Activision Blizzard Promises Greater Transparency, Details Representation Data

Activision management is continuing its attempts to win back the trust of ... well, pretty much everyone. A week after the company's attempt to prevent unionization, it was the turn of President and Chief Operating Officer Daniel Alegre to try and assure everyone that everything was going to be fine, as long as you kept the people in charge, in charge and trusted them to fix everything.

"Trust in leadership is critical, and I know that trust is earned through principled and committed action," Allegre said in a letter sent to employees and then posted publicly on the company's investors page. He then detailed some of that action that was underway or that "will change" -- again, as long as you trust "us" to make those changes.

That included the sharing of gender and diverse representation data at Activision Blizzard King. Allegre linked to the full report, while providing some of the highlights in its letter. As a whole, ABK is roughly on par with the rest of the industry in terms of employed women and underepresented ethnic groups (UEGs), though its totals vary from studio to studio. Allegre called the figures "wholly inadequate" and said his company was "committed to increasing women and non-binary representation at ABK by 50% to account for more than one-third of our Company within the next five years."

He also laid out a set of bullet points as goals for ABK to enact in 2022, including hiring DE&I leaders at the ABK and division levels, tying diversity goals to executive leadership performance goals, and investing in "learning and development curriculum that fosters a culture of inclusion." All in all, he promised greater transparency going forward and said that ABK would later be "sharing greater details on pay equity and a progress update on compliance."

All of this is well and good, but it also falls under the category of the "absolute least" that can be done to address the many issues at Activision Blizzard King. As stated previously, it also comes on the heels of last week's combative letter from Chief Administrative Officer Brian Bulatao, who also ensured employees that he had their best interests in mind while backhanding them with anti-union rhetoric. It follows the pattern that the company established at the start of this controversy -- come out looking tough and trying to eliminate the "problems" at their source, and then take on a kinder tone when those efforts inevitably backfired. Allegre's letter certainly sounds like a step in forward, but it's hard to put too much faith in it when the next step backwards is likely just around the corner.