This is Why Shocked Activision Employees Walked Out

Activision workers have walked out over the lifting of a vaccine mandate that “came as a shock to everybody.”

More than 100 Activision Blizzard employees participated in a virtual walkout on Monday as the Santa Monica video game studio joined a growing wave of companies lifting COVID-19 vaccination requirements while pressing workers to return to the office.

Employees who participated in the work stoppage took the day as an unpaid walkout day. Some joined a Zoom call that was a virtual protest gathering and spoke out on social media.

The walkout came in response to the company announcing last week that it would no longer require employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to work in the office, according to an email from Chief Administrative Officer Brian Bulatao. The e-mail was shared by employees and subsequently posted on Twitter.

The email cited businesses and indoor venues across the U.S lifting their vaccine requirements and said it was “important to align our site protocols with local guidance.”

Major companies such as Adidas, Starbucks and Intel have rescinded their vaccine mandates for workers in recent months after the Supreme Court in January struck down the Biden administration’s vaccine-or-testing rule for businesses with at least 100 workers.

In California, a bill proposed by the Assembly that would have required all employees and independent contractors to be inoculated against COVID-19 as a condition of employment was shelved March 29.

Activision Blizzard’s announcement “came as a shock to everybody,” said Ada-Claire Cripps, a senior software engineer with Battle.net and online products at Blizzard.

Cripps said she and other employees had already been dissatisfied by the company’s previous position on returning to the office, which suggested that all workers would eventually work in person by default unless they applied for an exemption.

“We’ve been able to do our jobs without needing to be physically present in the office, so this idea that we do need to be there, it seems a little unfounded,” Cripps said.

“I don’t want to have to go into a workplace where I don’t know who I can trust to not get me sick,” she added.

An Activision Blizzard spokesperson denied that the company was planning to require all employees to eventually return to the office and said that a majority of employees are operating under a voluntary return-to-office policy.

“When employees return to the office, as well as what their remote vs. in-person scheduling will look like, will vary by business unit and role,” the spokesperson said.

Activision is best known for its “World of Warcraft” and “Call of Duty” franchises

Disclaimer: We have no position in any of the companies mentioned and have not been compensated for this article.