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Activision has settled a lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for $18 million on the same day the suit was filed.
While the lawsuit filed against Activision by the state of California earlier this year continues, another one was filed against the studio by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Monday. The EEOC had investigated Activision for more than two and a half years, discovering that employees had been subjected to sexual harassment and the studio failed to take corrective or preventative measures when informed of that harassment.
Just hours after the suit was filed, Activision has settled it by agreeing to launch an $18 million fund “to compensate and make amends to eligible claimants.” As well as the fund, Activision will appoint an independent consultant to monitor the workplace and report back to both Activision's board of directors and the EEOC.
This is a significant step for a few reasons. Most notably, two months after the first lawsuit against Activision regarding these matters was filed, this is the closest thing to consequences the company as a whole has faced, aside from select individuals stepping down. However, in the 49-page document detailing its settlement with the EEOC, the studio fails to admit to any wrongdoing.
As for the amount of money put forward for the aforementioned fund, while $18 million is a lot of money to most, it is a drop in the ocean for Activision. To put it into perspective, the Call of Duty publlisher generated $959 million in revenue during its last quarter. That means the $18 million it is putting forward to set up the fund for employees dating back to 2016 equates to less than 2% of what the studio makes during a three-month period.
The now-settled suit filed by the EEOC is just one of many active lawsuits against Activision right now. The biggest, of course, is the one filed in July by the state of California. The most recent development in that lawsuit was Activision's vow to respond to the suit by October 22, a full three months after it was filed. The SEC also launched an investigation earlier this month into the studio's alleged abusive workplace culture.