(New York) Investigations launched against the American video game publisher Activision Blizzard, in the process of being acquired by Microsoft, following a series of accusations of discrimination and harassment, are widening, according to court documents and press information.
Posted yesterday at 10:46 p.m.
A California state agency (DFEH), which last summer launched a lawsuit alleging sexual harassment, ethnic discrimination and machismo against the women in the group, asked in late January for access to any complaints. or investigation opened on 19 employees of the company, including its managing director.
The agency also asked to have access to any police files concerning possible complaints filed at the BlizzCon conventions, organized by Activision, from 2015 to 2019, as well as to the offices of its Blizzard subsidiary in Irvine and ‘Activision in Santa Monica since June 20, 2021.
The court document seen by AFP on Thursday does not directly mention the names of the people for whom the DFEH is seeking information, but it does state that the list includes the chief executive of Activision and the former chief executive of Blizzard. Entertainment.
These requests “do not serve any legitimate purpose”, responded an Activision spokesperson, stressing that they relate “to sensitive and confidential information without limit or relevant scope”.
This is, according to the company, a “questionable tactic” by the DFEH “to derail” the implementation of the agreement reached with another agency, the EEOC.
This federal organization has negotiated with Activision the creation of a compensation fund for victims of harassment, endowed with 18 million dollars.
According to wall street journalthe American authority of the financial markets, the SEC, also widened its own investigation, launched in September to determine if the group had communicated sufficiently on the accusations of harassment and discrimination of which it is the subject.
The SEC recently requested documents related to a much larger list of current and former executives than before, going back further, the business daily claims.
These new requests are revealed when Microsoft announced in mid-January its intention to buy Activision Blizzard, the publisher of Call of Duty and Candy Crush, for 68.7 billion dollars.