Activision Blizzard worker group say Microsoft's purchase doesn't change their goals

rockpapershotgun.com:

Microsoft yesterday announced plans to buy Activision Blizzard for $69 billion (£50 billion), a staggering and un-nice quantity of money for the video games company behind Call Of Duty and Warcraft. They're buying the company at a troubled time, with multiple lawsuits alleging widespread sexual discrimination and harassment, an ongoing strike over QA layoffs, and employees publicly calling for the removal of the CEO, Bobby Kotick. A campaign group of employees known as the ABK Workers Alliance say the acquisition doesn't change their goals and there's still work to do.

Since last summer, several California state departments and many employees have accused the company of suffering widespread problems with sexual harassment, discrimination, and retaliation. For years, they seemed content to ignore it. Later allegations said CEO Bobby Kotick was more aware of issues than he had let on, and allegedly even intervened to prevent the firing of a Treyarch studio co-head who had been investigated for sexual harassment.

It seems that Kotick is staying on until the deal closes, at least, which is expected to happen by June 2023 (pending approval from shareholders and authorities). It sounds like he'll likely leave after that, but it's hazy. Kotick told VentureBeat that he's willing to stay on however long it takes "a proper and smooth transition", whether that's a month after the close or a year. And despite his position, he's still only one person in a company of 10,000 employees which has seemingly experienced widespread problems.

Through all this, many Activision Blizzard employees have broken the video game industry's usual wall of silence (I totally understand why people fear reprisal). They've signed an open letter protesting