Overwatch League sponsors get cold feet in wake of Activision Blizzard lawsuit

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The last few weeks have been a PR nightmare for Activision Blizzard following an explosive lawsuit over widespread discrimination and harassment at the company, but so far the outcome hasn’t really been impacted. Well, that may change, at least when it comes to the Overwatch League.

According to a new report in The Washington Post, a number of Overwatch League sponsors are stepping back and rethinking their commitments in the wake of the Activision Blizzard lawsuit. Coca Cola issued a statement saying it was “working with our partners at Blizzard as we step back to review future plans” and State Farm said they are “re-evaluating our limited marketing relationship with the Overwatch League. ” Neither company will run ads during Overwatch League games today or this weekend. T-Mobile made no statement to WaPo, but their ads and branding have also disappeared from Overwatch League broadcasts. Several other official Overwatch League sponsors, including Xfinity IBM, Cheez-It, Pringles and TeamSpeak, have not yet commented.

For those who haven’t kept track, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) has filed suit against Activision Blizzard for gender-based discrimination and sexual harassment with the publisher of Call of Duty and World of Warcraft. Activision Blizzard’s Official Response to the Suit accuses the DFEH of being “distorted” […] and false” descriptions and insists the painted image “isn’t the Blizzard workplace of today.” An open letter objecting to the official response was signed by thousands of current and former Acti-Blizz employees, and was released last week. staged a strike. Acti-Blizz CEO Bobby Kotick would eventually apologize for the company’s initial response, calling it “tone deaf.” Blizzard president J. Allen Brack has also been replaced by relative newcomers to the studio, Mike Ybarra and Jen Oneal .

It will certainly be interesting to see the long-term response from sponsors and how Overwatch League is managing this ongoing controversy.

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