Activision Blizzard Fired Nearly 40 Employees Since July Over Sexual Harassment Allegations

thegamer.com:

A new report said that Activision Blizzard has fired nearly 40 employees since July, 2021 when investigations into the complaints of sexual harassment and misconduct at the company began. The company apparently disciplined 44 employees by other means.

According to The Wall Street Journal, a summary of the actions taken against the employees involved was scheduled to be released by Activision Blizzard before employees left for their holiday break. But sources familiar with the situation said that Chief Executive Officer Bobby Kotick held this back from the public because he was concerned the reports would make the company's problems even more serious than they were.

Related: Bobby Kotick Should Have Been Forced Out Of The Gaming Industry Years Ago

An Activision Blizzard representative confirmed that 37 employees were fired or otherwise removed from the company because of the investigation, while 44 others remained and were disciplined in manners not publicly revealed as a result of Kotick delaying the release of the summary. According to PC Gamer, the company collected 700 harassment and misconduct complaints, but the representative disputed that many complaints were filed, saying that only a "small number" of the concerns voiced by employees who made the same statements on social media contained potentially serious allegations of sexual misconduct. To make matters worse, they went so far as to say the "assertion regarding Mr. Kotick is untrue" and that "our focus is making sure we have accurate analysis to share."

Since the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing filed a lawsuit against the company after allegations of sexual abuse came to light last summer, many news outlets banned coverage of Activision