GAMING

Activision Blizzard Gets Its Stats Checked

California legislators sued video game developer Activision Blizzard yesterday, citing its “pervasive ‘frat boy’ culture” and mistreatment of women employees.

Following a two-year investigation into the company (which you might know for making Call of Duty and World of Warcraft), the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) claims that female employees—who make up 20% of Activision Blizzard’s workforce of about 9,500—were routinely discriminated against.

The details

Women employees were underpaid, promoted “more slowly,” and terminated “more quickly” than their male coworkers, the suit alleges. One complainant said her manager denied her a promotion, and when asked why, was told it was because “she might get pregnant and like being a mom too much.”

• The “underpaid” part especially stings considering Activision’s CEO Bobby Kotick was the second-highest paid CEO in the S&P 500 last year, according to the AP. And despite a 50% pay cut, the FT reports he’ll make roughly the same amount this year due to equity payouts. 

Allegations of sexual discrimination included verbal and physical advances from male coworkers in the workplace. The suit details that one female employee died by suicide on a corporate trip after nude photos were leaked and shared among male colleagues who had previously harassed her.

Activision’s response? Denial on all fronts. The company told NPR, "The DFEH includes distorted, and in many cases false, descriptions of Blizzard's past,” and insists the environment described “is not the Blizzard workplace of today."

Not just a glitch

The video game industry has a reputation for gender inequality and outright sexism in its games, gaming communities (remember Gamergate?), and even corporate headquarters. Along with Activision Blizzard, at least two other companies have come under fire over their workplace cultures:

• Riot Games (League of Legends, Valorant) was sued in 2018 over gender discrimination after a Kotaku report revealed its “bro culture.” 
• Ubisoft (Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry) was accused of rampant sexism and racism last summer.

Bottom line: The lawsuit against Activision Blizzard shows that the #MeToo movement is still reaching its crescendo in the video game industry.

HOUSING

The Housing Market May Have Peaked

Before you offer $100k over asking price on a new home, you should hear this: The boiling US housing market took a refreshing dip in the pool in June. 

Yes, the US median house price did hit a record high of $363,300 last month, up 22.9% from a year earlier. But median home prices are a lagging indicator—June’s data is based on contracts signed in April and May. 

More supply is coming onto the market. More owners listed their homes last month after they saw home seekers offering things like crypto in order to secure the deed. The inventory of houses for sale at the end of June was 1.25 million, a slight improvement from May. 

• “I don’t believe you’ll see the kinds of [price] increases you’ve seen in the last 12 months,” Sheryl Palmer, a home-builder executive, told the WSJ. “That’s not sustainable.”

Bottom line: Despite some cooling off, strong demand and ultra-low mortgage rates will still keep the housing market competitive in the months to come, experts say. 

ENERGY

A Potential Game Changer in Energy Storage

On the journey to greater adoption of renewables, it’s not enough to make the energy...you’ve got to hold the energy. But how to do so cheaply and at scale remains one of the biggest challenges facing the industry.

Form Energy, a startup backed by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, might have cracked the code: batteries made from iron that can hold electricity for days or even weeks. Form’s batteries may be key to achieving President Biden’s goal of a carbon-free power grid in the US by 2035.

Big picture: Many utilities use lithium-ion batteries, similar to those in Teslas, to ensure a steady power supply. But they typically store electricity for just four-to-six hours at a time and cost an eye-watering $50–$80 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) of storage. 

Where Form Energy comes in: Just like your middle school science fair’s potato battery, Form Energy’s iron-air batteries only use the simplest materials: iron, air and a water-based electrolyte. It claims the cost will run lower than $20/kWh, a price point at which experts think renewables could viably replace fossil fuel plants.  

Looking ahead…Form Energy announced it would partner with a Minnesota utility to test its battery, which the company says can deliver continuous power for 150 hours.

SPONSORED BY NORTON

Protection, Even for the Extremely Online

Here’s something you already know but we’re going to tell you anyway: it’s possible for your kid to be online even more.

As schools continue to be more digital than ever, accessing new websites and online tools is as necessary as the textbooks in your child’s backpack.

Norton 360 helps protect your family’s data when your kid is online (we spent a lot of time on “What If Dinosaurs Were Still Around” message boards, personally). 

When you add Norton 360 to your family’s back-to-school list, you get security for your devices, and a VPN for online privacy—giving you multiple layers of protection.

So before your kid attends their next online VR augmented reality laser light astronomy show for course credit (somehow), Opt-in to Cyber Safety.

Save up to $55 on your first year here.

GRAB BAG

Key Performance Indicators

Stat: With the International Olympic Committee adding 18 new events to the Tokyo Games, women’s participation will be at 49%, the highest it’s ever been. In Paris in 1900, when women made their Olympic debut, 22 women participated out of 997 athletes total. 

Quote: “I think we will effectively transition from people seeing us as primarily being a social media company to being a metaverse company.”

Facebook: First a place to rate hotness, then a social media behemoth, and finally...a “metaverse” company, if Mark Zuckerberg has his way. The CEO explained what that means in an interview with The Verge.

Listen: A look back at the Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969 with Questlove. (Object of Sound)

QUIZ

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Quiz

The feeling of getting a 5/5 on the Brew’s Weekly News Quiz has been compared to the “pop” sound when you open a jar of pickles. 

It’s that satisfying. Ace the quiz. 

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• Twitter and Snap both popped after hours thanks to booming growth in Q2. 
• HBO Max added 2.4 million subscribers in the US last quarter. Remember, Netflix lost 430,000 in the US and Canada.
• Chipotle, Starbucks, and Domino’s shares all hit record highs yesterday. It’s good to be in the takeout biz.
• LeBron James has become the first NBA athlete to earn $1 billion in his career while still active, according to Sportico.
• Biogen said the adoption of its controversial Alzheimer’s drug, Aduhelm, has been slower than expected. For some background, here’s our deep dive on the FDA approval fiasco.
• How to watch this morning’s Opening Ceremony for the Olympics, which could be happening as you read this. 

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BREW'S BETS

Follow Friday, Olympics edition: Get an inside look at Tokyo’s Olympic Village by following Argentinian baller Fran Caffaro, USA volleyball-er Kelsey Robinson, USA Rugby player Cody Melphy, and this long list of 50 more. 

Explore gravity: Watch a ball drop 1km on various bodies in the solar system.

Explore gardening: Check out this helpful gardening guide, which includes five gardening essentials and a pair of recipes that utilize fresh veggies and herbs. 

FROM THE CREW

10 Events, 90 Participants, and Everything to Play For

From the minds that brought you the Greatest Product of All Time and bitcoin in the Markets section comes the Business Olympiad, which seeks to find answers to the deepest, darkest questions in the business world.

Questions like: Which fast-food chain actually makes the tastiest chicken sandwich? What is the most successful fictional company? And what is the biggest business flameout of all time and why is it MoviePass? 

How it works: With the help of you, the wise Morning Brew reader, we’ll award gold, silver, and bronze medals across 10 “events” over the next two weeks. Voting for the Business Olympiad starts on Monday and will take place on the Brew’s social platforms. 

Check out the field here and get ready to cast your vote. 

GAMES

Friday Puzzle

Q1: Which is the first question where c) is the correct answer

a) Q3
b) Q4
c) Q1
d) Q2

Q2: Which is the first question where a) is the correct answer

a) Q4
b) Q2
c) Q3
d) Q1

Q3: Which is the first question where d) is the correct answer

a) Q1
b) Q2
c) Q4
d) Q3

Q4: Which is the first question where b) is the correct answer

a) Q2
b) Q4
c) Q3
d) Q1

ANSWER

1. d)
2. c)
3. a)
4. b)