Yep, Another One
Activision Blizzard just can’t catch a break, can they? A few months back, a Blizzard executive had to step down, thanks in no small part to the company’s ongoing, well, mess. Seems like they felt a progressive direction would do them good, and appointed a new, gay and female executive – one who cared a great deal about diversity and inclusion. And now, she’s been driven out too.
You don’t even have to guess why – unlike other instances of executives parting ways amicably, Jennifer Oneal spoke up: saying she felt “tokenized, marginalized, and discriminated against” during her time with Activision Blizzard. A few incidents came to mind – one of which contained a large party (with the company’s CEO, Bobby Kotick in attendance) that featured a selection of strippers and a lot of alcohol, where female employees were explicitly encouraged to drink more “so the men could have a better time.”
In a report from the Wall Street Journal, Oneal felt “a lack of faith in Activision’s leadership to turn things around”, and is seeking another path to pursue diversity and inclusion in the games industry.
Needless to say, things just keep getting worse for the increasingly-controversial game studio. The state of California’s lawsuit – you know, the event that kicked off this whole issue and publicized the abuses on a massive scale – was all the way back in July of this year. We’re nearing the end of 2021, and if things are still so bad that even high-ranking executives feel as though the company is beyond saving… well, it’s hard to see how Activision Blizzard resolves things from here. Maybe they could turn things around – after all, they’ve got some pretty deep pockets, and aren’t at risk of financial collapse anytime soon. But with that said, they could easily take a Nestle-inspired route, and just trek on despite multiple ongoing moral controversies.