Xbox VP's goal to bring Activision Blizzard into a “culture of diversity” is easier said than done

techradar.com:

Microsoft’s proposed acquisition Activision Blizzard King has certainly come under a great deal of scrutiny. 

Putting aside the ongoing legal saga, however, it’s important to ask what exactly the acquisition would entail if it were to go ahead. I sat down with Sarah Bond, Corporate Vice President at Xbox, to get her take on what the acquisition might look like in practice. 

Bond wanted to reassure PlayStation users that: “the games [they love] will continue to be there” after any potential merger, stating that Xbox is committed to creating “cross-platform experiences” which “show up across all screens.” Bond continued by affirming that Microsoft is: “open to working with partners”; a commitment it’ll need to prove if it is to satisfy the anti-trust concerns of the FTC. 

However, the prospect of a merger raises important cultural questions, too, especially in the shadow of the ongoing sexual harassment scandals at Blizzard. Bond was keen to emphasize “the core tenets of [Microsoft]’s culture: diversity, inclusion [and] being customer-centric.” 

Bond continued: “there’s an opportunity to take the really creative teams [at Activision Blizzard] and give them the culture that we’ve found has been so successful in our own organization.”

Microsoft has certainly done a better job than Activision Blizzard of putting its money where its mouth is. In November 2022, the company elected to embolden its anti-harassment and diversity rules following an independent review (via The Verge(opens in new tab)). The recent release of the Xbox Sustainability Toolkit(opens in new tab) also demonstrates a degree of social responsibility on Microsoft’s part – a quality Bond was keen to emphasize when discussing the company’s Net Zero Carbon Initiative