The Activision Blizzard publisher, which laid off at least 20 people, wants to see whether the lawyers in a lawsuit brought against it by a California state agency are professionally conducting their business…

So, the California state agency in question is the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, which we’ll call DFEH from now on. The publisher has applied to stay proceedings in the case to allow for limited discovery into the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) allegations of ethics violations on the part of DFEH lawyers because the EEOC said last week that the DFEH attorneys had previously worked for them and had led the investigation into Activision Blizzard…

The result was that the publisher reached an out-of-court settlement and paid the EEOC eighteen million dollars while implementing mandatory training and operational changes. However, the DFEH objected to this because it was seen as undermining its lawsuit against Activision Blizzard. Can it be followed? So DFEH started the whole thing against ActiBlizz. And then, in addition, the EEOC brought a case, which the publisher paid off, by which time ActiBlizz is claiming a pause button because of the DFEH connection. (Except they’ll have a minor case with the SEC too…)

Activision Blizzard has also filed another motion to have its case certified as “complex” and is therefore requesting that an appropriate court handle it due to its complex nature. Here, it referred to the EEOC-DFEH entanglement in addition to Bobby Kotick’s claim that the DFEH “destroyed information required to be preserved” (which is funny because the DFEH accused Activision Blizzard of the same thing in August…). According to a spokesperson for Activision Blizzard, “we look forward to resolving the case with the DFEH fairly in an appropriate court. We share the EEOC and DFEH’s goal of a safe, inclusive workplace that rewards employees equitably and remain committed to the elimination of harassment and discrimination in our workplace.”

The Financial Times reported fired employees included game developers and middle managers, but none of Activision Blizzard’s board members was affected. A letter from Frances Townsend, the Chief Compliance Officer, can be read here. “In recent months, we have received an increase in reports through various reporting channels. People are bringing to light concerns ranging from years ago to the present. We welcome these reports, and our team has been working to investigate them using a combination of internal and external resources. Based on the information received in the initial report, they are assigned into different categories, and resources are allocated to prioritize the most serious reports first. In connection with various resolved reports, more than 20 individuals have exited Activision Blizzard, and more than 20 individuals faced other types of disciplinary action,” she wrote.

And where does it end…?

Source: Gamesindustry, PCGamer