Activision Blizzard employees walk out over lifting of vaccine mandate

The walkout was organized in response to a March 31 email to staff from Activision Blizzard executive Brian Bulatao announcing the company would no longer require employees to receive the vaccine before returning to in-person work. On April 1, following pushback from employees led by the ABK Workers Alliance, Bulatao clarified that despite the policy shift, leadership of the company's different major studios -- for example, Activision Publishing, Blizzard and King -- would be able to "determine the processes and policies that work best for their employees and locations based on local conditions and risk" despite the companywide policy change. Mike Ybarra, the president of Blizzard Entertainment, said that, for now, the vaccine mandate would remain in place at Blizzard offices, a decision that was echoed by several other ABK offices.