Employees at Activision Blizzard Inc.’s main campus in Irvine, California, staged a walkout today in protest over accusations of pervasive sexism and harassment in the company.

The protest comes a week after the game publishing giant – creator of the titles “Call of Duty” and “World of Warcraft” – was sued by the state of California for having a culture of “constant sexual harassment” and discriminating against women in what was called a “frat boy” environment.

“Female employees almost universally confirmed that working for defendants was akin to working in a frat house, which invariably involved male employees drinking and subjecting female employees to sexual harassment with no repercussion,” said the lawsuit. “’Cube crawls’ in defendants’ offices were common and male employees proudly came into work hungover.”

The lawsuit claims that women, who make up only 20% of the 9,500 staff, earn less than their male colleagues and are not fairly represented in managerial positions. It also claims that when women and other marginalized staff have complained, either their grievances have been ignored or they’ve been retaliated against in the form of losing projects or being transferred.

Some 2,600 employees later signed a letter asking that a number of demands are met. This included ending mandatory arbitration clauses in employee contracts, creating a “Diversity, Equity & Inclusion organization,” publishing compensation data for employees of all genders and ethnicities, and empowering a task force to “identify how current systems have failed.”

One of the initial responses to the allegations came from the company’s executive vice president, George W. Bush’s former Homeland Security adviser Fran Townsend. She said the accusations in the lawsuit were “distorted and untrue,” and “truly meritless and irresponsible.”

Earlier this week, Chief Executive Bobby Kotick took a different approach. He said in an open letter that the company had been “tone deaf” in responding to the lawsuit, adding that there will be “swift action” to ensure “discrimination, harassment, or unequal treatment of any kind” is addressed.

Today people stood outside the offices holding placards that read “Send the frat boys back to school” and “Fight bad guys in game, fight bad guys IRL.” Organizers told the media that the protest was not just about recent events, but problems that have existed in the industry for decades.

Those sentiments were felt by 500 employees at another game publishing powerhouse, Ubisoft Inc. In a letter published by Axios, they gave their full support to the Activision activists. “It should no longer be a surprise to anyone: employees, executives, journalists, or fans that these heinous acts are going on,” said the letter. “It is time to stop being shocked. We must demand real steps be taken to prevent them. Those responsible must be held accountable for their actions.”

Photo: Gordon Tarpley/Wiki