HARASSMENT SETTLEMENT COSTS ACTIVISION £29M

CALL of Duty maker Activision Blizzard agreed a £28.9m settlement yesterday over its handling of discrimination and harassment allegations.

The video game firm had been aware from 2018 to 2021 that its business units lacked controls and procedures to deal with complaints about misconduct, said the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The regulator said Activision, which has been hit by workplace scandals, knew retention issues were ‘a particularly important risk in its business’.

The game maker had a staff walkout in 2021 after management dismissed allegations that it harboured a ‘frat boy’ culture as ‘inaccurate’.

Last year it agreed a settlement with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which oversees workplace civil rights issues.

Activision said it was ‘pleased to have amicably resolved this matter’ and had enhanced its workplace reporting and contract language.

The firm was bought by Microsoft last year in a £56bn swoop that UK watchdogs are now probing over potential competition concerns.