TGO Daily | Wednesday July 28, 2021 | Activision Blizzard Update
In the news: Activision Blizzard employees try to enact positive change, Guild Wars 2 latest expansion gets a release date, Animal Crossing finally getting more content, and a quick look at financials
TGO Daily | Wednesday July 28, 2021
✏️ From the Author
This is the last week of Summer hours at my job, which means next week I’ll be working again on Friday’s.
It’ll be nice to maybe secure some more sleep, but I will miss having the whole day off on Friday’s. Time shall tell how hectic things will get at work, but I’ll be able to handle it one way or another!
Until next time,
Brandon
Activision Blizzard Update
While Activision has been quiet since they stated that, “[the lawsuit is] irresponsible behavior from unaccountable State bureaucrats that are driving many of the State's best businesses out of California.” Former and current employees have signed a petition with over 2,000 signatures in which they call Activision’s response to the suit “abhorrent and insulting”.
According to a statement released by employees, there will be an organized walkout today at 10am-2pm PDT in front of the main gate of the Blizzard Campus. The employees also released a statement of their demands (see below), as they call for, “the executive leadership team to work with us... in order to improve conditions for employees at the company, especially women, and in particular women of color and transgender women, nonbinary people, and other marginalized groups.”
An end to mandatory arbitration clauses in all employee contracts, current and future. Arbitration clauses protect abusers and limit the ability of victims to seek restitution.
The adoption of recruiting, interviewing, hiring, and promotion policies designed to improve representation among employees at all levels, agreed upon by employees in a company-wide Diversity, Equity & Inclusion organization. Current practices have led to women, in particular women of color and transgender women, nonbinary people, and other marginalized groups that are vulnerable to gender discrimination not being hired fairly for new roles when compared to men.
Publication of data on relative compensation (including equity grants and profit sharing), promotion rates, and salary ranges for employees of all genders and ethnicities at the company. Current practices have led to aforementioned groups not being paid or promoted fairly.
Empower a company-wide Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion task force to hire a third party to audit ABK's reporting structure, HR department, and executive staff. It is imperative to identify how current systems have failed to prevent employee harassment, and to propose new solutions to address these issues.
Activision Blizzard's CEO, Bobby Kotick, just recently commented that Activision’s response was ‘tone deaf’. He continued:
“Every voice matters — and we will do a better job of listening now, and in the future. I am sorry that we did not provide the right empathy and understanding. We are immediately evaluating managers and leaders across the company. Anyone found to have impeded the integrity of our processes for evaluating claims and imposing appropriate consequences will be terminated.”
Kotick went on to say that they were hiring the law firm WilmerHale to review Activision Blizzard’s policies and urged employees to reach out to the law firm, assuring there would be no retaliation for employees speaking to them.
Brandon’s Thoughts: This is Activision’s first response since their most certainly ‘tone deaf’ initial one. It’s certainly a good start, but we’ve heard words like this before. Actions taken and continued enforcement of a more equitable and safe work environment are what will ensure we weed out this type of toxicity in the industry. I hope we see more action that shows these companies are genuinely trying to fix the issue.
Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons Gets Release Date
The latest expansion coming to Guild Wars 2, End of Dragons, is set to release February 22, 2022.
The third expansion will be introducing the lost land of Cantha. ArenaNet describes Cantha as a, “multi-ethnic land of magic that is home to the oldest nation of humans in all of Tyria.” The map will consist more of island hopping and traversing over water in boats. They will also be introducing the first multiplayer mount to the game - a giant turtle that fits two riders. There also may be turrets attached to the shell of the turtle? You know, like a regular turtle has.
There will be plenty more added with the expansion, like Fishing, new elite specializations, legendary weapons, and new strike missions. August 17th there will be week-long beta events to test out various systems so, if you’re interested in trying some things early, be sure to keep an eye out for that.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons Receiving New Content
Nintendo hopped onto Twitter to let their New Horizons fans know that they haven’t forgotten about Animal Crossing. They first announced a free update would be coming out July 29th adding weekly fireworks shows and new seasonal items.
Beyond this small update, Nintendo also confirmed they would be adding more free content for release later in the year. Updates have been very slow forthcoming for the series, so hopes are that Nintendo will return to a more consistent release schedule as we continue to acclimate to the ‘new normal’.
Gaming Continues to be More Profitable than Ever
Regardless of supplies shortages, gaming continues to be profitable according to Daniel Ahmad, Senior Analyst at Niko Partners. Microsoft and Sony are seeing their latest consoles becoming the fastest selling consoles for both companies and Nintendo is seeing the Switch selling faster than the Wii.
Beyond this, Microsoft is seeing potential long-term payout with the Game Pass, as recent reports show Game Pass customers play 40% more games than non-members and spend 50% more than non-members. Head of Xbox Marketing, Aaron Greenberg, cites the long-term success of Game Pass hinging on over-delivering in value to customers and that it can pay off later:
“For us, we just want to keep adding more and more value [to Xbox Game Pass] so you feel really good about that and you feel like you want to go tell your friends about it. And ultimately, we think long-term that's the right thing for the business and will have long-term benefits for us. In the short-term, yeah, [Xbox Game Pass] is not a big profit play. But we think long-term it works out good for everybody.”
💡 Read More
Okami's Amaterasu heading to Monster Hunter Rise this week. Amaterasu will arrive on July 30th.
League of Legends: Wild Rift Spearheads Riot Games’ Assault on Mobile as Publisher Surpasses $100 Million in Revenue.
A Total War Saga: Troy launches on Steam in September alongside new Mythos expansion and free Historical mode.
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Thanks for the read <3