Activision Blizzard has agreed to pay $35 million (nearly Rs. 290 million) to settle allegations about the video game maker’s handling of workplace grievances and violations of whistleblower protection rules, U.S. financial regulators said on Friday.
The Securities and Exchange Commission said the company knew that employee retention issues were “a particularly important risk in its business” but did not take adequate action to manage complaints of workplace misconduct between 2018 and 2021.
The company that makes the popular call of Duty game, also required employees between 2016 and 2021 to tell the company if the SEC contacted them for information — a violation of whistleblower protection rules, the agency said in a statement.
“Activision Blizzard “It failed to implement the necessary controls to collect and investigate employee complaints of workplace misconduct, leaving it unable to determine whether there were any major issues that needed to be disclosed to investors,” said Jason Burt, who the SEC’s Denver office, in a statement.
Representatives for the Santa Monica, Calif.-based video game developer and publisher said in a statement they were “delighted to have amicably resolved this matter” and had “improved” their workplace reporting and contract language.
Microsoftwhat makes Xbox, had made a $69 billion (nearly Rs. 5,66,500 crore) bid to acquire Activision Blizzard, but the Federal Trade Commission in December asked a judge to block the transaction. The EU authorities are also examining the deal. The FTCwhich enforces antitrust law, argued that the deal would give Microsoft’s Xbox exclusive access to Activision games Nintendo Consoles and Sonys PlayStation outside in the cold.
Michael Chappell, the FTC administrative judge, will rule on the deal after hearings scheduled for August 2023.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
