Activision investigates alone and unsurprisingly finds no evidence of systemic harassment

In context: It is been practically a year considering that office harassment allegations plunged Activision Blizzard into a morass of lawsuits, regulatory investigations, and needs for CEO Bobby Kotick to step down. The firm's Board of Directors shaped a Place of work Duty Committee to examine the allegations.

On Thursday, the Activision Blizzard's Workplace Accountability Committee turned in the results of its interior investigation to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The probe concluded that the corporation was not guilty of wrongdoing and did not foster a "fratboy tradition" of harassment, discrimination, or retaliation. The getting sparked a flurry of sarcasm on social media.

"Opposite to quite a few of the allegations, the Board and its external advisors have decided that there is no proof to propose that Activision Blizzard senior executives at any time deliberately disregarded or attempted to downplay the occasions of gender harassment that happened and were claimed," the Agenda 14A filing reads.

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The committee admitted that there were some substantiated instances of gender harassment but found no evidence supporting the summary that senior leadership or the Board tolerated or were even knowledgeable of the actions. The submitting also outlined steps taken to deal with the existing complications but was constantly bombarded with smear items from the media.

"Whilst the Board and administration have implemented ... measures to proceed to increase the workplace, it must be stated that the Company has been issue to an unrelenting barrage of media criticism that attempts to paint the whole Enterprise (and a lot of innocent personnel) with the stain of a incredibly modest part of our staff inhabitants who engaged in bad conduct and ended up disciplined for it."

The submitting and the investigation it discusses will not finish the ongoing lawful actions. Activision Blizzard has now settled the EEOC lawsuit for $18 million. The California Department of Truthful Work and Housing nonetheless has active litigation versus the firm but has been bogged down for a lack of specifics. It is also wrangling filings from former workers and an open up SEC investigation.