Laura Miele, the senior vice president and chief operating officer at Electronic Arts, spoke about the ongoing abuse allegations and reports emerging across the video game industry in recent months during her DICE 2022 keynote.
“Let’s face it, there have been some rough headlines,” Miele said via IGN. “Stories about negligence and lawsuits, all stemming from leaders who failed to uphold standards we’ve come to expect.”
Miele didn’t mention anyone specifically, but she’s likely referring to Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, as the company and its president have been at the epicenter of many of these stories. The turmoil at Activision Blizzard even manifested in strikes and unionization efforts from current and former employees at the company.
“Women have been harassed, bullied, marginalized, held back in their careers, paid less, and much, much less. These are real stories, real human beings, and this is going on in companies in our industry,” Miele continued. “Leaders who fall short of basic standards must go.”
EA’s Laura Miele issued pointed criticism of game companies with toxic cultures at DICE today, implicitly calling out Activision Blizzard and CEO Bobby Kotick. https://t.co/heazdP1Unu pic.twitter.com/vQb2aldpTR
— IGN (@IGN) February 23, 2022
In the time since the upheaval at Activision Blizzard began, the company was purchased by Microsoft for $68.7 billion. Kotick will reportedly step down once the deal finalizes, but for now, he remains as Activision Blizzard’s president.
Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.
