Eskalácia napätia.
Po minulotýždňovom obvinení spoločnosti Activision Blizzard organizáciou DFEH, kde sa spomínajú slová ako sexizmus, rasizmus a obťažovanie sa spustila lavína, ktorá nie je veľmi príjemná. Na plno totiž odhaľuje vnútorné fungovanie v spoločnostiach Activision a Blizzard a v štúdiách, ktoré pod toto vydavateľstvo patria.
A reakcie na seba nenechali dlho čakať. Bývalý manažment Blizzardu adresoval ospravedlnenia za to, že dovolili existenciu takejto kultúry, zatiaľ čo súčasné vedenie Activisionu začalo situáciu zľahčovať.
To však vyprovokovalo súčasných zamestnancov, ktorí spísali otvorený list adresovaný vedeniu spoločnosti v ktorom kritizujú zľahčovanie situácie a vyzývajú k náprave a zmenám v spoločnosti.
Web Bloomberg informoval o tom, že list už podpísalo vyše 1000 súčasných zamestnancov a podľa nich bola reakcia vedenia na obvinenie zo strany DFEH „odporná a urážlivá voči všetkému o čom si myslíme, že by naša spoločnosť mala reprezentovať.“ Podľa nich vedenie svojou reakciou vytvorilo „atmosféru, ktorá nedôveruje obetiam“ a „spochybňuje schopnosť organizácie vyvodiť zodpovednosť voči násilníkom za ich činy a vytvoriť bezpečné prostredie pre budúce obete.“
Kompletné znenie listu v pôvodnej forme (angličtine) nájdete nižšie.
To the Leaders of Activision Blizzard,
We, the undersigned, agree that the statements from Activision Blizzard, Inc. and their legal counsel regarding the DFEH lawsuit, as well as the subsequent internal statement from Frances Townsend, are abhorrent and insulting to all that we believe our company should stand for. To put it clearly and unequivocally, our values as employees are not accurately reflected in the words and actions of our leadership.
We believe these statements have damaged our ongoing quest for equality inside and outside of our industry. Categorizing the claims that have been made as “distorted, and in many cases false” creates a company atmosphere that disbelieves victims. It also casts doubt on our organizations’ ability to hold abusers accountable for their actions and foster a safe environment for victims to come forward in the future. These statements make it clear that our leadership is not putting our values first. Immediate corrections are needed from the highest level of our organization.
Our company executives have claimed that actions will be taken to protect us, but in the face of legal action — and the troubling official responses that followed — we no longer trust that our leaders will place employee safety above their own interests. To claim this is a “truly meritless and irresponsible lawsuit,” while seeing so many current and former employees speak out about their own experiences regarding harassment and abuse, is simply unacceptable. We call for official statements that recognize the seriousness of these allegations and demonstrate compassion for victims of harassment and assault.
We call on Frances Townsend to stand by her word to step down as Executive Sponsor of the ABK Employee Women’s Network as a result of the damaging nature of her statement. We call on the executive leadership team to work with us on new and meaningful efforts that ensure employees — as well as our community — have a safe place to speak out and come forward.
We stand with all our friends, teammates, and colleagues, as well as the members of our dedicated community, who have experienced mistreatment or harassment of any kind. We will not be silenced, we will not stand aside, and we will not give up until the company we love is a workplace we can all feel proud to be a part of again. We will be the change.
Zamestnanci Activision Blizzard
Tento otvorený spor medzi vedením Activision Blizzard a vývojármi má už aj herné „obete.“ Vývoj nového obsahu pre World of Warcraft sa prakticky zastavil kvôli solidarity s obeťami. Odhalenie novej mapy pre Overwatch bolo taktiež pozastavené a účty Activision Blizzard hier na sociálnych sieťach už niekoľko dní po sebe mlčia.