Activision reportedly took years to fire someone who used the signature "1800-ALLCOCK" on all of his messages.
Earlier in the year, allegations were put forward of a pervasive frat-boy culture across Activision Blizzard, which has led to key figures leaving the company and several lawsuits being filed against it. Currently, pressure is being put on the Activision board by investors and industry members to remove CEO Bobby Kotick, but - until that happens, more information about what was happening at the studio is being revealed.
According to the Wall Street Journal podcast, and reported by Kotaku, Activision allegedly took years to fire a male employee who used "1800-ALLCOCK" as a sign off on all his emails. The employee reportedly wasn't fired until this summer, after a month-long investigation into the matter, despite the signature being used for years.
During the podcast, reporter Kirsten Grind said, "There was one example where an Activision employee had for years just signed his email signature 1-800-ALLCOCK. So if you were a woman, you would get that email and that was just the normal course, right? Just guys being guys joking about it and you just sort of felt like that was what happened at Activision."
Reporter Ryan Knutson added, "Activision said it received a complaint about this employee's email signature this summer and that, after a month-long investigation, it terminated the employee."
The podcast also features an interview with former Activision developer Ashley Mark, who went into detail about what it was like behind-the-scenes working for Sledgehammer Games, describing it as a masculine environment in response to the allegations of a frat-boy culture. She said, "There's a lot of people who are into fitness, at least at that time at Sledgehammer Games. So there were people who would go into groups and that you would go to the gym and they would just get pumped up. So it's very masculine."
When asked if she would ever return to Activision when changes are implemented, "In the future, would I ever want to go back in the game industry? Maybe. I'm not going to say never. I don't know if I would want to work for Activision. Especially after what I've just said, I don't think they'd want me back. That's fine".