The Blizzard Company is an American video game publisher and developer based in Irvine, California. It has been around since 1995 and focuses on online games like World of Warcraft and Overwatch. It has a diverse workforce and streamlines its games. It has won multiple awards for its games, including World of Warcraft. The company doesn’t drug test its employees. The employees are diverse and work from many different areas of the country.
Activision Blizzard is a video game publisher.
Activision Blizzard is an American entertainment company that produces massively multiplayer online role-playing games. Its parent company, Blizzard Entertainment, was founded in 1979. The company had been formerly known as Computer Arts, Inc., and was one of the first independent video game developers. Its first title was Pitfall. The company was purchased by a group of investors led by Bobby Kotick and rebranded as Activision Blizzard Entertainment.
Despite numerous lawsuits and a toxic workplace, Activision Blizzard has established itself as a leader in the video game industry. The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing recently sued the company over claims of gender-based discrimination and sexual harassment in the workplace. This is not the first time Activision Blizzard has been sued, however. While the company has made a history of innovation, it has faced numerous issues over the years; the most recent ones concern its policies and culture.
Activision Blizzard generates revenue from three main distribution channels: digital online, retail, and other sources. The company provides revenue breakdowns by the gaming platform. Activision Blizzard is structured into three segments: Activision Publishing Inc., Blizzard Entertainment Inc., and Blizzard Entertainment Inc. Each of these businesses is comprised of different businesses, but all three are largely the same.
Activision acquired numerous video game development studios, including Hudson Soft, during the nineties. This helped the company become more profitable. The company also acquired several notable studios and IPs, including Guitar Hero and Return to Zork. In 2008, Activision Blizzard was merged with Vivendi Games, and Kotick remained CEO. The company is still one of the biggest gaming companies in the world, but it has undergone several scandals over the years.
Despite its strong performance, Activision Blizzard is undergoing a crisis involving its employees. The company has a reputation for censoring games and has been accused of discriminating against gay and transgender employees. The lawsuit has led to the resignation of several top executives. Ultimately, Activision Blizzard is the largest video game publisher in the United States.
It does not drug test.
The CEO of Blizzard company has not publicly addressed allegations of sexual misconduct by employees. However, multiple current and former employees have echoed the allegations. The company has fired three senior leaders for misconduct or multiple counts of sexual harassment. They were never formally announced, and employees only learned of their departures through whisper networks. Blizzard declined to comment on the matter. However, the company has publicly responded to the lawsuit.
The Blizzard company has also been accused of having a culture of excessive drinking. Multiple employees have indicated that alcohol was prevalent in the workplace. Some teams were given access to full liquor bottles and had a frozen margarita machine used weekly. Other managers allegedly organized “cube crawls” where employees were allowed to drink alcohol without any restrictions. These events were referenced in the lawsuit filed by the DFEH.
Employees say that Activision Blizzard does not drug test its employees, but it does have a drug policy. Employees are prohibited from using illegal drugs, possessing them, or taking them during work hours. In addition, the company also offers great benefits and is more focused on productivity than drug testing. While the company does not conduct drug testing, it aims to reward the employees for their efforts and develop their careers.
While the company does not routinely drug test its employees, there are signs of abuse. One Blizzard employee said alcohol had a bigger role in company events. According to the DFEH suit, Blizzard employees made hiring decisions based on their looks rather than their performance. Some employees were allegedly even groped by Afrasiabi in public. As a result, Blizzard fired him, despite the allegations against him.
Townsend met with women at Blizzard before sending the email. Townsend defended the language in her email. She said the email was no longer her voice but did not sound like it did when speaking from a neutral position. The call was recorded and sent to a maximum of 500 employees. Townsend and company management promised to share the recording. However, Blizzard later said they couldn’t share the recording because it was too personal.
It has a diverse workforce.
Activision Blizzard, a video game company, is taking a proactive approach to diversifying its workforce. The company recently hired Kristen Hines to serve as its chief diversity officer. She will report to Julie Hodges, the company’s chief people officer. Previously, Hines led Accenture’s Global Diversity and Inclusion practice. She worked with companies to develop and implement DEI strategies. Activision Blizzard has been sued for sexual harassment but is now looking to increase its diversity.
Activision Blizzard’s diversity report shows that the company has an underrepresented workforce. Overall, the company’s diversity scores are only 59 out of 100, placing it in the bottom quarter of companies in the category. However, the company has promised to improve diversity by putting diversity leaders in place and linking their goals with broader performance metrics. The company also plans to offer recruiting, training, and mentoring programs to increase the number of diverse employees.
Activision Blizzard is under fire because of the company’s toxic workplace culture. A California state court recently sued the company for sexual harassment and a hostile work environment. Activision Blizzard has settled with the EEOC and is committed to making its workplace more inclusive. Despite the allegations of sexual harassment, Activision Blizzard’s CEO has pledged to make changes to improve the company’s diversity.
Activision Blizzard has been hit with a scandal over sexual harassment and a toxic work environment and has hired a diversity chief to address the problem. The company must make significant personnel changes to restore its reputation. It has announced the hiring of Kristen Hines, a former Accenture executive who previously led Accenture’s global inclusion, diversity, and equity practice. The new chief diversity officer is tasked with increasing the percentage of women in the company within five years.
Activision Blizzard has committed to increasing its diversity by 50 percent by the end of five years. The company will also increase pay equity and create an annual report highlighting progress. In addition to these efforts, the company has recently converted its contingent QA workers into full-time employees and has offered raises to at least minimum hourly rates. The company has also made changes to its recruiting process.
It streamlines its games.
Activision Blizzard recently announced that it is increasing its developer resources by 20 percent this year. The company also said it would not release a major frontline title in 2019 and instead focus on stabilizing its game platforms, Overwatch and Hearthstone. At the same time, the company said that it is simplifying its Call of the Duty development process. The company also said it would add a single-player story mode to the next Call of Duty.
The company has always aimed to reach a global audience beyond its PC roots. The debut of StarCraft II in 2007 was a milestone for the company. Blizzard broke the game into three parts to make it a hit. Though some fans were disappointed, the company quickly learned how to balance its quest for perfection with a desire to improve its games. Today, Blizzard is the leading developer of online games, with more than a quarter-billion people worldwide playing their games.
Blizzard is one of the biggest video game companies in the world, with a hold on some of the most popular genres and partnerships with the best game developers. Many of its classic games have become classics, and the company’s plans include bringing all its franchises to mobile devices. Blizzard has become an industry darling as people spend more time playing games on their smartphones.