Blizzard boss Mike Ybarra has promised to improve the culture at the studio, and detailed a number of measures that the company is actively taking following a "challenging" 2021.
Over the past twelve months, Blizzard Entertainment has found itself under constant and intense scrutiny as its parent company, Activision Blizzard, faces serious ongoing allegations of harassment and mistreatment of marginalized workers. Ybarra publicly shared details of the positive changes that the company is said to be taking in a blog post on Blizzard's website as it looks to rebuild relationships with employees and fans across the world.
In the short term, says Ybarra, Blizzard's executive and management teams will be measured "directly against culture improvement", which means that their compensation will "directly depend on our overall success in creating a safe, inclusive, and creative work environment at Blizzard."
In addition to enforcing new management changes that directly benefit the studio, Ybarra also says that the company will be dedicating more full-time roles and resources to improving its culture. A few of those leadership positions at the company, says Ybarra, include:
In order to ensure that positive changes continue at every level of the company, Ybarra says that Blizzard has "tripled the size" of its compliance and investigation teams and has "articulated clear accountability for unacceptable behavior" which applies to all staff at the studio including leadership and management. Ybarra also went on to state that the company has shared representation data internally, set goals around improving those metrics, and put in place an "upward feedback program" so that employees can confidently evaluate management.
Ybarra's blog post comes in the wake of Microsoft's announcement stating the company's intent to acquire Activision Blizzard in a deal worth around $68.7 billion dollars. Following the news of the deal, the Xbox Twitter account noted that the company was looking forward to extending its culture of proactive inclusion to the great teams across Activision Blizzard as it welcomed the studio to the Xbox family.
For more from Xbox's recent acquisition of Activision Blizzard, make sure to check out this article comparing the purchase to other major entertainment acquisitions.
Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
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Over the past twelve months, Blizzard Entertainment has found itself under constant and intense scrutiny as its parent company, Activision Blizzard, faces serious ongoing allegations of harassment and mistreatment of marginalized workers. Ybarra publicly shared details of the positive changes that the company is said to be taking in a blog post on Blizzard's website as it looks to rebuild relationships with employees and fans across the world.
In the short term, says Ybarra, Blizzard's executive and management teams will be measured "directly against culture improvement", which means that their compensation will "directly depend on our overall success in creating a safe, inclusive, and creative work environment at Blizzard."
In addition to enforcing new management changes that directly benefit the studio, Ybarra also says that the company will be dedicating more full-time roles and resources to improving its culture. A few of those leadership positions at the company, says Ybarra, include:
- "A Culture leader who will help us maintain the best aspects of what we have today, and change and evolve where needed to ensure everyone brings their best self to Blizzard"
- "A new organizational leader for Human Resources who will build trust, empower our teams, and help foster a safe, positive work environment for everyone"
- " Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) leader solely focused on our progress across multiple efforts in this area"
In order to ensure that positive changes continue at every level of the company, Ybarra says that Blizzard has "tripled the size" of its compliance and investigation teams and has "articulated clear accountability for unacceptable behavior" which applies to all staff at the studio including leadership and management. Ybarra also went on to state that the company has shared representation data internally, set goals around improving those metrics, and put in place an "upward feedback program" so that employees can confidently evaluate management.
Ybarra's blog post comes in the wake of Microsoft's announcement stating the company's intent to acquire Activision Blizzard in a deal worth around $68.7 billion dollars. Following the news of the deal, the Xbox Twitter account noted that the company was looking forward to extending its culture of proactive inclusion to the great teams across Activision Blizzard as it welcomed the studio to the Xbox family.
For more from Xbox's recent acquisition of Activision Blizzard, make sure to check out this article comparing the purchase to other major entertainment acquisitions.
Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
Continue reading...