Blizzard’s Mike Ybarra lays out plan to “rebuild trust” in the community
The dust has not yet settled on the revelation of Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, and employees at the beleaguered publisher have already expressed concerns that the news will push their attempts at building a labor movement into the shadows. There hasn’t been a huge amount of comment on the matter from those in loftier positions at the company, but Blizzard head Mike Ybarra did address some of the concerns in a blog post yesterday.
In the post, Ybarra opened by saying that the company was “striv[ing] to put our team and players at the forefront of everything we do.” He reiterated that Blizzard was “committed to change” and laid out some planned steps for improving communication with the community and fostering a safer work environment for employees.
Of note is the intention to create more full-time roles to help improve company culture, rather than putting the onus on employee groups who already have their own jobs to do. This would include the roles of a “Culture leader,” a new organizational leader for HR, and a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion leader. The company has also reportedly tripled its compliance and investigation teams and “articulated clear accountability for unacceptable behavior,” alongside releasing representation data internally with goals for improvement on that count.
This is undeniably a step in the right direction from Blizzard leadership, but the company will need to make sure to stick to its goals rather than simply pay lip service to them. Hopefully the workers agitating for a safer and more equitable environment will keep the company’s feet to the fire going forward.
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