(Reuters) – “Call of Duty” maker Activision Blizzard will pay $46.8 million to settle a 2021 lawsuit by a California regulator that alleged widespread and systemic workplace harassment at the firm, according to the settlement agreement that was seen by Reuters.
California’s Civil Rights Department (CRD) had sued Activision over allegations that it routinely underpays and fails to promote female employees and has condoned sexual harassment.
“In the settlement agreement, the CRD expressly acknowledged that ‘no court or independent investigation has substantiated any allegations that there has been systemic or widespread sexual harassment at Activision Blizzard’,” the videogame maker said in a statement on Friday.
It said no investigation substantiated that its board or chief executive acted improperly in handling instances of workplace misconduct.
The CRD did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Activision, which was bought in October by Microsoft for nearly $69 billion, agreed in 2021 to pay up to $18 million to settle similar claims made by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
(Reporting by Arsheeya Bajwa in Bengaluru, additional reporting by Dawn Chmielewski and Daniel Wiessner; Editing by Sayantani Ghosh and Grant McCool)
