’t think binding arbitration agreements are bad, in and of themselves. I don’t have strong feelings about it. I am sure those rules have a place. Maybe it is over used.
But the ABKWA made a demand, and ActiBlizz obliged - which is noteworthy.
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Not a genius on this stuff, but agreeing to that, isn’t that just a way for them to admit they screwed up without actually admitting it?
That’s not going to happen. It’s America.
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I’m suspicious.
The billionaire is taking a paycut!
He already made billions off our backs and the backs of his employees.
Thanks Bobby… I guess.
Whenever a CEO does this I think they should instead donate his cut wages to provide bonuses to the employees. But that’s just my opinion as a dirty Socialist.
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Already tweeted about this and I’ll add the new letter to OP in a bit but the math isn’t mathing
- According to devs, the questing and game teams and CS/QA teams are half women (50%), but have virtually zero POC. One dev who was there for 10 years said there was no more than 7 POC in a team of hundreds, with some quitting and then being rehired every few years. Other devs confirmed this exceedingly low number (<5%)
- Bobby says the total Pan Blizzard census of POC is 30%. Bobby says the total Pan Blizzard census of women and NB is 23%.
- This indicates to me that this 30% number is distributed in a way that is invisible to the dev team. And we know the managerial part lacks people of color, meaning Bobby is including the people below the devs in this value.
- This also indicates that the majority of women are centered at the dev team level.
In general the math isn’t mathing
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So he’s either lying to cover his own rear end pretty much. Or we’re missing some key details. It’s probably both.
It’s why it’s Diversity Inclusion Equity in that order
I am confident if we looked at where POC are in the company infrastructure, it would be cringe.
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If you find anything else hun, keep us updated. Because I got a feeling they’re trying to fudge a lot of numbers to make themselves not look so bad.
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Blizzard sure picked the right day to add a new store mount.
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Solar cat with a silver purple saddle worries me deeply.
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I sense a terrible lore addition to the game in the future.
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Danuser as Reverend Mother of Bene Gesserit: put your hand in the box
Me as Paul Atreides: what’s in the box
Danuser Gesserit: pain
The box: “Elune is Anshe, Tauren are wrong again”
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Should I puke now or later? Because I can actually see this happening because they have so little respect for native culture and their beliefs to begin with
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The hard turn was actually because they really enjoyed the performance Bwonsamdi’s voice actor gave.
Not that I’m complaining too much. There’s plenty to criticize about how WoW’s handled “voodoo”, but relatively speaking, Bwonsamdi as a flirty jokester who takes his charge over the souls of the dead seriously actually makes WoW one of the most accurate takes on the Baron I can recall ever seeing in a work of popular media. The fact that so many expected him to be an Africanized Grim Reaper with a sinister plan to steal souls via metaphorical deals with the devil (because that’s the usual portrayal) did make Blizzard’s job of making him mysterious much easier.
So props where props are due.
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They did the same to Denathrius. I’m not complaining either I like them both.
I do think it’s great that they are able to shift story directions like that.
When I was doing the war campaign on my worgen in I think Voldun, his commentary when you die had me absolutely rolling. The VA did an amazing job
That sounds a little bit like Mueh’zala, except he’s giving souls to the Jailer for power.
Sorry, is that a bad connection for me to make?
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I’d suggest the edits: “Lawsuit(s)” and “How the lawsuits have…”
Maybe an early line reminding people that there are two enforcement suits, people seem to be having trouble keeping the Federal and State ones separate.
There’s some kind of delay in the State one, still no ATVI demurrer there.
The Federal one had the DFEH finally getting to pleading its intervention, with the outside firm that argued the ATVI suspension motion… but… they used the same date and time they had taken for their strike motion.
Yesterday, the Judge ruled:
- Apparently she doesn’t like something submitted by the new DFEH counsel, so… she rejected it. (Going by the docket and dates I think it’s the appearance, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the motion itself is covered in the order too, it doesn’t have all its claimed attachments. I refuse to pay to read about this trainwreck to be sure.)
- That the EEOC motion to seal wasn’t done properly under the local rules, and all its material was moot since she ruled on the DFEH Ex Parte already; so she told the clerk to seal the EEOC entries. She also struck the hearing date for the DFEH motion to strike in the process… which they were claiming for the motion to intervene.
To be clear, this is a reduction in my overall compensation, not just my salary. I am asking not to receive any bonuses or be granted any equity during this time. -from the letter.
He is rich of course. But it’s still more than the old leadership of Blizzard ever did.
…we believed we had the systems, policies, and people in place to ensure that our company always lived up to its reputation as a great place to work. Clearly, in some vitally important aspects, we didn’t.
The guardrails weren’t in place everywhere to ensure that our values were being upheld. In some cases, people didn’t consistently feel comfortable reporting concerns, or their concerns weren’t always addressed promptly or properly. People were deeply let down and, for that, I am truly sorry. -from the letter.
I still see ATVI counsel lining up the regulatory dispute with DFEH; EEOC is again brought up in this letter as a positive. The process is getting long enough that they can try to resolve points of dispute before a determination can happen. And DFEH outed more of its thinking with the recent motion in the Federal case.
I think Baalsamael is right about the 4 groups.
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