PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan has spoken out about Activision Blizzard's inadequate response to the bombshell report from The Wall Street Journal alleging that Bobby Kotick knew of the sexual misconduct and harassment allegations for years and defending the offenders, but lied about it to his shareholders.
As reported by Bloomberg, Ryan criticized the way Activision Blizzard handled the sexual abuse and harassment allegations that were reported in the article in an internal email to his employees, where he cited and linked the story. He wrote that he and his leadership were "disheartened and frankly stunned to read" that Activision, to this very day, hasn't done much of anything to properly address its toxic and misogynistic company culture of abuse and harassment.
"We outreached to Activision immediately after the article was published to express our deep concern and to ask how they plan to address the claims made in the article," Ryan wrote. "We do not believe their statements of response properly address the situation."
Sony has had a close relationship with Activision for several decades. The companies have frequently collaborated on elaborate marketing deals for most of the games Activision published on PlayStation consoles, such as Call of Duty and Crash Bandicoot.
Soon after The Wall Street Journal's story went live, more than 150 Activision Blizzard employees staged a walkout and called for the immediate resignation of Kotick, who stands accused of not only contributing to the sexual misconduct scandal, but also stopping HR from terminating an executive accused of sexual harassment, threatening to kill a former staff member he harassed himself, and firing a flight attendant after the pilot of his private plane sexually assaulted her. The company's board of directors released a statement defending the CEO, which prompted shareholders to call for his resignation as well.
Meanwhile, Blizzard's former co-leader Jen Oneal said she had been paid less than her male counterpart, Mike Ybarra, ever since she was hired for the role in August, and that she experienced harassment as early in her career as 2007. She even claimed that she was offered equal pay only after she resigned from her position.