PlayStation Boss Jim Ryan Says Activision Has Not Done Enough to Address Discrimination and Harassment - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 17 November 2021 / 2,384 Views
It was reported yesterday Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick knew for years about the sexual misconduct allegations at the gaming giant. Later in the same day over 100 employees staged a walkout calling for Kotick resign and be replaced with a new CEO.
Sony Interactive Entertainment boss Jim Ryan in an email sent out to employees obtained by Bloomberg said he was stunned to read the publication from earlier this week.
Ryan said he was "disheartened and frankly stunned to read" to read the report and that Activision "has not done enough to address a deep-seated culture of discrimination and harassment."
Ryan added PlayStation "outreached to Activision immediately after the article was published to express our deep concern and to ask how they plan to address the claims made in the article. We do not believe their statements of response properly address the situation."
Earlier today a group of Activision Blizzard shareholder with a total of 4.8 million shares (out of roughly 779 million total shares) in a letter to the company's board of director have called for Kotick to resign.
The shareholders are also calling for the two longest serving directors on the board, Brian Kelly and Robert Morgado, to retire by December 31. Kelly is chairman of the Activision Blizzard board of directors and Morgado is a lead independent director.
The shareholders said that if Kotick, Kelly and Morgado don't resign, they would not vote for the reelection of the current directors on the board at the next annual meeting in June 2022, and is urging other shareholders to do the same.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Before severing ties with Activision, the first step should be dialogue. Coming from one of Activision's biggest partner at least puts a lot more pressure on them to do something. And if it can't be resolved with words, then the heads of companies who expressed concerns with the situation should take action.
I know people like to talk as if they know contracts, but Jim could always try spending time and effort from his end to get out of the deals Sony has with Activision, to stick it to the company, and show them they mean what they say (otherwise, and I don't give a shit what the fans say, his words would be utterly pointless and just for PR sake).
Words are not pointless, in this day and age everyone should know this with how much damage words can do to someone's life.
Words create pressure. The words of WSJ with their report, the words of the small number of shareholder calling for his removal, the words of eurogamer posting articles calling for his removal, the words of Jim Ryan here saying they haven't done enough.
These words aren't utterly pointless, the more people and higher profile people speak out the more noise is made and the more pressure is put on Activision and the less survivable the situation becomes for Bobby Kotick.
