Editor’s Note: A lawsuit has been filed against Activision Blizzard by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, which alleges the company has engaged in abuse, discrimination, and retaliation against its female employees. Activision Blizzard has denied the allegations. The full details of the Activision Blizzard lawsuit (content warning: rape, suicide, abuse, harassment) are being updated as new information becomes available.
Activision Blizzard will reportedly be improving pay and work benefits for its many quality assurance testers. The video games goliath has been working to polish its public image in the wake of several sexual assault, abuse, and corporate exploitation allegations. Activision did recently settle with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, though many feel that the payment amount was far too low.
Aside from the countless accusations of sexual misconduct and abuse, Activision Blizzard has been under fire over the past few years because of its treatment of employees. Company CEO Bobby Kotick was awarded over $150 million as a bonus in 2020 after laying off hundreds of employees, which raised complaints from workers as to how the massive corporation was being managed. These high payments for company executives were further criticized when compared to the low salaries of junior developers and quality assurance testers, many of whom are contract workers rather than being employed full-time. This imbalance, coupled with Activision's problematic hiring practices, has been a large part of the general public discourse about the company.
That said, it seems like things could be changing over at Activision Blizzard, as Jason Schreier reports that 1,100 quality assurance testers will be converted from contract to full-time workers. These same QA testers will also be getting their wages increased to "at least" $20 per hour. Schreier noted that a story, presumably with more details, will be published on Bloomberg soon.
This will certainly come as welcome news to anyone who has felt frustrated by how Activision Blizzard has been treating its employees. There may still be more changes in the works that will continue to improve the condition and wages for Activision Blizzard workers. Hopefully, this bolstering of QA positions is a sign of more significant change to come.
It's possible that this change is connected to Microsoft buying Activision Blizzard. Although the company has not made public that there will be significant changes once the sale is finalized, a change in ownership can also lead to a change in business practices for employees. Only time will tell what was the impetus behind the pay increase for these employees and whether this sort of treatment will continue under Microsoft's ownership.
Source: Jason Schreier/Twitter