Activision Blizzard settles SEC charges for $35 million

Government regulators announced Friday that videogame maker Activision Blizzard has agreed to pay $35 million to settle charges that it failed to maintain controls to collect and assess workplace complaints with regard to disclosure requirements and violated a federal whistleblower protection rule.

The lack of necessary controls left Activision "without the means to determine whether larger issues existed that needed to be disclosed to investors,” said Jason Burt, director of the SEC’s Denver office. “Moreover, taking action to impede former employees from communicating directly with the Commission staff about a possible securities law violation is not only bad corporate governance, it is illegal.”

In paying the settlement, Activision neither admitted nor denied the SEC's findings and agreed to a cease-and-desist order, the agency said.

Friday's settlement comes after the troubled Santa Monica, California-based gaming company settled with U.S. workplace regulators in 2021 over employee complaints about sexual harassment. Workers then also accused the company of discriminating against employees who were pregnant and retaliating against employees who spoke out, including firing them.