Activision Blizzard has been reeling for the last few weeks, ever since the State of California announced its intention to sue the company over issues of gender discrimination and a hostile and toxic work environment. The response from the company has been a bit of a mixed bag since then, but one executive in particular can't seem to stay out of the news cycle.
Frances Townsend, former Homeland Security advisor for the George W. Bush administration and current chief compliance officer at Activision Blizzard, got off to an extremely bad start in the wake of the lawsuit, announcing that the allegations against the company were "meritless and irresponsible" in an internal email. She invited controversy again recently after sharing an article on social media criticizing the concept of whistleblowing.
The latest revelation regarding Townsend concerns her position as the executive sponsor for the Activision Blizzard King Women's Network. Perhaps understandably considering her comments and behavior in the wake of a lawsuit alleging severe mistreatment of women in the supposedly professional environment of Activision Blizzard, Townsend is no longer working with the ABK Women's Network as of July 23rd, according to Shannon Liao at the Washington Post. However, at the time of writing she is still employed by Activision Blizzard.
It would appear that Townsend, who has previously been vocally supportive of the use of torture under the Bush administration, has decided to try a bit of damage control of late. After unsuccessfully trying to mitigate the backlash of sharing the whistleblowing article by blocking journalists and Blizzard employees on Twitter, Townsend deleted her account altogether. Though many wondered at the time whether she had been pushed to take this step by her employer, an Activision Blizzard spokesperson later revealed to Kotaku that this wasn't the case. According to the spokesperson, it "was her personal account. The company didn't ask her to delete it. It was her decision."
The fallout of the lawsuit hasn't been limited to just one executive, though. Fans and fellow developers have shared their support, particularly for the Activision Blizzard employee walkout on July 28th, while elsewhere corporate sponsors have been reconsidering their partnerships with the company. Several higher-ups in the company have left in the wake of the allegations, including Blizzard's head of HR Jesse Meschuk and, perhaps most notably, Blizzard president J. Allen Brack.
The storm doesn't look like it will be passing any time soon, which will no doubt provide some comfort to those who were victims of the company's toxic workplace culture. Bloomberg's Jason Schreier published a report going into even more detail about the inequality and harassment so deeply embedded in the history of Activision Blizzard. Hopefully, bringing all these details to light and continuing to support the people who have suffered will help to reshape the industry at large in due time.
Source: Washington Post, Kotaku