Activision Blizzard’s offices are still under a storm. Bobby Kotick, the company’s CEO, is facing accusations of mistreatment “inside and outside” the corporation. According to Bloomberg, PlayStation’s CEO, Jim Ryan, issued an email to his workers expressing his thoughts.
After reading that Activision “has not done enough to address a deep-seated culture of discrimination and harassment,” Ryan and his executive team were “disheartened and frankly stunned”.
“We outreached to Activision immediately after the article was published to express our deep concern and to ask how they plan to address the claims made in the article… We do not believe their statements of response properly address the situation.”
– Jim Ryan, PlayStation CEO
It’s worth noting that Activision has had a lengthy association with PlayStation. This is courtesy of franchises like Call of Duty and Crash Bandicoot.
- Activision has collaborated with Sony on extensive marketing partnerships in addition to publishing most of its titles on PlayStation systems.
- The Call of Duty series has featured exclusive modes and material for the PlayStation in recent installments, including this year’s Call of Duty: Vanguard.
Employees at Activision are also slamming the company. More than a hundred people protested Kotick’s departure on Tuesday. In New York on Wednesday afternoon, Activision’s stock slid 2.5 percent.
Ryan made it clear to his team that Sony Interactive Entertainment “is committed to ensuring our community of developers and gamers feel safe and respected, and providing a secure work environment for every employee.”
- The truth is that Kotick is already under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a US government agency, in addition to the investigations into cases of abuse.
- The SEC is looking into whether Kotick suppressed this information from investors as well. Blizzard stockholders, representing less than 1% of the company’s outstanding stock, also demanded Kotick’s resignation.
SOURCE: Bloomberg
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