There has been a sort of reckoning in the gaming industry for some of the biggest developers in the gaming industry in recent years. Big publishers/developers like Ubisoft and Riot Games have faced significant allegations from employees and outside entities about their fostering of toxic work environments, and most recently Activision Blizzard has faced a lawsuit from the State of California charging them with the same earlier this summer. While Activision Blizzard claims to have addressed these issues internally and with authorities, Activision Blizzard employees are now filing a new complaint suggesting the company is utilizing workplace intimidation.

In partnership with CODE-CWA, we’ve filed an unfair labor practice suit with the National Labor Relations Board: https://t.co/meGNFYcWJY

— ABetterABK (@ABetterABK) September 14, 2021

As reported by Bloomberg, the Communications Workers of America union has filed a complaint with the U.S. National Labor Relations Board on behalf of Activision Blizzard employees. The complaint states the strong convictions that Activision Blizzard employees have had workplace intimidation directed at them, largely in attempts to mitigate the damage done to the company’s perception after the recent lawsuit and other allegations made against the company. Among the tactics utilized by Activision Blizzard listed by the complaint include the following:

• “Threatened” and “told” employees they cannot talk about “wages, hours, and working conditions”
• “Maintained an overly broad social media policy”
• “Threatened or disciplined employees on account of protected concerted activity”
• “Engaged in surveillance of employees engaged in protected concerted activity and engaged in interrogation of employees about protected concerted activity.”
• “Enforced the social media policy against employees who have engaged in protected concerted activity”

Since the lawsuit from the State of California arose earlier this year, the Department of Fair Employment and Housing also believed Activision Blizzard had been taking inappropriate measures to protect the company, including the shredding of documents likely needed for the ongoing investigations. This led to the DFEH to update their lawsuit to recognize this, as well as other claims suggesting that Activision tried to “obtain repressive, if not punitive, secret settlements of sexual harassment claims, non-disclosure agreements, and non-disparagement agreements with severe penalties against employees.”

Activision has notably removed some key veteran figures at their company responsible for fostering their toxic workplace, but clearly, it seems that they have a long way to go to change how their company handles systemic issues related to harassment and other bad behaviors. Unfortunately, that’s not something that can easily be patched away, though hopefully, this complaint makes that update arrive sooner.

What do you guys think about this newly filed complaint from Activision Blizzard Employees claiming workplace intimidation? Let us know in the comments below! Be sure to stay tuned for the latest Activision news, such as the letter from Ubisoft employees sharing their solidarity with these Activision Blizzard employees, here on Don’t Feed the Gamers! Follow us on Twitter to see our updates the minute they go live!