Intel is bringing in some major AI performance improvements with its next-gen Panther Lake client CPUs while Clearwater Forest chips are in fabs.
08.01.2024 - 16:00 / pcgamer.com / Bobby Kotick / Many
Activision-Blizzard has been the centre of a lot of controversy over these past few years. After a lawsuit went public, detailing «numerous complaints about unlawful harassment, discrimination, and retaliation» and a «frat boy» culture, plus claims from former CEO Bobby Kotick that the whole thing was just an «aggressive labour movement,» the company finally settled last year.
While the civil rights suit concluded «there was no widespread harassment or recurring pattern or practice of gender harassment», Activision-Blizzard still paid $54 million to the California Civil Rights Department and set aside $47 million to impacted employees. Now a new suit has been filed by an ex-employee—for discriminating against old white men. Wait, hold on a second.
As reported by Law360 (thanks, GamesIndustry.biz) a plaintiff (a 57-year old tech executive who worked for several years under Kotick) has alleged that the company discriminated against him on the grounds of age. The suit mentions a conference where Kotick allegedly joked that there were «too many old white guys» at the company. It then states that two other white colleagues left due to «ageist remarks».
One of those departing colleagues then suggested the plaintiff as a replacement, but the suit alleges that a non-white employee was made his manager instead—who then allegedly criticised his work so harshly that his yearly «merit-based» salary increase was the lowest it had ever been at the company.
The plaintiff also states that when a female colleague complained to HR about her own increase, she made defamatory statements about him to both HR and his manager. When the plaintiff filed his own complaint demanding that said statements should be investigated independently, he says he was «ignored and he was not taken seriously.»
In August 2023, the plaintiff and six colleagues all over the age of 47 were laid off (from a team of around 200 employees). The plaintiff argues that Activision-Blizzard «Activision placed profits over people by terminating the older, higher paid executives.» 2023 was an utterly brutal year for layoffs across the tech and gaming industries.
According to the GamesIndustry.biz report, the plaintiff is asking for damages to aid with «loss of earnings, negative impact to career advancement, reputational damage, emotional distress and wrongful termination, as well as legal costs.»
Activision-Blizzard's equal employment opportunity policy states that it is company policy to «recruit, hire, train and promote» the «most qualified person» without regard to the issues of age the plaintiff raises.
Intel is bringing in some major AI performance improvements with its next-gen Panther Lake client CPUs while Clearwater Forest chips are in fabs.
Four months after the troubled launch of Payday 3, developers Starbreeze have announced they've formed a "strike team of veteran developers" with the goal of bringing it "up to where it will meet your expectations". The cooperative heist FPS got off to a right bumpy start when the ever-unpopular decision to only be playable if you're online collided with server issues that saw Starbreeze take the game down for a while. Since then, it has failed to rise above 'Mixed' review rating on Steam, not helped by Starbreeze releasing a £15 DLC pack when many players were unhappy with the game they'd just bought for £35.
In a strategic move, Activision Blizzard is tightening its grip on unfair play within Call of Duty, announcing that the game will now automatically close if it detects mouse and keyboard players activating aim assist. The gaming giant, through its anti-cheat technology called Ricochet, aims to put an end to the use of third-party devices like XIM, Cronus Zen, and ReaSnow S1, which have long allowed players to blend the precision of mouse and keyboard with the advantages of aim assist and reduced recoil from controllers.
The CES 2024 is going full force now and tech companies are showcasing their innovative product and services at a fast and furious pace. This year, the hot topic of the event is artificial intelligence and its entry into every facet of life including driving. A huge number of new capabilities for cars have been rolled out by all the major automakers, from Volkswagen to BMW. Software too is keeping up with this pace of innovations and one such announcement was made by Google in which it unveiled new capabilities for Google Android for cars. The announcement came with new features that will enhance Android Auto with Google built-in. Know what Google is bringing to cars.
VVVVVV was part of the initial wave of indie platformers, which means it was released in 2010 and is now a certified classic. To celebrate its 14th birthday, developer Terry Cavanagh has dropped an update which makes it Steam Deck verified and professionally translates it into 21 new languages.
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It’s always nice to think that certain industries are “above harassment” or other things that have weighed down our world. But, sadly, that faith is rarely rewarded. The places and companies that should be the most “sound of mind” sometimes turn out to be the most corrupt or have some of the most hate-filled people around. For example, the video game industry is full of horror stories about the working conditions of certain places and the abuses made by those in power. And that says nothing about gamers themselves. But in the case of Activision Blizzard, they had an issue that was so grand that it resulted in several lawsuits, and those suits keep on coming.
An unnamed former Activision executive is taking the Call of Duty publisher to court in California, accusing the company of age discrimination and violating the state's whistleblower protection law. Said executive is a 57-year-old who worked at the company from 2014; apparently, he and six other men aged 47 or older were cut from a team of 200, as part of broader Activision Blizzard restructuring efforts last August.
Publisher Activision Blizzard has been accused of discriminating against “old white guys,” by a former executive.
A former Activision Blizzard executive has filed a discrimination claim with the company, alleging it of discriminating against «old white guys».
A former Activision executive has sued the publisher in California state court accusing the company of age discrimination and violating the state's whistleblower protection law, as reported by Law360.
One constant of the last year's worth of news swirling aroundMicrosoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard was the back-and-forth bickering between the tech giant and the UK's Competition and Markets Authority as the deal headed to a close. Now, Microsoft's Brad Smith seems to have softened his tone a bit regarding the CMA.