The last year has been one of reckoning for many game studios and Blizzard Entertainment has been one of the most scandal plagued companies.
The game maker was investigated by the state of California and the Department of Fair Employment and Housing filed a lawsuit against them in 2021.
Just one month after the lawsuit was filed, Blizzard made Jennifer Oneal a co-head of the company. She didn’t last long, though, resigning just around three months later. And in emails obtained by the Wall St. Journal, Oneal revealed that she felt she was tokenized.
In a blog post written upon her resignation, Oneal wrote, “I want you to hear from me personally that I have made the decision to step away from co-leading Blizzard Entertainment and will transition to a new position before departing ABK at the end of the year…I’m 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.”
But the internal emails, Oneal expressed that she didn’t have faith in Blizzard’s future, but, “professed a lack of faith in Activision’s leadership to turn the culture around.”
The emails also revealed that some of the practices hadn’t changed for the better.
Oneal confirmed that despite being a co-head of the company, she still made less than her male counterpart. She also added, “it was clear that the company would never prioritize our people the right way,” and “[I’ve been] tokenized, marginalized, and discriminated against.”
If Activision/Blizzard felt that the promotion of Oneal was a step in the right direction for the company, this latest news feels like they’ve now taken two steps back.
