Allegations of an unhealthy work environment have once again been levied against one of the gaming industry’s biggest developers. Blizzard Entertainment has been accused of “racial abuse and discrimination” by a former employee.
Allegations of an unhealthy work environment have been levied against one of the gaming industry's biggest developers, Blizzard Entertainment.
Julian Murillo-Cuellar, who had worked in the Hearthstone division of Blizzard, posted a lengthy post on Twitlonger detailing the alleged happenings that include racism, excessive work hours and inappropriate “jokes” by former co-workers.
Murillo-Cuellar detailed how one co-worker “would joke about my sexism, or natural inclination to be sexist, due to my heritage: having been born Mexican and raised in Mexico…”
It was not as though Murillo-Cuellar did not bring this up to his superiors, as he claims to have spoken to people on several occasions about the mistreatment. If not outright ignored, Murillo-Cuellar would be placated and told that someone “would take care of it.”
This alleged mistreatment would lead to deteriorating physical and mental health for Murillo-Cuellar. During his two-plus years with Blizzard, he developed “major depression,” anxiety and suicidal thoughts.
Murillo-Cuellar also claimed that “other current and former alumni have confessed similar or worse treatment and nothing being done.”
Part of A Wide Problem
This is far from the first time we have heard allegations of unhealthy work environments among the biggest game developers. In the last six months alone, there was an in-depth report about widespread sexism at Riot Games from Kotaku and employees at RockStar Games working 100 hour work weeks during crunch.
*At the time of publication, we have contacted Blizzard Entertainment but have yet to receive their official response to the allegations.
