Activision is suffering one of the worst crisis public relations tailspins the tech industry has seen in a long time. The legacy game and entertainment company recently fired two of its top developers responsible for the fastest selling video game ever, Modern Warfare 2. This isn’t just kids cramming quarters at an arcade — the game’s sales topped more than $1 billion within a few weeks of release.
If your flagship product developers have been pink-slipped, it shouldn’t be too much of a stretch to think they may retaliate. That’s exactly what Jason West and Vince Zampella did — suing Activision for $36 million, claiming wrongful termination after being subjected to interrogation, abusive employment practices and documenting how the company terrorized fellow employees. Their law firm put out a press release that amps up the coverage and makes Activision look supremely arrogant and insensitive in treating their staff.
As of now, Activision is getting pummeled online and in the echo-chamber of industry fans and commentators. So far the only push-back the company appears to have done is issue a statement calling the lawsuit “meritless.”
Hey Activision — what buttons do you push on the joystick to stop the head-in-the-sand public relations strategy? You are rapidly losing engagement of millions of fans who spend a ton of their time communicating and networking on-line. Why doesn’t your Twitter page have a single tweet reassuring fans, investors, partners, etc. that you are on the right side of this issue? NOT ONE SINGLE MESSAGE, really? Your Facebook page hasn’t been updated since June of last year!!!
Good luck Activision, you’re gonna need it…
