Blizzard Entertainment
American video game publisher and developer
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| 2024 | Planned release of Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred, co-developed with Blizzard Team 3, for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Microsoft Windows. |
| January 25 2024 | Blizzard cancelled the game Odyssey on January 25, 2024. |
| 2023 | Co-developed Diablo IV with Blizzard Team 3, releasing the game on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Microsoft Windows. |
| December 15 2023 | DFEH (now California Civil Rights Department) and Activision Blizzard announced a settlement, with Activision Blizzard agreeing to set aside $54 million to address pay and promotion inequalities. |
| October 2023 | Microsoft finalized its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, with Bobby Kotick remaining CEO during the regulatory review process. |
| February 2023 | Activision Blizzard settled with the SEC, agreeing to pay a fine for lacking proper controls and procedures to collect and analyze employee complaints of workplace misconduct. |
| 2022 | Blizzard cancels its annual BlizzCon event, stating a focus on supporting teams and ensuring future events are safe, welcoming, and inclusive. |
| December 2022 | Activision Blizzard filed a countersuit against the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (CRD), alleging the agency collaborated with news organizations to create a 'media war' against the company and did not disclose its connections with the media or the Communications Workers of America (CWA). |
| September 2022 | A separate lawsuit by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against Activision Blizzard was controversially settled for $18 million. |
| July 2022 | The quality assurance team announced a unionization drive as Game Workers Alliance Albany. |
| June 2022 | The Moynihan family filed a request for dismissal of the wrongful death lawsuit with prejudice. |
| June 2022 | Shareholders voted to propose an annual report on workplace abuse, harassment, and discrimination, with Activision's management considering the proposal non-binding. |
| June 2022 | Gilbert Casellas, former EEOC chair, completes an internal investigation and reports no widespread or systemic harassment at Activision Blizzard between September 2016 and December 2021. |
| April 2022 | DFEH chief counsel Janette Wipper stood down from the Activision Blizzard lawsuit case for undisclosed reasons and was later fired by California Governor Gavin Newsom. |
| April 26 2022 | New York City Employees' Retirement System filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard, alleging the Microsoft acquisition deal was rushed to cover up CEO Bobby Kotick's misconduct and potentially affect the company's sale price. |
| April 12 2022 | The studio was fully merged into Blizzard and renamed Blizzard Albany. |
| April 12 2022 | Melanie Proctor, deputy chief counsel, resigned in protest of Wipper's firing, accusing the governor's office of interfering with the lawsuit and demanding advance notice of litigation strategy. |
| March 2022 | Parents of Kerri Moynihan filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Activision Blizzard in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging workplace misconduct and lack of cooperation in the investigation of her death. |
| March 29 2022 | Court accepts the EEOC and Activision Blizzard settlement, with terms preventing settled employees from participating in the ongoing DFEH action. |
| March 22 2022 | Jessica Gonzalez's appeal of the settlement is struck down by the courts. |
| February 2022 | SEC expanded its investigation to include former executives and management since 2016. |
| February 2022 | Los Angeles County Superior Court judge Timothy P. Dillon approved the amended complaint and set an expected trial start date for February 2023. |
| January 2022 | Wall Street Journal reports that Activision Blizzard has pushed out or let go of 37 employees and disciplined about 44 others as part of their internal investigation of workplace misconduct. |
| January 2022 | Microsoft announced its intent to acquire Activision Blizzard, partially citing the DFEH lawsuit as a factor in the company's weakening market position. |
| January 21 2022 | Raven Software QA testers formed the Game Workers Alliance, seeking union recognition, potentially becoming the first union at an AAA video game company. |
| 2021 | Blizzard Albany assisted Raven Software in developing Call of Duty: Warzone for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. |
| 2021 | Co-developed Diablo II: Resurrected with Blizzard Team 3, releasing the game on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Microsoft Windows. |
| 2021 | The Game Awards excludes Blizzard from its ceremony, with host Geoff Keighley stating the company would only be represented by its nominated games. |
| December 2021 | Activision laid off about a dozen contracted quality assurance staff at Raven Software, triggering further employee protests and intensifying unionization efforts. |
| December 2021 | Court denies California's request to intervene in the EEOC suit, allowing settlement terms to stand. |
| November 2021 | Treasurers from six states (California, Massachusetts, Illinois, Oregon, Delaware, and Nevada) called on Activision Blizzard's board to address workplace misconduct allegations, expressing concerns about the company's leadership and potential investment impacts. |
| November 2021 | Jen Oneal announces her departure from the company, later stating she had been 'tokenized, marginalized, and discriminated against' and was initially paid less than her co-lead Mike Ybarra despite their equivalent roles. |
| November 2021 | Following a Wall Street Journal report, approximately 150 employees participated in a walkout demanding Bobby Kotick's removal, with a petition for his resignation gathering over 1,000 employee signatures. |
| November 16 2021 | The Wall Street Journal published an investigative report detailing Kotick's awareness of and inaction towards workplace misconduct at Activision Blizzard. |
| October 2021 | Activision Blizzard reports over 20 employees have 'exited' the company and over 20 more were reprimanded as part of their internal evaluation. The company announces plans to expand its ethics and compliance team. |
| October 2021 | Court denies Activision Blizzard's request to halt the DFEH lawsuit but allows evaluation of ethics issues. |
| October 2021 | Bobby Kotick announces significant measures to address workplace issues, including dropping mandatory arbitration, implementing a zero-tolerance harassment policy, committing to increase women and non-binary hires by 50%, and proposing to cut his own salary to the minimum state level. |
| October 2021 | Blizzard changes the character McCree's name to Cole Cassidy in an Overwatch patch, introducing a digital comic about the character finding a new identity. |
| October 27 2021 | Blizzard informed Vicarious Visions employees that the studio would change its name. |
| September 2021 | U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued subpoenas to Activision Blizzard executives, including CEO Bobby Kotick, requesting communications and records related to workplace misconduct and internal issues, with records requested dating back to 2019. |
| September 2021 | A Better ABK filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, asserting Activision Blizzard engaged in coercive behavior related to unionization efforts. |
| September 27 2021 | EEOC files a formal lawsuit against Activision Blizzard in the Federal District Court for Central California, seeking a jury trial to review charges of sexual harassment and discrimination. |
| August 2021 | Overwatch League casters begin avoiding saying the name 'McCree', instead referring to the character as 'the cowboy' following reports about the character's namesake. |
| August 2021 | Blizzard cancels planned livestream reveal of Hearthstone expansion due to the lawsuit, with lead designer Dean Ayala acknowledging the sensitivity of celebrating during this time. |
| August 24 2021 | DFEH expanded its complaint to include temporary and contract workers, and accused Activision Blizzard of interfering with document discovery. |
| August 11 2021 | Three employees involved in misconduct, including Jesse McCree, are no longer working for Activision Blizzard. |
| August 3 2021 | J. Allen Brack announces his departure from Activision Blizzard. Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra take over leadership. Global head of human relations Jesse Meschuk is confirmed to have been fired. CEO Bobby Kotick commits to accountability and creating a safe work environment during quarterly investor call. |
| August 3 2021 | Employees from various Activision Blizzard studios announced the formation of the ABK Workers Alliance, rejecting CEO Bobby Kotick's response and WilmerHale's involvement in the internal review. |
| July 28 2021 | A large employee walkout was organized, demanding an end to forced arbitration, new hiring and promotion guidelines, salary transparency, and a third-party evaluation of workplace discrimination. |
| July 28 2021 | Activision Blizzard employees staged a walkout in response to the lawsuit and the company's initial dismissive reaction, with virtual support from other developers and players in the gaming industry. |
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This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia articles California Department of Fair Employment and Housing v. Activision Blizzard, List of Blizzard Entertainment games & Blizzard Albany, which are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.