In the wake of California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing filing a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard for gender discrimination, a variety of other controversies rooted in the company's "frat boy" culture have begun coming to light. Now, a new report chronicles the struggles of Activision Blizzard's Quality Assurance (QA) testers, particularly LGBTQ+ employees.
According to a new report by Kotaku, Activision Blizzard's QA department has been plagued by long hours, low pay, and tremendous instability on top of a toxic workplace culture. While several major figures at Blizzard seem to have been let go in response to the lawsuit, the issues faced by QA testers imply that rehabilitating the company's image will take a lot more work.
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Many QA testers reported 50 or 60 hour workweeks, with some reporting totals of over 70 hours per week. This means that, when compared to the typical 9-to-5, 40-hour workweek, Activision Blizzard QA tester would never have a Saturday off and would probably clock out at closer to 9 PM than 5 PM–or 8 PM, if they skipped lunch. The ABK Workers Alliance didn't share specific salary figures, but all employees reported very low pay–and a culture of workplace harassment. Several LGBTQ+ employees stated that many of the company’s internal programs defaulted to legal names, putting trans staff members at risk of being outed, and would often persistently reset the names once they had been changed. One trans QA worker reported that HR was aware of this problem, which has gone on unfixed for over a year.
Apparently, the personal experiences of LGBTQ+ QA employees vary. At least one tester who requested their coworkers refer to them with they/them pronouns reported significant opposition from their all-male teammates, who repeatedly neglected to respect their pronouns despite them listing said pronouns in a Slack status. One of those teammates even made the classic "joke" about identifying as an attack helicopter while sitting near the tester.
As of writing, it appears that the report is being taken seriously by Activision Blizzard fans, many of whom immediately suggested the QA testers unionize. Other posters noted that QA as a field is often underpaid, understaffed, and generally unpleasant to work in, to the point that one poster claimed working in QA had destroyed their ability to enjoy AAA games. Fan reaction–and casters in the Overwatch League–appear to have helped get the real-life Jesse McCree fired previously. However, only time will tell what impact this report will have on Activision Blizzard.
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Source: Kotaku
