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Game Leader Activision Blizzard Leaves After Sexism Scandal

An Activision Blizzard executive has resigned over a lawsuit against the games company for sexual harassment and unequal treatment of male and female employees. J. Allen Brack resigned as head of Blizzard due to the scandal, the company reports in an email to staff.

 

Activision Blizzard was sued by a California state agency for alleged abuse in the workplace. Last week, about 200 employees of the company went on strike in protest against the ill-treatment of female employees. California accuses the game company of “promoting a sexist culture and paying women less than men,” the lawsuit said.

Most allegations relate to Blizzard, which merged with Activision in 2008. As a result, many of the allegations date back to before Bracks took office as the division’s chief executive in 2018. Still, many employees are critical of his leadership style.

For example, a video from 2010 is circulating on social media in which Brack laughs off questions about the sexualization of female characters in the famous game World of Warcraft.

Brack is replaced by Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra. Oneal previously ran the video game studio Vicarious Visions that merged with Blizzard in January. Before she was appointed co-president at Blizzard, she was responsible for developing the Diablo and Overwatch franchises. Ybarra spent twenty years at Microsoft, including for the online services for the Xbox game console.

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