Citing the New York Times, the lawsuit against Activision Blizzard's misogynistic culture and sexual harassment has come to an end, and the California Department of Civil Rights (formerly the Department of Fair Employment and Housing) has reached a $54 million settlement with Activision Blizzard, and the former has dropped the lawsuit. In addition to the $54 million settlement, Activision Blizzard needs to allocate $47 million to address gender discrimination in pay and promotions. The protracted litigation that began in 2021 caused Activision Blizzard's stock price to plummet, allowing Microsoft to take advantage of the situation.
In July 2021, the California Department of Civil Rights filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard, alleging that the gaming giant has a toxic "fraternal culture" and is a "breeding ground for harassment and discrimination against women." A 2021 report in Wall Street** said that Bobby Kotick, the company's CEO, was also involved in a sexual harassment investigation, and he was accused of having made death threats to an assistant in 2006.
Blizzard's official response was that former CFO Francis Townsend accused the accusations as "misrepresentations and out-of-context interpretations of Activision Blizzard," though he left the company in 2022. The executive, who had a bad reputation, worked for George W. Bush in 2004, visited the infamous Abu Ghraib prison in the United States on behalf of the White House and denied the abuse of prisoners.
Bloomberg published a report that corroborates Activision Blizzard's "brotherly culture", in which interviews with three former Blizzard employees confirmed various misconduct at the company.
In March 2022, Blizzard settled a sexual harassment lawsuit with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for $18 million**, but in October of the same year, Activision Blizzard faced another sexual harassment lawsuit, accusing a manager of the company of abusing a female employee with management's knowledge.
In February 2023, Activision Blizzard paid a $35 million fine to the SEC for allegations of breach of whistleblower protections and failure to disclose information to investors.
During the fermentation of the incident, Activision Blizzard, under the promotion of R**en Software and Albany, officially recognized the QA union it had formed.
From its launch in January 2022 to the end of October this year, Microsoft has completed its $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, and CEO Bobby Coty will leave at the end of this year.