EA wants healthier work environments.
Laura Honeychief operating officer of Electronic Artsgave a speech at the annual convention of HE SAYS in Las Vegas where it asked the industry to create safe spaces and do more to promote diversity and inclusion.
Speaking at the DICE keynote, Miele said it is vital that the industry create “real responsibilities“for its leaders. Anyone who falls short must resign.
He said the industry is tasked with “protect, defend and fight for all“.
“We must at least have fair and safe working environments“said Miele.
Without naming specific people, Miele said that last year he provided examples of high-level leaders who fell short. Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has been accused of, among other things, knowing and hiding cases of sexual harassment and abuse and threatening to kill an employee. The CEO is reportedly now expected to leave Activision Blizzard with multi-million dollars. Recently, even senior executives from companies like Ubisoft and Riot have been sued for misconduct.
“We have seen leaders at the highest level fail to set the right standards. I don’t care how successful the company is. Leaders who fail to achieve this must leave“said Miele.
Miele went on to say that the video game industry must create systems to promote diversity and inclusion.
“We are no longer playing games in our garage. We have a huge responsibility in this worldMiele said, adding that games created by EA and others help shape culture in general.
“We must hold each other accountable. Is very important. People become game developers because they love to create and play. But if we want to continue to attract the most creative and talented people, we need to make our industry a great place to work for everyone“, he said. “When we recognize the diversity of human experience, we are in a better position to create content and experiences that represent the world we live in. The games we create, the people who create them, shape societies and cultures around the world. Attention must be paid on all fronts of diversity and inclusion“.
Miele pointed out that EA recently created a new diversity and inclusion program within the company and established new zero tolerance policies for misconduct and mechanisms to allow workers to safely report abuse and other issues.
Source: Gamespot.
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