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One guy's collection of rants, babble, and 6502.

2022-07-01

Some More of "AAA" Games Industry Clears Self Of Wrongdoing
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So, Activision's Board held what appears to be a perfunctory -- but clearly wholly in-house -- investigation into itself, and Good News, Everyone! Nothing wrong! Because Activision said so. Check it:

Kotaku - Activision Blizzard Clears Itself Of Any Wrongdoing
Reuters - Activision board says no evidence senior execs ignored harassment cases
Techspot - Activision investigates itself and unsurprisingly finds no evidence of systemic harassment
Eurogamer - Activision investigation claims "no widespread harassment" at Activision
Ars Technica - Activision’s internal investigation finds no “systemic issue” with harassment
The Verge - Activision Blizzard investigated Activision Blizzard and found Activision Blizzard didn’t do anything wrong

And that's just from the first page of DDG search results (2022-06-20). So that's Activision Blizzard and their fuckstick subsidiaries (and, by extension, their new foster parents, Microsoft) vindicated...

Never Again

I bought Crash 4, on sale, even well after I knew Bobby and his crew of frat boys were at it. I felt guilty as hell, and Unreal Engine 4 (which I can't blame Activision for -- I'll have to reminisce about Epic Megagames to place that blame) gave my NON-PRO PS4 a great workout and it served as a fan stress test.

I wish anyone else (except perhaps Epic Games or Ubisoft) published Toys for Bob's work. Crash 4, despite clearly being non-optimized, is a pretty good game.

My history with an entity called "Activision" goes back to the early 1980s. The games were great and fun to play. Eventually I'd be able to buy some of these games with my own money instead of hoping Dad would buy it.

The Activision David Crane and crew made after they left Warner Communication's version of Atari stopped existing the instant Bobby took over. It went from "Good games" to a big hole where I barely knew what games were out, to waking up and realizing Activision was "that company that made that dopey shooter game EA competes with."

Note that I don't care about the video game company making money. That's OK; Bobby and the executive component of a video game company don't care about their output being fun, or even playable, so we're even.

I think I've bought about 3 games, including Crash 4, that have had Activision's involvement. There won't be another.

Never Needed To

Blizzard, on the other hand, was a great unknown for me. Most likely for the best.

"Those guys who make that Warcraft game and charge monthly -- for a GAME" didn't get much attention from me chiefly because I found the very idea of a monthly game subscription to be insulting. So not only did I miss their other games (because "who is Blizzard?"), not only did I miss Warcraft and Diablo ("like HELL I'm paying per month!"), I just had no attachment to what was most likely "good Blizzard."

Then Bobby's Bizarro Activision bought Blizzard, and I knew I would never form any attachment.

It's Not Worth It

It's clear to me that the executive components of Activision and Blizzard will not be held accountable for anything. Quite like the military (I could write an entire section on what it was like being enlisted there), there will be fake "punishments" and strongly-worded admonishments from the executive component to the rank and file that "THESE ARE REAL PUNISHMENTS", and nothing else will be done. Nothing will change for the better for the targets of abuse.

The conclusion is the same, whether employee or consumer: The only winning move is to not play.

In closing, while I don't overtly wish death on Bobby, I do hope the last couple years of his life is a painful, losing battle. (You pick the disease; there are plenty to choose from.)

PUNT TO PERMANENT SIGNAL TRUNK.

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