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Activision Blizzard settles California harassment lawsuit

Activision Blizzard settles California harassment lawsuit

US publishing giant Activision Blizzard has settled the lawsuit brought against it by a California government body.

As reported by the New York Times, the California Civil Rights Department (CCRD) – formerly the Department of Fair Employment and Housing – has settled its lawsuit with the Call of Duty giant. In total, Activision is paying out $54,875,000 in the settlement agreement; as much as $45,750,000 to make right with female employees who were paid unfairly or discriminated against with the remaining amount going to litigation costs.  

Female employees and contractors who were at Activision Blizzard between October 12th, 2015 and December 31st, 2020 may be eligible for compensation. 

In the settlement agreement, Activision Blizzard appears to have been let off the hook without any admission of wrongdoing; both the publisher and the CCRD said that “no court or any independent investigation has substantiated any allegations," while saying that the government body's investigation hadn't found any evidence of wrongdoing by Activision's board.

This lawsuit was filed by the Department of Fair Employment and Housing back in 2021 and alleged a frat boy culture at the Call of Duty giant.


PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.