Nuked Blizzard entertainment has been under intense scrutiny since California sued parent company Activision Blizzard last summer over alleged harassment and discrimination. Boss Mike ybarra published a blog post detailing what it is doing to’rebuild your trust’.
The top of the list is that executive and management teams will be measured’directly against culture improvement’. Their compensation will’depend on our overall success in creating a safe, inclusive, and creative work environment at Blizzard’.
He also outlined new full-time roles that have been created to help improve culture. The roles include::: a new full-time role.
Culture leader will help us maintain the best aspects of what we have today, and change where needed to ensure everyone brings their best self.
A new organization leader for human resources will build trust, empower our teams, and help foster a safe, positive work environment for everyone.
A diversity, equity, and inclusion (de & I) leader solely focused on our progress across multiple efforts in this area. A majority of people are focused on their progress in this region.
Blizzard has also’tripled’ the size of its compliance and investigation teams, shared representation data internally and set goals for improving those metrics.
We’re committed to more open dialog directly with the amazing player communities – not just from me but from all of our incredible teams. We’re determined to talk directly with our incredible player communities.
Microsoft appears to have gone into the deal with Activision Blizzard’s recent scandals. The deal is the latest in a series of scandals to come under the shadow of Microsoft’s massive deal to acquire Activision Blizzard.
We believe creative success and autonomy go hand-in-hand with treating every person with dignity and respect. We’re looking forward to extending our culture of proactive inclusion to the great teams across Activision Blizzard.
Ybarra was a nearly 20-year veteran of Microsoft before he joined blizzard in 2019. ybarra joined the blizzard in 2018.
Ybarra was originally put in place as a co-lead of Blizzard. Jen Oneal stepped down just three months after taking the role.
Several dozen workers have been on strike for weeks to protest surprise layoffs of QA staffers at raven software. Activision Blizzard employees are optimistic about the Microsoft acquisition, an employee advocacy group says.
‘we need to deliver content to our players on a more regular basis and innovate both in and beyond our existing games,’ ybarra said. Overwatch 2 and Diablo IV were delayed in November with no release dates in sight.
