Girls Who Code ends its relationship with Activision Blizzard

NME

Girls Who Code, a charity organisation which works to close the gender gap within technology, has announced it is ending its relationship with Activision Blizzard following new allegations.

• READ MORE: Sexual harassment claims, lawsuits, and several high profile departures – what’s going on with Activision Blizzard?

In a Medium post, the charity announced its decision to end the partnership. It previously worked with Activision Blizzard on a summer immersion programme for girls interested in computer science.

Girls Who Code has provided courses in tech industries to almost half a million girls, and has distributed resources to over 500 million people worldwide.

With regards to its partnership with Activision Blizzard, Girls Who Code said “Following recent revelations about allegations of assault, harassment, and a toxic work environment throughout the company, we have decided to end our partnership.”

“The news about Activision proves that our priorities are fundamentally misaligned. We cannot in good conscience continue to work with a company that is so antithetical to our own values,” it added.

In August, J. Allen Brack stepped down as president of Activision Blizzard following numerous allegations. He was replaced in part by Jen Oneal who worked most recently on Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 + 2. She stepped down just three months later.  In her official statement she said:

“I am doing this not because I am without hope for Blizzard, quite the opposite — I’m inspired by the passion of everyone here, working towards meaningful, lasting change with their whole hearts.”

However, the developer, who is a queer Asian woman, contradicted this in emails leaked between her and Activision’s legal team, saying “It was clear that the company would never prioritise our people the right way.” Oneal also said she has  “been tokenised, marginalised, and discriminated against” at the company.

This statement was echoed by Girls Who Code saying “We must also empower marginalized communities to speak truth to power, without tokenization or fear of retribution.”

Since the allegations against CEO Bobby Kotick, shareholders and over 1300 employees called for him to be fired, as stock plummets. The company which has long been the most valuable in the gaming industry, was recently overtaken by Roblox.

Activision Blizzard has announced that Kotick will maintain his position.

In other news, Dead Cells is releasing is a new update with six new game crossovers.

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