Destiny 2 developer speaks out against Activision Blizzard
Last Updated on: 23rd July 2021, 11:22 pm
Activision Blizzard recently found them in overdue hot water after allegations of sexual harassment and discrimination against female employees resulted in a lawsuit being brought by the corporation by California regulators.
The lawsuit details how “women are subjected to ‘cube crawls’ in which male employees drink copious amounts of alcohol as they ‘crawl’ their way through various cubicles in the office and often engage in inappropriate behaviour toward female employees.”
It further details how “male employees proudly come into work hungover, play video games for long periods of time during work while delegating their responsibilities to female employees, engage in banter about their sexual encounters, talk openly about female bodies, and joke about rape”, truly disturbing to read.
Perhaps the most harrowing detail of the lawsuit is regarding a female employee that committed suicide due to repeated harassment from male employees, particularly events that took place “during a business trip with a male supervisor who had brought butt plugs and lubricant with him.”
Now, Activision Blizzard’s former business partner Bungie, the studio behind the first few Halo games and the Destiny series, has released a statement on Twitter and in their weekly Destiny blog post, with Bungie’s tool engineer James Haywood stating that he is “even more glad we broke off from Activision now.”
Bungie’s full statement reads:
Bungie is built on empowering our people no matter who they are, where they are from, or how they identify.
We have a responsibility to acknowledge, reflect, and do what we can to push back on a persistent culture of harassment, abuse, and inequality that exists in our industry.
It’s our responsibility to ensure this type of behavior is not tolerated at Bungie at any level, and that we never excuse it or sweep it under the rug.
While the accounts in this week’s news are difficult to read, we hope they will lead to justice, awareness, and accountability.
We have a zero-tolerance policy at Bungie for environments that support this toxic culture, and we are committed to rooting them out to defend those who are at risk.
Women, POC, and underrepresented communities have nothing to gain by reliving their trauma. We believe them when they come forward with reports of abuse or harassment.
We don’t pretend that Bungie is perfect and that no one has experienced harassment while working here, but we will not tolerate it and will confront it head on. And we will continue to do the work every day to be better.
Our goal is to continue to improve the experience for everyone working at Bungie and do our part to make the gaming industry as a whole to be more welcoming and inclusive.
READ MORE: Activision Blizzard sued over toxic work culture
The Destiny 2 developers signed a 10-year publishing agreement with Activision Blizzard in 2009, first releasing Destiny in 2013, followed by its sequel in 2017.
Bungie split from Activision Blizzard in 2019 after pressure to make Destiny into an annual series similar to their flagship shooter Call Of Duty.
While it’s not uncommon for business associates to distance themselves from controversy to save their own skin, that isn’t the case with Bungie. Forbes’ Senior Contributor Paul Tassi notes in a recent article, Bungie has started forming inclusivity clubs over the past year or so, Women at Bungie, Black at Bungie, Trans at Bungie, to help those groups find support at the company.
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Bungie has stated that they likely aren’t the perfect company, but they are committed to trying to be the best employer they can be, so kudos to them.
