Highlights
- California’s Civil Rights Department settles its gender discrimination lawsuit against Activision Blizzard for $54 million, addressing the company’s alleged culture of sexual harassment.
- The settlement includes a settlement fund for worker compensation, potentially benefiting women who worked for Activision Blizzard between October 2015 and December 2020.
- The settlement amends the complaint to drop sexual misconduct allegations, focusing solely on gender discrimination claims, and no independent investigation has substantiated any allegations of systemic sexual harassment at the company.
California’s Civil Rights Department (CRD) has settled its gender discrimination lawsuit against Activision Blizzard for $54 million. The lawsuit alleged the gaming company had a culture of sexual harassment, an accusation that has followed Activision Blizzard over the past few years. However, now it appears the California regulator’s high-profile case has finally been settled.
Back in 2021, California’s CRD, formerly the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, filed its case against Activision accusing the company of fostering a “frat boy” culture. The Activision Blizzard lawsuit alleged women were subjected to sexual harassment and gender-based discrimination. Shortly after the filing, the company saw employee walkouts along with the resignations of high-profile staffers like then-Blizzard President and SVP of HR. Additionally, reports claimed that company CEO Bobby Kotick had been aware of the allegations for a few years prior to the lawsuit.
FTC Continues Fight to Block Microsoft’s Completed Acquisition of Activision Blizzard
Microsoft continues to fight the FTC over its $68.7 billion deal to acquire Activision Blizzard, with the agency appealing a federal judge ruling.
As per a press release from the CRD, the lawsuit against Activision Blizzard has reached an agreement to settle for approximately $54 million. If approved by the court, $45,750,000 of the total will go towards a settlement fund dedicated to worker compensation. A notable part of this means women who worked for Activision Blizzard as employees or contractors between October 12, 2015 and December 31, 2020 may be eligible for pay.
As part of the settlement of the 2021 Activision Blizzard lawsuit, the CRD also states that “no court or any independent investigation has substantiated any allegations” of systemic or widespread sexual harassment at the company. More importantly, the CRD is to amend its complaint to drop the sexual misconduct allegations and will only include gender discrimination claims.
Of course, the California lawsuit was only one of the few cases that made it to public space in recent years. Following CRD’s filing, Activision Blizzard was hit with more accusations. In 2022, a judge approved an $18 million settlement by Activision Blizzard with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in a separate lawsuit that alleged the company of sexual misconduct and discrimination.
The recent settlement with the California regulator comes at a time when Microsoft closed its $69 billion Activision Blizzard acquisition. Incidentally, the Xbox maker first announced its intention to purchase Activision Blizzard just months after the CRD filed its lawsuit against the company. Now, with the deal closed, it’s likely that Microsoft may be looking to clean things up at Activision Blizzard, particularly where discrimination and sexual harassment accusations are concerned. In any case, time will tell how the gaming company will continue to address the issues following the settlement with the CRD.
