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Activision Blizzard pushes out dozens of employees over workplace misconduct

wsj.com

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Re: Activision Blizzard pushes out dozens of employees over workplace misconduct

#211

Post by shultays »

Fnoord wrote: post #133
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They won’t automatically know, but: 1) Anyone in the industry presumably knows about this news. If someone’s end date at Activision Blizzard is January 2022, they’re going to have a strong suspicion. 2) Backchannel reference checks (very warranted in this case) will likely confirm it. Activision Blizzard wouldn’t confirm anything other than start and end dates and any candidate-provided references are going to say go…

> 1) Anyone in the industry presumably knows about this news. If someone’s end date at Activision Blizzard is January 2022, they’re going to have a strong suspicion. The first sentence of the article mentions: > Activision Blizzard Inc. has fired or pushed out more than three dozen employees and disciplined about 40 others since July as part of efforts to address allegations of sexual harassment and other misconduct…

I guess one has to ensure that they don't leave a company the same time such firings happens

Re: Activision Blizzard pushes out dozens of employees over workplace misconduct

#212

Post by daoismyname »

pm90 wrote: post #99

> In a letter to employees made public in October, Ms. Townsend said Activision had “exited” 20 employees and another 20 had faced disciplinary action. “We know there’s a desire to know about the outcome when misconduct is reported,” Ms. Townsend wrote. “Sometimes, there are privacy reasons we can’t share. But where we can, we will be sharing more information with you. We will also be providing you regular, aggregate…

> Smells to me like major scrapegoating.

cough cough massive severance package cough cough

Re: Activision Blizzard pushes out dozens of employees over workplace misconduct

#213

Post by hhjinks »

Byteflux wrote: post #183
lmm wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Like individuals, businesses also have an inalienable right to free speech. Nonsense. Humans have inalienable rights. Businesses exist on our sufferance, they don't have an inalienable right to anything.

Your statement doesn't align with reality, so I'll assume you're stating an opinion rather than a fact. Free speech is an inalienable right protected by the First Amendment and afforded to both individuals and businesses, that is a fact.

Free Speech is inalienable under the constitution, until it isn't. The First Amendment isn't a natural right. Humans have a natural right to free speech, businesses don't.

Re: Activision Blizzard pushes out dozens of employees over workplace misconduct

#214

Post by bob1029 »

Kotick has taken a dishonorable path. He should be first person out the door.

Situation in the industry feels kind of bleak to me now. One of these days I am going to be able to trick my investors into letting me start a game studio. I really don't understand why there isn't more intense competition at the AAA tier. I know for a fact I can do it cheaper and faster. Not sure about better, but I'm willing to fail a few times...

Re: Activision Blizzard pushes out dozens of employees over workplace misconduct

#215

Post by sydthrowaway »

gotbeans wrote: post #137
speedgoose wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Working a at FAANG is not as attractive to most when you don’t know about the issues in the video games industry. There is a reason why FAANG companies pay well and video games companies don’t have to. I met zero people who told me they dreamed about working in a FAANG since childhood.

Definitely far from 0 people, I'm half embarrassed to admit I wanted to join cisco when I was not even in collage.

Try IBM.

Re: Activision Blizzard pushes out dozens of employees over workplace misconduct

#216

Post by eloisius »

VWWHFSfQ wrote: post #47
JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What in the world? What is the point of a reference if it can only be good?

hardly anybody actually asks for references now because they most likely won't get anything interesting out of it. they just do employment verification and that's it

What effect does that have on hiring? Are companies more averse to giving someone a shot since they can’t get information about their experience?

Re: Activision Blizzard pushes out dozens of employees over workplace misconduct

#217

Post by Tangokat »

"They expect one of us in the wreckage brother" as one Reddit comment put it.

Bobby has to go, no matter if this is "his fault" or not. Shareholders lost a lot of money, Blizzard lost a lot of reputation. It happened on his watch and new blood is needed. To be honest I think the studio is lost, we can only hope that some of the spin off studios will turn out to be great.

Re: Activision Blizzard pushes out dozens of employees over workplace misconduct

#218

Post by Levitz »

chii wrote: post #46
harles wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which platforms are left to make statements on?

I do believe making a website is still cheap and easy. Not to mention some platforms like twitter do allow for political discourse on them (even if spotty). The idea is that if the platform owners don't want it, a platform user should respect that choice.

>I do believe making a website is still cheap and easy

Is it now? Parler shows that if you rock the boat, your hosting will be pulled and your phone app removed. Google censors a certain page that was the successor to r/The_Donald on Reddit, along with another certain chan style site. Similarly Gab got payment processors and hosting pulled out.

Now I have never bothered to explore these sites, but if their public image is telling of the truth, then I deplore the political narrative within them. Yet they still paint a real clear example that companies can and will screw you over if they want to, with not a whole lot you can do about it.

Re: Activision Blizzard pushes out dozens of employees over workplace misconduct

#219

Post by andygroundwater »

stathibus wrote: post #207
Simon_O_Rourke wrote: post #160

This has the feel of the CEO rounding up as many patsies as he can find to scapegoat in order to placate the investors. No doubt the culture there is rotten to the core, the rumors of the horrible work environment and harassment are widely known, however, I predict you won't see too many of the exec team having to leave. It'll be all low level expendable IC's that the CEO won't have to encounter at the country club a…

The mostly empty low-effort changes they've made to their games recently in the name of inclusion also match this strategy.

The "do just the minimum" strategy of corporate inclusion and diversity.

Re: Activision Blizzard pushes out dozens of employees over workplace misconduct

#220

Post by me_me_me »

usbqk wrote: post #200
Aeolun wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Punishment for allowing that shit to happen in the first place, and for not doing anything about it until forced to? Either way, it’s hardly a punishment. He’ll undoubtedly get a nice golden parachute.

Quoted post unavailable.

Apart from his public disgraceful behaviour (who know how bad he is in private), how come majority of other companies avoid this shit happening inside them?
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