Activision Blizzard Employees Attest To ‘Frat Boy’ Culture And Harassment In New Exposé

Activision Blizzard continues to feel the backlash of the ongoing sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuit as Bloomberg publishes a new exposé with firsthand accounts from former and current employees of the company. These employees further attested to the fact that the executives themselves were a party to the alleged frat boy culture and incidents of sexual harassment within the company. Blizzard Entertainment co-founders Frank Pearce and Mike Morhaime, and former president J. Allen Brack also set bad precedents when they dated and married their subordinates.

The employees also recounted an incident in 2018 following former Chief Technology Officer Ben Kilgore’s departure from the company. When then Chief Information Officer Derrick Ingalls was asked about the reason for Kilgore’s departure, he reportedly answered with a crude joke saying, “Don’t sleep with your assistant. But if you’re going to sleep with your assistant, don’t stop.”

Blizzard’s executives allegedly also suffered from “rock-star mentality” and were virtually untouchable within the company to the point that any inappropriate behavior was repeatedly overlooked. “Not only could they tell you how to do your job, but they had so much power, they could do whatever they want in line of sight with their other powerful friends,” said one former employee.

According to the article, things only got worse after Blizzard’s merged with Activision in 2008. The interviewed employees complained about Activision’s heavy-handed management of the company. “Some Blizzard staff refer to Activision as the Eye of Sauron,” said a current employee. “With budget cuts constantly looming, managers of each department have jockeyed for resources. As a result, some are reluctant to report internal problems and risk drawing unwanted attention to their teams from corporate overlords, current employees said.”