The sexual harassment lawsuit brought against Activision Blizzard by the California Civil Rights Department (formerly the Department of Fair Employment and Housing), has been settled. Blizzard has agreed to a $54 million (USD) settlement with the state of California for the lawsuit that was first brought against Activision Blizzard in 2021.
This week's settlement was first shared by the New York Times. The $54 million settlement will be paid to the state of California. An additional $47 million is being set aside by Activision Blizzard for employees found to be victims of the company's culture of misogyny, sexual harassment, and gender discrimination.
The initial lawsuit by the California Civil Rights Department alleged that Activision Blizzard harbored a "frat boy" like culture. However, the settlement agreement signed by Activision Blizzard and the California Civil Rights Department contains a concession that there were "no systemic or widespread sexual harassment" within the company.
An investigation conducted by Gilbert Casellas, formerly of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, concluded that "there was no widespread harassment or recurring pattern or practice of gender harassment" within Activision Blizzard. In 2021, a report by the Wall Street Journal reported that Activision CEO Bobby Kotick had personally intervened in a sexual harassment investigation and may have made a threat threat to an assistant in 2006. These allegations against Kotick were dropped from the final settlement that Activision Blizzard and the California Civil Rights Department.
In March 2022, Activision Blizzard settled a separate lawsuit from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. That lawsuit was settled for $18 million. That lawsuit alleged many similar issues with Activision Blizzard, including sexual harassment, discrimination, and issues involving how Activision Blizzard handled pregnancies.
In February 2023, Activision Blizzard agreed to a $35 million settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Prior to that settlement, the SEC was investigating a failure by Activision Blizzard to maintain adequate workplace harassment reporting procedures.
Though these cases are now settled, that is not an admission of guilt by Activision Blizzard. These lawsuits never went to court to determine if Activision Blizzard is guilty of the allegations brought against them. There have been numerous current and former employees that have issued statements via social media or anonymously to media outlets that corroborated the allegations made against Activision Blizzard.
