- Sony and Microsoft have voiced their opinions on the ongoing situation with Blizzard in internal emails
- The happening in question is the reveal that Bobby Kotick, Activision Blizzard’s CEO, knew about the “frat-boy” culture for years
- Sony and Microsoft are disturbed by the news and hope that Blizzard will manage to adequately address the situation
The Activision Blizzard scandal deepens as Sony and Microsoft voice their opinions on the new Bobby Kotick reveal.
Sony and Microsoft Spokespeople Caught Wind of the Situation
For the past months, Activision Blizzard has been under fire for the “frat-boy” culture its workplace has adopted. This has gotten the company in tons of trouble, including a lawsuit by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing. Amid employees protesting, experienced workers leaving and Overwatch League owners being skeptical of Blizzard’s leadership, the company has been having everything but a good time.
Things got worse when the chief executive Bobby Kotick, who repeatedly tried to keep things under control, was accused of having known about the unhealthy state of the company’s workplace all along. Now even big companies such as Sony and Microsoft have voiced their take on the matter.
According to Jason Schreier from Bloomberg, the chief of PlayStation at Sony, Jim Ryan, and the head of Xbox at Microsoft, Phil Spencer, have addressed the matter in internal emails addressed to employees. Both of them weren’t happy with how the Activision Blizzard situation is unfolding.
Ryan and Spencer Spoke Up
Ryan’s email was sent almost immediately after the original Wall Street Journal article went viral. He said that he considers Kotick’s leadership to be truly disheartening and is firm that Activision should have done more to address this “deep-seated culture of discrimination and harassment.”
Ryan continues that Sony reached to Activision and informed it that this news is disturbing. Sony also inquired about the game developer’s plans to address the claims. Ryan concluded that he feels Blizzard’s response to the allegations has been inadequate so far.
Spencer wrote his email a day after the article, expressing similar concerns such as Ryan’s. He went as far as saying that Xbox cannot stay indifferent and is “evaluating all aspects” of their relationship with Activision Blizzard.
Sony and Microsoft are two of the powerhouses in the gaming world and provoking their ire would be a terrible move for Activision Blizzard. The latter company now has the responsible task of realizing that the situation has escalated far beyond fan disgruntlement and community figureheads speaking up and should act to make things better.
Admittedly, Blizzard is trying to solve the issue by imposing stricter workplace ethics but mitigating the damage from its past mistakes is proving to be much more arduous than anyone would’ve expected.
