California sues Activision Blizzard over a culture of ‘constant sexual harassment’

California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) says that renowned game publishing studio Blizzard Entertainment, and its owner Activision Blizzard, have created a culture of constant sexual harassment" and gender-based discrimination, in a new lawsuit filed Tuesday that claims top executives were aware and/or involved. And in the hours since the suit was revealed, numerous women have already stepped forward to corroborate the allegations.

The details are so disturbing that we're going to start with a trigger warning right now. The idea that male employees held cube crawls" is one of the tamer allegations in the lawsuit.

This is by far the worst case of structural sexual abuse at a gaming company to date, and you really need to the read the full complaint to understand just how criminal the behaviour of male Activision Blizzard employees and managers has been, but some of these examples should give you a good idea. It even led to the suicide of one of the female employees at the company.

The abuse was so widespread, so pervasive, so depraved, and so institutionalised, that in my view, we're dealing with a criminal organisation that ought to be shut down and banned, much like any other criminal organisation. The fact this is a company (or a religious institution, for that matter) should be of no consequence.

The complain itself is the result not of a single employee or one particular case, but of a two year investigation by California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing.