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.
In yet another development in the ongoing Activision Blizzard lawsuit, one of the lead designers of the upcoming Diablo 4, along with its game director and one World of Warcraft designer, is no longer with Blizzard. These exits come just one week after Blizzard's President, J. Allen Brack and the head of Blizzard's Human Resources department both left the company. All of this follows the recent lawsuit by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing on July 20.
The lawsuit follows a two-year investigation of Activision Blizzard, alleging that the company fostered a toxic culture towards women, people of color, and other underrepresented groups in the company. Among these are allegations that members of the company would regularly make inappropriate jokes to female employees, withholding promotions, wage disparity, derogatory behavior towards working mothers, and failure to prevent retaliation of reports to HR. As a result, the State of California is suing for discrimination on the basis of sex, failure to prevent discrimination and harassment, and pay disparity. Since then the company's employees have become very vocal about the need for change, including a massive walkout by Activision Blizzard employees. The company has denied the allegations of the lawsuit, calling them "distorted" and "false" in a statement shortly after the lawsuit was filed. Now, several employees who were related to a named individual in the lawsuit are no longer with the company.
Jesse McCree, a designer on Diablo 4, is known not only for being the inspiration for the Overwatch character of the same name but also appeared in an image of the "Cosby Suite" at BlizzCon 2013. Jonathan LeCraft, a World of Warcraft designer, was also pictured in the photo, which included World of Warcraft developer Alex Afrasiabi, who was named in California's lawsuit. McCree and LeCraft, along with Diablo 4 game director Luis Barriga, are no longer with Blizzard, according to a report by Kotaku. Blizzard responded to a request for comment from Kotaku, confirming that the three are no longer with the company, but declining to give any further information as to the reason for their departures.
Although McCree and LeCraft were pictured with Afrasiabi, who was fired from Blizzard in the summer of 2020, it's not clear what their involvement was in this lawsuit or how the allegations may have related to their firing. None of the three men who left Blizzard were named in the suit. However, McCree's involvement in the "Cosby Suite" picture had caused Overwatch players to request that the character in the game be renamed based on inappropriate texts McCree sent in a group chat that included Afrasiabi.
As more details emerge about the culture at Activision Blizzard, it's possible more information will come to light as it relates to McCree, LeCraft, and Barriga's termination. For now, Blizzard has chosen to remain silent while others take over the development of Diablo 4.
Source: Kotaku