Far-right users of X (formerly Twitter) are singling out individual Activision Blizzard employees for comments made in support of DEI and inclusion at the company.
Activision Blizzard employees are facing increased harassment on X (formerly Twitter) and YouTube following the distribution of what appear to be leaked internal messages between employees discussing the state of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs at the company.
The messages—which appear to have been sent via Slack, a communications tool used at Activision Blizzard—have been directly posted by far-right users attacking the company for continuing to support diversity in the workplace. It appears someone with access to Activision's Slack channel is sending screenshots and photos of these messages directly to these users.
Activision Senior QA tester Sam Hudson appeared to confirm the ongoing harassment in a post on LinkedIn on January 25 and stated several of their colleagues had been "doxxed."
"This employee took screenshots of ABK wide discussions about the safety of our protected information (like name changes and visa statuses) and sent them to an an extremely racist, sexist, and transphobic individual on Twitter who has over a 100 thousand followers," they added.
"It is even more dangerous to be trans or an immigrant at Activision now apparently, as someone who works with us has no problems doxxing people."
Game Developer reviewed the leaked message and identified the names of several current employees of Activision and its subsidiaries.
These leaks raise questions about what Activision is doing to protect its employees, and what action it will take against the person or persons who shared the screenshots if they work for the company. The company's publicly-posted diversity policy promises it will create "safe spaces to build community" at the studio. The continued leaking of employee messages raises concerns over if that promise is being kept.
The first of these screenshots appeared on January 20, around the time of President Donald Trump's inauguration, and reference his presidency as a point of concern over policies and software choices at the company. The first leaked messages shows an employee raising concerns over the security of an HR platform called "Workforce," indicating it may be vulnerable to leaks and exposing the names of transgender employees who have filed for name changes during their time at Activision.
Twitter account "YellowFlashGuy" shared several messages over the next 24 hours, including one where employees realized their messages were being leaked to X, and were asking Activision what it was doing to protect their security. The names and profile pictures of Activision employees were on display in the shared messages.
On January 27, user Mark Kern (formerly CEO of Red 5 Studios) got in on the action, showing a photograph of a Slack message from Activision president Rob Kostich telling employees the company would be continuing the DEI policies run by the Inclusive Growth team. In follow-up posts, he singled out a technical artist at the company for posts they had liked on Facebook and called for veterans groups to cut ties with Activision over these policies.
Other far-right users on X and YouTube have circulated these screenshots, ridiculing the employees and encouraging others to join in.
Game developers have endured a resurgent right-wing harassment campaign lashing out over the depiction of underrepresented characters in games since early 2024. Around that time, content creators and Steam users in the far-right ecosystem began a campaign targeting work-for-hire game narrative studio Sweet Baby Inc., accusing it of attempting to impose a censorious agenda on its clients, including Insomniac Games, Remedy Entertainment, and Rocksteady. Some employees of these companies faced additional harassment after speaking up in support of their collaborators.
In the wake of this campaign and other events, organizations like Take This and Games And Harassment Hotline assembled lists of resources for developers targeted by online harassment.
One such creator was streamer and Mad Mushroom cofounder "Asmongold," who repeatedly discussed the campaign in a number of 2024 videos, agreeing with the claims against Sweet Baby Inc. Asmongold "stepped down" from Mad Mushroom and other businesses he co-founded under One True King, an influencer network he cofounded with a number of other streamers and YouTubers. This followed a series of anti-Muslim remarks during a Twitch stream that led to him being temporarily banned from the platform.
At GDC that year, online extremism researcher Dr. Rachel Kowert explained to Game Developer that this harassment was likely to continue if major companies like Sony, Remedy, etc. didn't publicly speak up against it. "The problem is that when leadership is not speaking up, it sets and reinforces cultural norms," she said.
Her words are given new weight following the inauguration of President Trump, who has issued executive orders ending DEI programs at government agencies.
For now, Activision employees are left with a message from company leadership saying it will continue to support its inclusion efforts. But they do not appear to be safe from individuals eager to end expanding inclusivity in the game development community.
Game Developer has reached out to Activision Blizzard and parent company Microsoft for comment on this story and will update it when a response is issued.
Game Developer and GDC are sibling organizations under Informa.
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