J. Allen Brack resigns as president of Blizzard Entertainment, the software house of Warcraft e Overwatch. The decision comes after the outbreak of the harassment and discrimination scandal in the workplace. The president had already defined the behaviors denounced by the California Department of Labor and Fair Housing “Unacceptable”. But his name is one of two that appear in the complaint, for not stopping the harassment in the bud.
J. Allen Brack resigns from Blizzard Entertainment
The Blizzard president has left his post, officially to “look for new opportunities”. In an official statement he welcomed the two substitutes, Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra. “I’m sure Jean Oneal and Mike Ybarra will deliver the leadership Blizzard needs to realize its full potential and accelerate the pace of change. I anticipate that they will do so with passion and enthusiasm and that we can be confident that they will lead us to the highest levels of integrity and adherence to the dictates of our culture that makes Blizzard so special. “
The decision comes two weeks after the accusations of machismo and harassment in the software house. Not only is there a great disparity in wages between men and women, but there was examples of blatant harassment that was not sanctioned. The most striking event concerns the suicide of an employee, who would have made the extreme gesture after a superior, with whom he had had an affair, had spread his intimate photos among colleagues. All these facts are yet to be verified and management denied any problem. But Brack himself had said that the “ behaviors described in the allegations are completely unacceptable.”
However, his name can be read in the accusations: as president, he was the one responsible who should have stopped these behaviors in the bud. The other name made is that of the creative director of World of Warcraft Alex Afrasiabi, accused of hugging and kissing colleagues at corporate events without consent.
More than 800 employees instead they invited the company to take responsibility and not minimize or deny the accusations. Doing this creates an environment in which women do not feel free to report harassment, such as that reported by the Californian authority. We will keep you informed on the developments of this affair.