Activision Blizzard’s president for corporate affairs Frances Townsend has stepped down as an executive sponsor of the ABK Women’s Network as of two weeks ago. The embattled corporate executive has been criticized by employees within the company for several missteps following the lawsuit against Activision Blizzard was first publicized.
Townsend is no longer the executive sponsor of the ABK Women’s Network, a group for women employees at Activision Blizzard King. However, Townsend is still employed by Activision Blizzard.
In a statement acquired by The Washington Post’s Shannon Liao, Townsend “believes in doing what’s right for the Network, and will continue to support and advance the work of the Network as best she can.”
The news is just the latest surrounding Townsend as the firestorm around Activision Blizzard in the wake of the California Department of Fair Employment & Housing’s lawsuit for gender discrimination continues.
Townsend was previously criticized for issuing a statement shortly after news of the lawsuit broke calling the allegations “distorted” and “false.” Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick sent a follow-up letter to employees calling this initial response “tone-deaf.”
According to The Washington Post, Townsend told employees over Zoom that her statement was following “legal counsel’s guidance on language, and that the end result no longer sounded much like her voice[.]”
Despite claiming the statement was not her voice, Townsend was criticized again for tweeting a link to an article titled, “The Problem With Whistleblowing,” on her personal social media account. The article which calls out whistleblowers was seen as inappropriate given many current and former Blizzard employees were sharing stories of their abuse online or to the press.
After being criticized for her tweet, Townsend seemingly began blocking Blizzard employees and journalists (myself, included) before deactivating her Twitter account altogether. A statement from Activision Blizzard to Kotaku said, “The company didn’t ask her to delete it. It was her decision.”
A coalition of Activision Blizzard employees has sent CEO Bobby Kotick and the company’s leadership team a letter that has criticized them for not responding to workers’ specific demands to built a healthier work environment. And while Activision Blizzard announced it hired firm WilmerHale to perform a neutral audit of company policies, the worker’s group has rejected the firm because of the friendly relationship between WilmerHale and the company’s executive leadership.
Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor.
Getty photo credit. Riccardo Savi / Stringer