The Wall Street Journal has learned that since July, 37 employees have been fired or forced out and 44 have been disciplined by the company. In October, the company said more than 20 people had left and another 20 had been disciplined.
The report states that the game publisher was supposed to give a summary of that information before the holidays. Bobby Kotick pulled the plug on that over fears that it would make the situation worse.
The claim that employees had filed around 700 reports of misconduct and other issues since July was denied by the spokesman. Discrimination and sexual harassment were rife in the company's "frat boy" culture.
The former president of the company left soon after the filing of the suit. The top HR executive at the company, Jesse Meschuk, has left, as have the game director Luis Barriga, the lead designer Jesse McCree, and the designer of World of Warcraft, Jonathan LeCraft.
The WSJ reported in November that Kotick may have protected some employees who were accused of harassment, after he was reported to have known about many of the worst instances of abuse for years. Many employees of the company walked out in the wake of the report and around 2,000 signed a petition calling for him to step down. The statement of support for Kotick was issued by the board.
The share price has dropped by almost 30% since July, and along with employees, state treasurers and investors have expressed concern about the issues at hand. Several partners of the company have condemned it.
The company was criticized in notes by the chiefs of the consoles. Phil Spencer, head of the Xbox, said last week that Microsoft has changed how they do certain things. Lego delayed the release of the Overwatch 2 set while it evaluates its partnership with the company.
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