Activision Blizzard substantiates 36 cases of misconduct in latest transparency report

Gaming publisher Activision Blizzard has revealed that 36 misconduct reports were substantiated in 2022, which the company links to improved scrutiny on issues introduced late that year.

Activision Blizzard has been in some hot water over the past few years. The video game monolith has had several employee cases brought to light, with many speaking out about the “rampant sexism” and “pervasive frat-boy culture” found within. These reports have resulted in several lawsuits for the company, as well as employee walkouts that called for CEO Bobby Kotick’s resignation.

Blizzard did eventually publish a report from an internal review back in June 2022, claiming that “there was no widespread harassment,” occurring at the company. Since that time however, the studio has looked at improving the company’s work culture, but has still struggled to maintain some of the talented people who work across its teams.

Now, a new report published by Activision Blizzard has surfaced, detailing a total of 36 substantiated reported concerns.

Activision Blizzard reports 36 substantiated concerns in new document

Activision Blizzard’s most recent transparency report has provided information about the number of concerns through 2022. Their investigations unit found that in total there were 36 cases that had sufficient evidence, 36 of those concerns were raised by employees at Activision Blizzard.

The company broke down these statistics in further detail, providing various graphs and figures to explain the in-take method, actions taken, gender-based harassment, and more.

Alongside this, Blizzard gave reasoning as to why this figure was accurate. According to the report, “After new initiatives were introduced in the third and fourth quarters of 2022, we saw an increase in questions, feedback, and reported concerns.” The studio went on to explain how they believe this is a positive in the long run.

“With a decline in our investigations substantiation rate during these periods, as our initiatives encouraged reports of even suspected misconduct. We believe this is a sign of a healthy reporting culture and effective training.”

You can read the entirety of Activision Blizzard’s transparency report here.