Activision Blizzard Sued By California Over Widespread Harassment Of Women

twitter.com/jasonschreier/status/1461049512856858629

I presume Microsoft and Sony could go nuclear if they really wanted to and refuse Activision the right to publish on their systems until they get their gooseberry fool together. I mean they’ve done it before for far less, but never for such high profile titles like COD.

KK wrote:I presume Microsoft and Sony could go nuclear if they really wanted to and refuse Activision the right to publish on their systems until they get their gooseberry fool together. I mean they’ve done it before for far less, but never for such high profile titles like COD.

I hope they're not tempted to act as a moral arbiter, like the Twitter mob. If consumers individually decide they disapprove of Activision and choose not to buy their games, that's fine. But if they decide to ban Activision for accusations of harassment, then you could do the same for Ubisoft, then ban Warhorse Studios for being politically incorrect, then ban Rockstar & countless others for cruel levels of crunch. Then we're left with a few indie games on the platform, because all the AAA titles are disqualified.

Stuart wrote:

KK wrote:I presume Microsoft and Sony could go nuclear if they really wanted to and refuse Activision the right to publish on their systems until they get their gooseberry fool together. I mean they’ve done it before for far less, but never for such high profile titles like COD.

I hope they're not tempted to act as a moral arbiter, like the Twitter mob. If consumers individually decide they disapprove of Activision and choose not to buy their games, that's fine. But if they decide to ban Activision for accusations of harassment, then you could do the same for Ubisoft, then ban Warhorse Studios for being politically incorrect, then ban Rockstar & countless others for cruel levels of crunch. Then we're left with a few indie games on the platform, because all the AAA titles are disqualified.

Oh no! Sounds terrible....

I don’t know what they’re like these days, presumably better, but during the PS1 and 2 era Sony would just refuse titles simply because they didn’t like them, or order changes. For example Sony Europe demanded Tomb Raider Angle of Darkness use analogue controls, and Sony America refused to grant a publishing license to Broken Sword 3 in the region.

Come to think of it, didn’t Sony refuse Football Manager on PS4?

"Twitter mob."

The staff are staging walkouts over this!

Cuttooth wrote:"Twitter mob."

The staff are staging walkouts over this!

They've also paid out multi million settlements over this already

Wasn’t there also supposed to be some alleged bullying or harassment at Insomniac and Naughty Dog? I don’t know if that ever came to anything.

Tomous wrote:

Stuart wrote:

KK wrote:I presume Microsoft and Sony could go nuclear if they really wanted to and refuse Activision the right to publish on their systems until they get their gooseberry fool together. I mean they’ve done it before for far less, but never for such high profile titles like COD.

I hope they're not tempted to act as a moral arbiter, like the Twitter mob. If consumers individually decide they disapprove of Activision and choose not to buy their games, that's fine. But if they decide to ban Activision for accusations of harassment, then you could do the same for Ubisoft, then ban Warhorse Studios for being politically incorrect, then ban Rockstar & countless others for cruel levels of crunch. Then we're left with a few indie games on the platform, because all the AAA titles are disqualified.

Oh no! Sounds terrible....

Agreed, this would be awful because... er... I'll get back to you on that.

KK wrote:Wasn’t there also supposed to be some alleged bullying or harassment at Insomniac and Naughty Dog? I don’t know if that ever came to anything.

Yeah, there were allegations of sexual harassment at Insomniac, KK - and Eurogamer reported on this in June last year.

Naughty Dog also faced allegations of sexual harassment and Eurogamer reported on the case in October 2017. Naughty Dog has also faced allegations that it forced staff to "crunch" during the production of The Last of Us 2 and Eurogamer reported on this in March last year.

It does perhaps seem that much of the gaming media - and, apparently, Sony - are more eager to report on and condemn Activision then they were Insomniac and Naughty Dog. It is, of course, fantastic that such horrible incidents are acknowledged and highlighted as being unacceptable and hopefully this will lead to changes for the better.

This the same guy who got scared by "militant trans kids" aye

jawa_ wrote:

KK wrote:Wasn’t there also supposed to be some alleged bullying or harassment at Insomniac and Naughty Dog? I don’t know if that ever came to anything.

Yeah, there were allegations of sexual harassment at Insomniac, KK - and Eurogamer reported on this in June last year.

Naughty Dog also faced allegations of sexual harassment and Eurogamer reported on the case in October 2017. Naughty Dog has also faced allegations that it forced staff to "crunch" during the production of The Last of Us 2 and Eurogamer reported on this in March last year.

It does perhaps seem that much of the gaming media - and, apparently, Sony - are more eager to report on and condemn Activision then they were Insomniac and Naughty Dog. It is, of course, fantastic that such horrible incidents are acknowledged and highlighted as being unacceptable and hopefully this will lead to changes for the better.

The scale of the scandal with Activision Blizzard seems much wider than any other within the games industry, aside from maybe what's been happening at Ubisoft.

It's much harder for it to be downplayed or skirted over even if that shouldn't have happened with those other scandals.

Stuart wrote:

KK wrote:I presume Microsoft and Sony could go nuclear if they really wanted to and refuse Activision the right to publish on their systems until they get their gooseberry fool together. I mean they’ve done it before for far less, but never for such high profile titles like COD.

I hope they're not tempted to act as a moral arbiter, like the Twitter mob. If consumers individually decide they disapprove of Activision and choose not to buy their games, that's fine. But if they decide to ban Activision for accusations of harassment, then you could do the same for Ubisoft, then ban Warhorse Studios for being politically incorrect, then ban Rockstar & countless others for cruel levels of crunch. Then we're left with a few indie games on the platform, because all the AAA titles are disqualified.

In my opinion this is hyperbolic. Industry peerage and scrutiny, besides regulation and consumer action, are pretty much the best and only way for markets to self-regulate inhumane behaviour, and they should.

And yes, bad views on trans activism does call your character and thus views into question, and you are open to criticism for whatever other stuff you've said.

twitter.com/jasonschreier/status/1461102273157808130

Sticking to his guns then.

Green Gecko wrote:

Stuart wrote:

KK wrote:I presume Microsoft and Sony could go nuclear if they really wanted to and refuse Activision the right to publish on their systems until they get their gooseberry fool together. I mean they’ve done it before for far less, but never for such high profile titles like COD.

I hope they're not tempted to act as a moral arbiter, like the Twitter mob. If consumers individually decide they disapprove of Activision and choose not to buy their games, that's fine. But if they decide to ban Activision for accusations of harassment, then you could do the same for Ubisoft, then ban Warhorse Studios for being politically incorrect, then ban Rockstar & countless others for cruel levels of crunch. Then we're left with a few indie games on the platform, because all the AAA titles are disqualified.

In my opinion this is hyperbolic. Industry peerage and scrutiny, besides regulation and consumer action, are pretty much the best and only way for markets to self-regulate inhumane behaviour, and they should.

And yes, bad views on trans activism does call your character and thus views into question, and you are open to criticism for whatever other stuff you've said.

I didn't realise this was resetera. Someone bringing up trans issues in an attempt to point score, completely off topic and mis-representing what I actually said (which was in the context of the professor being harassed out of her job) is nonsensical. And the moderation cheering them on to "call my character into question" is unpleasant.

Your viewpoint on that was based on misinformation. Have you updated your opinion on it based on the information that was given to you in that thread? If not, why should anyone engage with you about anything on here?

Stuart wrote:

KK wrote:I presume Microsoft and Sony could go nuclear if they really wanted to and refuse Activision the right to publish on their systems until they get their gooseberry fool together. I mean they’ve done it before for far less, but never for such high profile titles like COD.

I hope they're not tempted to act as a moral arbiter, like the Twitter mob. If consumers individually decide they disapprove of Activision and choose not to buy their games, that's fine. But if they decide to ban Activision for accusations of harassment, then you could do the same for Ubisoft, then ban Warhorse Studios for being politically incorrect, then ban Rockstar & countless others for cruel levels of crunch. Then we're left with a few indie games on the platform, because all the AAA titles are disqualified.

I'd counter by pointing out that Sony already act as a moral arbiter in not allowing games with certain content to be published on playstation - here's an example. If Sony don't want to be associated with that kind of gaming content, is it surprising they would be against actual real-life abuse? That certainly seems worse to me!

Twitter thrives on outrage of course, but I think it's playing down the story to frame this as a "Twitter mob". Employees and shareholders are calling for Bobby Kotick's resignation and some staff are staging walkouts. This is serious investigative journalism by the Wall Street Journal and the story is being picked up on and followed by plenty of other serious news outlets, not just the gaming press. These are serious incidents and allegations! It's far from just some Twitter drama.

In saying if Sony ban Activision games that could lead to many others being banned, you are sort of saying "where will it stop?" to something that hasn't even happened yet for the most extreme example. I don't think you need to worry about Sony sliding down an imagined slippery slope of moral arbitration quite yet!

I don't want you to feel like you're being piled on by the way, I'm replying because I disagree with you and this is a discussion forum! I personally would welcome Sony taking a hard line against Activision and putting pressure on them as a publisher, as I think relying on people making informed and morally motivated purchasing decisions isn't a good or effective way of enacting positive change in the world. It doesn't happen for a variety of reasons.

Tomous wrote:

Cuttooth wrote:"Twitter mob."

The staff are staging walkouts over this!

They've also paid out multi million settlements over this already

Yes, but a few minor trimmings of their billions and billions of tax-dodging profits is much easier to do than actually changing or any of the top brass holding their equally rich friends accountable. Out of court settlements are pay-offs to keep the sordid details out of the light so they can just carry on.

I totally support people challenging other people's views but - personally - I'm not so keen on the idea that a starting point in this process should be "look at what they said about something else". It probably won't do much to tackle the points being suggested; it feels to be more about "you shouldn't listen to this person" rather than "I disagree with x because y".

Edit: ^ Posted by the guy who liked the Wii U etc ;-) .

Trelliz wrote:

Tomous wrote:

Cuttooth wrote:"Twitter mob."

The staff are staging walkouts over this!

They've also paid out multi million settlements over this already

Yes, but a few minor trimmings of their billions and billions of tax-dodging profits is much easier to do than actually changing or any of the top brass holding their equally rich friends accountable. Out of court settlements are pay-offs to keep the sordid details out of the light so they can just carry on.

Well, exactly. The point of my post was to point out this is much more serious than a "Twitter mob" getting angry.