Scores of employees at Activision Blizzard have exited the company during sexual harassment probe

37 employees at Activision Blizzard Inc. have exited the company during a months-long sexual harassment probe, it was reported today.

According to The Wall Street Journal, which has seen documents related to the matter, a further 44 employees have been disciplined over the matter. In July last year, there was a walkout at the company over allegations of rampant sexism and sexual harassment at the offices of the game-making giant.

“Female employees almost universally confirmed that working for defendants was akin to working in a frat house, which invariably involved male employees drinking and subjecting female employees to sexual harassment with no repercussion,” said a lawsuit that was filed at the time.

Speaking on behalf of Activision, Helaine Klasky said these numbers are correct. She added that 37 had “exited” and there was indeed 44 staff disciplined for their actions. The Journal had contended that there were some 700 documents relating to the matter, but the release of those documents had been held back due to Chief Executive Bobby Kotick fearing that would amplify the issue. Klasky said that wasn’t true and she also questioned the veracity of there being 700 documents.

Last year, Kotick had to hire a new President and head of human resources after the people filling those positions themselves walked out of the company just two weeks after the protest. Some staff had come forward and said complaints had been made over the years regarding sexual harassment and the higher-ups at the company had mostly ignored them. In September, the company agreed to an $18 million settlement with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Then in November last year, Kotick himself was accused of abusive behavior, which led to around 1500 employees signing to petition in favor of his swift removal. The signatories wrote that he didn’t just ignore the pervasive problems at the company but was actively part of the problems.

Nonetheless, Kotick stayed and it indeed seems that many changes were made at the company, including the exit of the problematic employees. A “workplace responsibility committee” was also formed to try and ensure that workplace culture doesn’t ever return to something resembling a frat house.

Photo: Gordon Tarpley/Wiki