Since a report directly targeted Bobby Kotick for ignoring cases of abuse and harassment at Activision Blizzard, the torrent of controversies have once again surrounded the company. The penultimate stone in the way for the company has been the succession of complaints by the state treasurers of the United States, at the same time that the main organizer of the strikes among the workforce left her post.
Now, the problems have moved to a stage as exposed as that of The Game Awards 2021. The annual gala directed by Geoff Keighley welcomes the awards for the best titles of the year and during an interview with The Washington Post, the master of ceremonies has been questioned about the presence of Activision Blizzard in one of the great parties of the video game.
“We want to support employees and developers,” Keighley explains when asked about this matter. “We have to think very carefully about how to proceed here,” says the presenter, who revealed that while it is important to support all victims, I did not want opportunities to be missed when presenting the games.
Change of posture
Community reaction has not been particularly positive on Keighley’s stance, which has finally turned 180 degrees and announced on his Twitter account that Activision Blizzard will not be part of the Game Awards 2021, beyond the nominations to their games.
Beyond its nominations, I can confirm that Activision|Blizzard will not be a part of this year’s #TheGameAwards
— Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) December 4, 2021
Beyond their nominations, I can confirm that Activision Blizzard will not be part of The Game Awards this year.
The Game Awards is a time of celebration for this industry, the world’s largest form of entertainment. There is no place for abuse, harassment or predatory practices in any company or community.
I also realize that we have a great platform that can accelerate and inspire change. We are committed to it, but we must all work together to build a better and more inclusive environment so that everyone feels safe to create the best games in the world.
We are all responsible for this standard. Amazing games, and the talented developers who create them, are the ones we want to congratulate. See you on Thursday.
All in all, The Game Awards has a members board who advises the gala itself on how to promote the project. Some of its representatives are Hideo Kojima, Phil Spencer or Doug Bowser. Among them also appears Rob Kostich, president of Activision, and who for now remains in the position. No information or accusations against him about harassment or discrimination have come to light.
Finally, before the announcement of this measure, it revealed that neither Diablo IV nor Overwatch 2 were going to have announcements at the gala, so we can rule out their presence in other events for some time.
