There have been some truly horrifying stories coming out as of late following Activision finally letting Bobby Kotick go as CEO. There have been a slew of sexism and racism reports from developers past and present, and now to add to this, a new report has revealed that Activision didn't even seem to limit its discrimination to certain minorities.
Because Law360 has stated that a former Activision executive is currently looking to sue the publisher, accusing it of age discrimination and violating the state of California's whistle-blower protection law.
The suit comes from a 57-year-old tech executive who was employed at Activision between 2014 and the summer of 2023, and the lawsuit claims that Kotick made statements at a leadership conference where he revealed that the "problem" at the company was that "there are too many old white guys."
The suit then adds that following Kotick's claims, two white executives left the company, wherein the plaintiff was in the running for one of their jobs before he was ultimately passed on in favour of a young non-white employee. The plaintiff then states that this new employee, who became his manager, created a hostile work environment and critiqued his production and limited his salary increase, which was based on merit for the year.
An additional female employee is also claimed to have made a human resources complaint that the same manager limited her merit-based salary increase due to falsely made defamatory remarks.
Upon asking for the plaintiff's accusations to be investigated independently, it's said that he was "ignored and he was not taken seriously."
The plaintiff is seeking damages to account for his loss of earnings, impact to career advancement, reputational damage, emotional distress, and wrongful termination.
Thanks, GamesIndustry.biz.