Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has deflected blame for the widespread allegations of a toxic workplace at his gaming company.
Speaking to Variety in a rare interview, the embattled executive claims that reports of the misconduct at Activision Blizzard are actually “mischaracterizations” by the media.
“We’ve had every possible form of investigation done. And we did not have a systemic issue with harassment — ever. We didn’t have any of what were mischaracterizations reported in the media,” claimed Kotick. “But what we did have was a very aggressive labour movement working hard to try and destabilize the company.”
In July 2021, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard, alleging that the Call of Duty maker fostered a “frat boy” work culture in which women often faced sexual harassment, unequal pay and other forms of mistreatment.
However, California’s Civil Rights Department (CRD) voluntarily withdrew its case and stated that “no court or any independent investigation has substantiated any allegations.” Further the CRD says there is no evidence of wrongdoing by Kotick, as reported by The New York Times.
In his interview with Variety, Kotick continued to push back against the negative reports surrounding him and the company. He accuses “outside forces” of spreading these allegations and claims that Activision Blizzard has had a relatively low level of complaints related to harassment and assault for a company with 17,000 employees worldwide. As evidence of this, he claims the company is preparing a transparency report compiled by third parties.
“I wouldn’t be sitting here talking to you if any of what you read in the inflammatory narrative was truthful,” Kotick told Variety. “No board of directors in a noncontrolled company is going to allow the CEO of an enterprise to stay running the enterprise if those things were truthful.”
He also claims he’s not “anti-union” following reports that the company attempted to stop unions from being formed at the company. This year, the Communications Workers of America even filed charges against Activision Blizzard for violating several workplace laws by firing two QA testers.
“I’m the only Fortune 500 CEO who’s a member of a union. If we have employees who want a union to represent them, and they believe that that union is going to be able to provide them with opportunities and enhancements to their work experience, I’m all for it,” claims Kotick. “I have a mother who was a teacher. I have no aversion to a union. What I do have an aversion to is a union that doesn’t play by the rules.”
Since becoming Activision’s CEO in 1991, Kotick has overseen the creation of many big gaming franchises, including Call of Duty. He also became the CEO of Activision Blizzard when the two companies merged in 2008. Currently, Activision Blizzard stands as the fifth largest producer of games in the world with titles like Diablo, Overwatch, Crash Bandicoot and Candy Crush on top of the aforementioned Call of Duty. During this time, he was also named gaming’s “most overpaid CEO” relative to how much his employees actually make.
The Variety piece also frames Kotick as a victim in some sense:
As Activision has grown, Kotick has become a handy villain, depicted as the rich suit who lives off the money that gamers shell out on their favorite pastime. The slogging on video game-centric social media platform has taken its toll on Kotick, and his family.
Kotick himself claims he’s faced “a lot of antisemitism,” adding, “When you look at images of me on the internet, there are these antisemitic undertones. My kids have gotten death threats.”
Kotick signed a deal with Microsoft to sell Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion USD (about $93.2 billion CAD).
Update 27/03/2024 10:23pm ET: This story has been updated to include the fact that the CRD has voluntarily withdrawn its case against Activision after finding no evidence of wrongdoing, as reported by The New York Times. Several references to reporting from outside sources surrounding Kotick’s time at Activision Blizzard have been removed from this article.
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
Source: Variety
