The harassment lawsuit against Activision Blizzard has led to a series of moves at the company. The accusations of workplace and sexual harassment caused the company’s management to take a position of rejection in the first place , claiming that the information did not represent the current situation of the company.

Subsequently, more than 2,000 Activision Blizzard employees signed a letter demanding a correction from management and demanding accountability. This number of workers represents a significant mass of the total number of people who work for the brand.

The last step was announced yesterday and occurs today, with an active strike by staff , both in person and online. With this situation, Bobby Kotick , CEO of Activision Blizzard, has made a public statement.

It specifically addresses all its employees and, broadly speaking , recognizes the wrong steps taken in the previous days and at all times when the company did not ensure the well-being of its staff. Here below you have the complete text:

IN EXTRA LIFE

In 2009 Bobby Kotick said that he would not do “wholesale layoffs”, since then Activision has laid off about 4,000 employees.

This has been a difficult and disturbing week.

I want to acknowledge and thank all those who have stepped forward in the past and in the last days. I really appreciate your courage. Every voice matters, and we’ll do a better job listening now and in the future.

Our initial responses to the issues we faced together and to your concerns were, frankly, muffled.

It is imperative that we acknowledge all perspectives and experiences and respect the feelings of those who have been mistreated in some way. I am sorry that we have not provided adequate empathy and understanding.

Many of you have told us that the real reach comes from caring so deeply for the Company. The fact that so many people have reached out and shared thoughts, suggestions and opportunities for improvement is a powerful reflection of how they care about our communities of colleagues and players, and each other. Ensuring that we have a safe and welcoming work environment is my highest priority. The leadership team has heard you loud and clear.

We are taking swift action to be the compassionate and caring company you came to work for and to ensure a safe environment. There is no room in any part of our Company for discrimination, harassment or unequal treatment of any kind.

We will do our best to ensure that together we improve and build an inclusive workplace that is essential to foster creativity and inspiration.

I have asked the WilmerHale Law Firm to conduct a review of our policies and procedures to ensure that we have and maintain best practices to promote a respectful and inclusive workplace. This work will begin immediately. The WilmerHale team will be led by Stephanie Avakian, who is a member of the WilmerHale management team and most recently was Director of the Compliance Division of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

We encourage anyone who believes you were in violation of our policies or in any way made you feel uncomfortable in the workplace to use any of our many existing channels to report or communicate with Stephanie. She and her team at WilmerHale will be available to speak with you confidentially and can be reached at ATVI@wilmerhale.com or 202-247-2725. The conversation will be kept confidential. Of course, retaliation will NOT be tolerated.

We are committed to lasting change. Effective immediately, we will take the following actions.

Support for employees. We will continue to investigate each and every claim and will not hesitate to take decisive action. To strengthen our capabilities in this area, we are adding additional senior staff and other resources to both the Grievance team and the Employee Relations team.

Listening sessions. We know that many of you have been inspired by ideas on how to improve our culture. We will create safe spaces, moderated by third parties, for you to speak out and share areas for improvement.

Personal changes. We are immediately evaluating managers and leaders from across the Company. Anyone who has impeded the integrity of our processes for evaluating complaints and imposing the appropriate consequences will be fired.

Hiring practices. Earlier this year, I sent an email requesting all hiring managers to make sure they have diverse candidate lists for all open positions. We will add compliance resources to ensure our hiring managers adhere to this directive.

Changes in the game. We’ve heard feedback from the player and employee communities that some of our in-game content is inappropriate. We are removing that content.
Your well-being remains my priority and I will spare no company resources to ensure our company has the most welcoming, comfortable and safe culture possible.

You have my unwavering commitment that together we will improve our business and be the most inspiring and inclusive entertainment company in the world. Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard, breaks his silence and acknowledges the mistakes: “We did not show adequate empathy and understanding”