He’s active on Twitter, where he’s just as likely to discuss retro video game box art as he is new Blizzard initiatives. Ybarra is vocal in his video game fandom. This is something that is going to be in our DNA forever.” There’s no high-five that we met our commitments. “It represents what I hope we are growing beyond. “It reminds me of how important the culture work we have is,” he says.

“It saddens me to see that video,” Ybarra says.

Allen Brack, laughed at the question, joking that they would look at other catalogs. In it, a female fan asked for women in “World of Warcraft” to not look like “they stepped out of a Victoria’s Secret catalog.” A panel of Blizzard men, including former chief J. But he’s aware that some charges in the lawsuit were already public opinion.įor example: a video from a 2010 Blizzard convention that went viral on social media in the wake of the lawsuit. Ybarra often steers the conversation to optimistic statements for the future rather than squarely addressing the past. The suit filed against Santa Monica-based Activision Blizzard lays bare the gross inequalities that have long plagued a male-dominated industry Such a statement contradicted a bombshell Wall Street Journal report that argued Activision Blizzard’s top leader, Bobby Kotick, was aware of egregious sexual harassment allegations, including the protection of an executive whom human resources recommended be terminated.Įntertainment & Arts This may be one of the most important entertainment lawsuits ever filed - and no one seems to care “Talk about walking into a fire,” says Andrew Uerkwitz, an interactive media analyst with investment firm Jefferies, of Ybarra’s assignment.Īctivision Blizzard has at various points been seen as dismissing the allegations, most recently in a mid-June Securities and Exchange Commission filing in which the company’s board of directors stated they found no evidence that executives “intentionally ignored or attempted to downplay” harassment claims.

The case was seen as forcing the game community to have more open discussions about its hiring practices, salaries, once rebellious reputation, sexual harassment and workplace abuse. It showed that the gaming industry could no longer operate below the radar of more established Hollywood peers. The lawsuit levied at Activision Blizzard is one of the biggest entertainment stories of this young decade. Workplace and popular cultures in recent years have been put on blast, spurred in part by the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements.

Diablo immortal backlash is sexist