Call of Duty developers respond to sexual harassment a month later

call of Duty Studio Treyarch has just released the latest in a long line of gritty apologies from Activision-owned studios regarding the ongoing investigation company-wide sexism, harassment, discrimination and bullying. In one Tweet published today, just over a month after Wall Street Journal reported on Studio co-boss Dan Bunting leaves after allegations of sexual harassment, says Treyarch that there is no place in his culture for sexism, harassment, racism, bigotry, discrimination, or bullying.

Treyarch’s tweeted statement reads as follows.

Our goal as a studio is to make great games that the world can enjoy. The privilege of pursuing this endeavor is made possible by the people at Treyarch: we are a studio made up of intelligent, talented and top-notch creative professionals who try to do our best. Our culture has no place for sexism, harassment, racism, bigotry, discrimination, or bullying. As we move forward, providing a safe, diverse, and inclusive work environment so that everyone can thrive will be our top priority. Everyone at Treyarch is drawn to game development because we have a deep love for the art of video games and the magic that can create important moments. This is a moment that matters and it’s starting to get better.

The studio’s statement comes from the aftermath of the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing Lawsuit and investigation Into the toxic culture at Activision Blizzard continues to gather around the base of CEO Bobby Kotick’s annoyingly resilient throne.

Today’s news marks the first official statement from Treyarch since longtime studio co-lead Dan Bunting left. According to the Damn it Wall Street Journal report Bunting was involved in an incident from mid-November 2017 in which he is said to have molested a colleague after a night of partying. An internal investigation into the incident in 2019 found that Bunting should be fired just so CEO Bobby Kotick could step in and advise Bunting instead. Bunting, who has co-led Treyarch since 2003, left the studio last month as Wall Street Journal Report made the rounds.

Sorry, Treyarch is pretty standard. Without citing specific cases, the studio renounces bad things and vaguely promises not to do bad things. Unfortunately, it’s several days too late to get it in our year in gaming excuses article, but there are already many Activision Blizzard entries. Hopefully Treyarch will actually start “getting better” so it doesn’t have to get one of these out anytime soon.