As the current walkout by Raven Software employees enters day three, there have been more developers at different Activision Blizzard studios who have joined the protest against the company after QA testers were laid off. Today, a victim came forward today and detailed some of the alleged sexual harassment she has faced during her time as an employee. The victim, Christine and attorney Lisa Bloom, a celebrity lawyer known for representing survivors in high-profile sexual assault cases held a press conference in front of Blizzard Entertainment’s HQ in Irvine, California.
“Since I’ve been employed at Blizzard I’ve been subjected to rude comments about my body, unwanted sexual advances, inappropriately touched, subjected to alcohol-infused team events and cube crawls, invited to have sex with my supervisors,” Christine said. “I began to remove myself from work events to avoid all the sexual comments and groping.” As Christine complained and reported to HR, she said she was told the people who made those comments were “just joking” and that they did nothing wrong by law.” She said that she was demoted, denied her full profit-sharing benefits, and received minimal raises in her four years at Blizzard after making the reports.
Bloom also spoke during the press conference criticizing the settlement that Activision Blizzard agreed to with the EEOC saying that some of the things that were agreed upon have not happened yet. She also criticized the settlement amount of $18 million. “Given that there are hundreds of victims, I think we can all agree that the $18 million number is woefully inadequate.” Bloom added, “Leaders brought in to fix the problem have come and gone, but the victims are still suffering.”
Bloom and Christine outlined three demands of Activision Blizzard. One, a streamlined process for victims to resolve their claims with an increased compensation fund in excess of $100 million, two, a real apology from corporate leadership, and three, an investigation by a neutral third party into the damage Activision Blizzard’s culture of harassment has had on employees’ careers and a plan to repair that damage.
Bloom asks for other victims to join them against the company. “We don’t want Christine to stand alone. I know she does not stand alone.”