Months after the bombshell sexual harassment lawsuit was filed against Activision Blizzard by the State of California, the company’s chief compliance officer Fran Townsend has said in a staff email that over 20 individuals have “exited,” while more than 20 other individuals have faced “other types of disciplinary action.” This information was first revealed in an interview with the Financial Times<\/a>.<\/p>
All this became public news in July when the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard<\/a> for fostering an environment of sexual harassment, discrimination, and retaliation over the years. Townsend herself became involved in the controversy after first downplaying and dismissing the lawsuit, calling it “meritless and irresponsible” and the claims in it “false and distorted” in a company email.<\/p>
The lawsuit and the initial reaction by Townsend and Activision Blizzard led to a company-wide employee walkout<\/a>, massive internal changes, an investor-led class-action lawsuit<\/a>, and several other companies dropping or re-assessing their sponsorships of the Overwatch<\/em> and Call of Duty <\/em>League.<\/p>
