Activision Blizzard Releases Inaugural Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Look-Back

By: Activision Blizzard, Inc. via Business Wire

March 23, 2023 at 13:30 PM EDT

Activision Blizzard today released its first annual Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) Look-Back, which shares new and expanded data on diverse representation within the company’s employee population. The Look-Back also highlights how investing in DE&I across its people, business, and community has become an integral part of Activision Blizzard’s business. The Look-Back includes data through Dec 31, 2022, and can be viewed in full on the company’s blog.

“We're working with teams globally to enact policies and behaviors that encourage diverse, equitable, and inclusive environments,” said Kristen Hines, Activision Blizzard’s Chief DE&I Officer. “These environments are where our people will thrive, be their most innovative, and make the best games. With strong foundations set in 2022, we now have the structure in place to further progress toward our ambitious goals.”

As the company has progressed in its DE&I journey, Activision Blizzard has expanded internal visibility into its representation data to help track progress and maintain accountability. The company has also evolved its classifications of race, ethnicity, and gender, and made changes to the way it reports data.

These changes include separating “Woman” and “Non-binary” gender identities in representation data reporting and reporting on those who self-identified as “Something Else”. By creating a more inclusive environment, the company's goal is to increase feelings of comfort and safety among employees, which it expects to lead to increased self-reporting. Activision Blizzard will also now report on each distinct racial and ethnic group instead of one group (“underrepresented ethnic groups”) in an effort to reduce feelings of “othering” that can happen when grouping identities together.

In addition to sharing our latest representation data, this report includes hiring and retention data broken down by gender, race, and ethnicity. This is the first time Activision Blizzard is sharing this data, which will serve as a baseline moving forward. Including this important information will help all stakeholders track the company’s progress to meeting its commitment made in 2021 to increase the percentage of women and non-binary employees by 50% over five years.

Activision Blizzard intends to share representation data annually.

Access the full report here on Activision Blizzard’s blog.

Previous Representation Data Updates

YTD 2022 Representation Data Summary

Q1 2022 Representation Data

Q4 2021 Representation Data

About Activision Blizzard

Our mission, to connect and engage the world through epic entertainment has never been more important. Through communities rooted in our video games we enable hundreds of millions of people to experience joy, thrill and achievement. We enable social connections through the lens of fun, and we foster purpose and a sense of accomplishment through healthy competition. Like sport, but with greater accessibility, our players can find purpose and meaning through competitive gaming. Video games, unlike any other social or entertainment media, have the ability to break down the barriers that can inhibit tolerance and understanding. Celebrating differences is at the core of our culture and ensures we can create games for players of diverse backgrounds in the 190 countries our games are played.

As a member of the Fortune 500 and as a component company of the S&P 500, we have an extraordinary track record of delivering superior shareholder returns for over 30 years. Our sustained success has enabled the company to support corporate social responsibility initiatives that are directly tied to our games. As an example, our Call of Duty Endowment has helped find employment for over 100,000 veterans.

Learn more information about Activision Blizzard and how we connect and engage the world through epic entertainment on the company’s website, www.activisionblizzard.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We may, in some cases, use terms such as “predicts,” “believes,” “potential,” “proposed,” “continue,” “estimates,” “anticipates,” “expects,” “plans,” “intends,” “may,” “could,” “might,” “will,” “should” or other words that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes to identify these forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to numerous important factors, risks and uncertainties that may cause actual events or results to differ materially from the Company’s current expectations. These and other risks are described in the Company’s periodic reports, including the annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K, filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission and available at www.sec.gov. Any forward-looking statements that the Company makes in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release. The Company assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date of this press release.