Bungie has been the biggest name in video games for decades, but it has had its share of controversy. The company was sued by former employees and accused of sexual harassment. Now, after a new policy that requires arbitration to be voluntary, some say the company is on the right track.

Activision has filed a lawsuit against Bungie, accusing the company of breaching its contract by making Destiny 2. The suit also alleges that Bungie is trying to force Activision into arbitration, which would be illegal under California law.

To be honest, I didn’t have “Bungie models excellent business conduct for the game industry” in my 2021 predictions, but here we are, and the Destiny studio is making all the right moves. To example, the business published a pair of developer blogs yesterday focusing on its efforts in the areas of diversity and accessibility.

The studio’s accessibility strategy is covered in the first blog; in fact, a “inclusion club” for accessibility has been established inside the business, which joins similar clubs for Blacks, trans persons, and women. Its mission, according to the team, is to “educate everyone in the company on identifying barriers, improving workplace accessibility, making material improvements to the playability of Bungie’s games, and partnering with organizations within the gaming industry who are dedicated to game accessibility.” And the goal of the club isn’t only to make the workplace more accessible; it’s also to make the game more accessible. Some guns, for example, will soon have auto-fire modifications to make it simpler for those with hand problems to play.

The second blog is from CEO Pete Parsons, who mentions Activision-problems Blizzard’s in passing in his report on diversity and inclusion at the studio. He points out that Bungie has hired a new Diversity and Inclusion lead as well as a Chief People Officer; bolstered the board of directors and executive team (“members of underrepresented communities make up half of Bungie’s board,” and “four of Bungie’s executive team’s nine representatives are women or members of underrepresented communities”); and will be reviewing hiring, promotion, and remuneration practices. To make reporting simpler, it’ll also include a “third-party, anonymous reporting mechanism.”

Bungie will “eliminate the obligatory arbitration provision in all [its] employee agreements, given the increasing concern that arbitration may not be the fairest method to handle employment complaints,” according to the company. Readers will remember that this is one of the four main requests made by Activision-Blizzard employees, but Activision-Blizzard has yet to recognize them. Riot employees have also been advocating for the elimination of forced arbitration for many years. But, hey, here’s Bungie, handing it out to workers who didn’t even have to go through a lawsuit or the death of a coworker to obtain it.

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The blizzard lawsuit full text is a lawsuit that was filed by Blizzard Entertainment against Activision. In the suit, Blizzard argues that Activision violated a non-disclosure agreement and should be forced to pay damages.

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