Activision Blizzard has recently been under fire for all manner of things, from the presence of overt and pervasive sexism to allegations of insider trading. The issues didn't stop when Microsoft announced that it would be acquiring the game publishing company, either, except for bringing Microsoft itself into the limelight as well.
One of the latest developments concerning Activision Blizzard's business is a continuation of the ongoing matter of unionization, where a team of Quality Assurance specialists from Raven Software - one of the developers working on Call of Duty - asked that Microsoft encourage Activision Blizzard to recognize their union, the Game Workers Alliance, on a voluntary basis. Microsoft is now finally chiming in on the issue.
The winner of Metacritic's Publisher of the Year award, Microsoft has said that it "will not stand in the way" of unionization under Activision Blizzard should the publisher decide to support one. This comes after Raven Software staff requested for Microsoft CEO Satya Nadell to support them in their efforts. Activision repeatedly ignored Raven's unionization request deadlines and also hired an infamously anti-union law firm, Reed Smith, to dissuade the employees from unionizing.
Microsoft's affirmation was put out by Lisa Tanzi, the company's corporate vice president and general counsel, who said that "Microsoft respects Activision Blizzard employees' right to choose whether to be represented by a labor organization and we will honor those decisions." It may be worth keeping in mind that some Activision Blizzard shareholders are now suing the company in an effort to stop Microsoft from acquiring it, which may be one of the reasons Microsoft is sticking with more of a hands-off approach for the time being.
On a similar note, Microsoft's Activision Blizzard acquisition is under FTC investigation for insider trading, making the situation even more legally complex across the board. There is now a substantial number of lawsuits and legal complications surrounding what is one of the biggest video game publisher acquisitions of all time which, when combined with the workplace abuse and mistreatment allegations present beforehand, make for a veritable legal and social minefield that Microsoft needs to navigate through.
Curiously, Activision blames Microsoft for not meeting diversity requirements needed to comply with a California law stipulating the need for three female directors to be members of the board, if it has six members in total or more. The company claims that it had been attempting to meet this requirement pre-acquisition, but that the ensuing proceedings made them unable to conclude the process.
Source: Washington Post