Since the news of the recent accusations made by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing in July, the online gaming world has been shaken by the claims as well. Ever since the scandal broke, Blizzard Entertainment and their games have lost their appeal and popularity from gamers around the world. These games include World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, and Diablo III. It is because of these events that many gamers consider legal measures to sue Blizzard Entertainment and its founders, Robert and Lori Kaplan.
The original scandal broke when an employee of the company leaked details to media about the sexual harassment and discrimination cases inside the company. This resulted in a lot of articles and blogs where it was alleged that Blizzard Entertainment ignored evidence and complaints about the same. The fact that a lot of these articles were later removed and replaced with lies have also done more harm as Blizzard Entertainment has faced several lawsuits due to these articles. Now, with the help of a Blizzard Entertainment attorney, some of these bloggers are facing severe charges for making defamatory statements against the company.
In light of this, lawyers of Blizzard Entertainment are now seeking legal counsel from the WilmerHale Law Firm. Lawyers at the WilmerHale Law Firm have a long history of dealing with the major corporations as they defend their client from corporate infringement, privacy violations, and breach of contract claims. As the company is being sued for breach of contract and invasion of privacy, Blizzard Entertainment must be prepared to face such cases in court. To win against the lawsuit, Blizzard Entertainment will be required to prove three things: there was a breach of contract, Blizzard was not negligent in terms of its actions, and the employee did not disclose information. If Blizzard Entertainment can prove these three things, it is expected to win the lawsuit against the former employee. However, it is important to note that Blizzard Entertainment is facing a new problem in this lawsuit as one of its former employees has been found to have defamed one of Blizzard Entertainment’s partners.
Recently, in connection with the ongoing Blizzard litigation case, Blizzard Entertainment sent a Cease and Desist letter to one of its project directors following a blog post by an ex-employee of the company which referred to one of Blizzard Entertainment’s partners as a “rape robot”. The blog post which resulted in the Cease and Desist letter was later deleted from the internet. This led to more damage to Blizzard Entertainment as a result of the fact that the Cease and Desist letter was sent on what was supposed to be a final notice of lawsuit.
In a recent article by an outside HR, an employee who used to work for Blizzard states that he was harassed by his fellow workers prior to his termination. As per the article, some employees began to send him disturbing emails regarding things like how he was a gay man, and he was told by other workers that they would better not talk to him or else they would be put out of the job. He was subsequently asked to attend a meeting where he would be advised as to what would be done about these kinds of harassment emails. He was subsequently given an open letter by one of his harassers which stated that he was being dismissed due to poor performance. At this point, it appears that Blizzard ignored his complaint and did nothing to prevent further incidents of his abuse from occurring.
The general manager of Blizzard Entertainment, David Bailey, is reported by Inside HR to have sent letters to the employees of Blizzard Entertainment suggesting that they should stop discussing the case with gamers and journalists that might jeopardize their chance of getting a lawsuit. He is reported as saying that there was insufficient evidence to justify the claims of discrimination and harassment. This followed up by him telling a group of gamers to stop talking about the lawsuit, as it was becoming a distraction to the company. This latest incident, along with the previous complaints by former employees of Blizzard Entertainment, has created a lot of bad press for the company. While no one can predict the outcome of this lawsuit, it is clear that Blizzard Entertainment has a long way to go in dealing with harassment on their internet platform. It is hoped that this may help them avoid some serious legal problems in the future.
