California filed suit against Activision Blizzard on Wednesday following a two-year investigation into what it calls a "frat boy workplace culture." Which might be understating things–the suit recounts numerous instances of specific Activision Blizzard employees allegedly abusing, harassing, and silencing female employees over a lengthy period of time.
One of the people named in the suit is Alex Afrasiabi, a former World of Warcraft creative director who quietly left Activision Blizzard in June of 2020. The court documents devote an entire paragraph to Afrasiabi detailing a particular instance at BlizzCon where he allegedly got drunk and began hitting on female employees, “telling them he wanted to marry them, attempting to kiss them, and putting his arms around them."
His hotel room at BlizzCon was nicknamed the Cosby Suite after alleged rapist Bill Cosby.
Blizzard executives knew about Afrasiabi’s behavior, including Blizzard president J. Allen Brack, but took no effective remedial measures.”
As noted by Kotaku, Afrasiabi left Blizzard in 2020 to minimal fanfare. Compare that to someone like Jeff Kaplan, who got a momentous sendoff when he left earlier this year, and you get the sense that something might have been amiss.
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WoW players have also started putting two and two together and have started calling for Afrasiabi's removal from World of Warcraft. As a former creative director, Afrasiabi has quite a few in-game references, including two NPCs and several items such as Fras Siabi’s Cigar Cutter and Siabi’s Premium Tobacco.
Besides posts on Reddit and the Blizzard forums demanding Afrasiabi's scouring from WoW, players themselves have started leaving "go away" signs in front of Field Marshal Afrasiabi in the city of Stormwind.
Not only that, WoW players have also started an in-game protest in Oribos, where a number of players from both factions are performing a sit-in outside of the inn.
None of the allegations against Afrasiabi or Activision Blizzard have been proven in court and the company denies the allegations against it.
Next: Activision Blizzard Accounts Have Gone Dark Following Toxic Workplace Allegations