As the high profile lawsuit alleging discrimination and sexual harassment against Activision Blizzard continues, brands affiliated with the company are withdrawing their support. The latest to do so is the American mobile carrier T-Mobile, who as of August 2, has appeared to have dropped its sponsorships with both the Call of Duty League and Overwatch League.
Currently, the websites for both leagues show no evidence of ever having been affiliated with T-Mobile. A trip to July 21 by use of the Wayback Machine shows the cellular carrier on the list of official sponsors on both of Activision Blizzard’s popular Esports leagues.
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T-Mobile was one of the largest corporations to sponsor the two leagues. In the Call of Duty League, the company joined the US Army, USAA Insurance, Astro Gaming, Zenni Gaming, SCUF Gaming, and Mountain Dew Game Fuel, none of which appear to have pulled their sponsorships from the league.
In the Overwatch League, T-Mobile joined Comcast Xfinity, IBM, Coca-Cola, Statefarm Insurance, NetApp, Cheez-It, Pringles, and TeamSpeak. NetApp, a company based in California that provides cloud data services, appears to be the only company besides T-Mobile to withdraw its endorsement from either of the two popular Esports leagues.
Activision Blizzard has been entangled in plenty of controversy over the last two weeks. It began with the presentation of a lawsuit from the state of California alleging systemic discrimination against women at the company as well as sexual harassment that was so severe it led to a female employee taking her own life. The response of some of the company’s executives was to vehemently deny the accusations, calling them “meritless” and “distorted.”
This was followed by a public apology by Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, saying the company’s reactions to the lawsuit was “tone deaf.” Most recently, J. Allen Brack announced he would be stepping down as president of Blizzard.
The ongoing controversy has affected Overwatch in several other ways. The release of a new map was cancelled and fans have called for the hero McCree’s name to be changed, as he was named after a developer who posed for photos in the infamous “Cosby Suite” during BlizzCon 2013.
It’s unclear whether other corporate sponsors will cancel their deals with the Call of Duty League or Overwatch League, and the future of the leagues themselves is uncertain. But given the rate at which stories about Activision Blizzard come out and attention given to its case increases, T-Mobile may have set the precedent.
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Source: Charlie Intel