Activision Blizzard report claims “no widespread harassment” at publisher

The publisher has cleared itself.

A report from Activision Blizzard has concluded that there is “no widespread harassment, or systematic harassment” within the publisher.

“Contrary to many of the allegations, the Board and its external advisors have determined that there is no evidence to suggest that Activision Blizzard senior executives ever intentionally ignored or attempted to downplay the instances of gender harassment that occurred and were reported,” reads a snippet of the report.

“While there are some substantiated instances of gender harassment, those unfortunate circumstances do not support the conclusion that Activision senior leadership or the Board were aware of and tolerated gender harassment or that there was ever a systemic issue with harassment, discrimination or retaliation.”

As part of proceedings, Activision Blizzard employed former chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Gilbert Casellas, to organise a review.

“Based on his review, Mr. Casellas concluded that there was no widespread harassment, pattern or practice of harassment, or systemic harassment at Activision Blizzard or at any of its business units [between 1 September 2016 and 31 December 2021]. Mr Casellas further concluded that, based on the volume of reports, the amount of misconduct reflected is comparatively low for a company the size of Activision Blizzard,” the report continued.

The report also blames the “highly inflammatory, made-for-press allegations of the DFEH,” which sued the publisher for its alleged “frat boy culture”.

Activision Blizzard settled another lawsuit filed by the EEOC back in March of this year.