IGN has reached out to Blizzard for comment and will update this article accordingly. Oneal will remain an employee at Activision Blizzard until the end of the year, and says that she will continue to try and better the company “in good faith.” However, she said she did not want there to be any “misunderstanding about when I was offered equivalent compensation.” She continued, “While the company informed me before I tendered my resignation that they were working on a new proposal, we were made equivalent offers only after I tendered that resignation.” (Emphasis Oneal’s) It remains unclear as to why Activision Blizzard rejected those requests. It remained that way for some time well after we made multiple rejected requests to change it to parity,” she wrote. “When Mike and I were placed in the same co-lead role, we went into the role with our previous compensation, which was not equivalent.
In additional conversations viewed by IGN, Oneal responded forcefully to Ybarra’s comments, saying she didn’t want to be involved “in a debate” on Slack, and that she hadn’t received an equivalent offer until after she had tendered her resignation. However, Oneal seemingly sought to clarify the situation further, adding details that Ybarra had not mentioned. Ybarra’s response appears to be an attempt to explain part of the Wall Street Journal's earlier report, in which Oneal was said to have sent a letter to Activision Blizzard's legal division a month after taking on the role, alleging that she was paid less than Ybarra while being "tokenized, marginalized, and discriminated against." Oneal tendered her resignation earlier this month, shocking many employees who regarded her as a positive force within the company. The first time both Jen and I were offered a new contract, it was the same across both of us for the new co-leader of Blizzard roles, so our compensation was going to be the same." I ran and she ran so our pay was different. "Jen and I were both on existing contracts. When another employee expressed confusion as to why leadership would reject the request from Blizzard’s two co-leads, Ybarra added additional context to his comments. Thank you and know that I am processing today's news - and struggling in areas like many of you." I will be sending out a video shortly to all of Blizzard. I'm committed to fostering that with all of you to make Blizzard what we all want it to be. As a team, I share our desire for change and growth. "As a leader, equality in its broadest sense is something I 100% stand behind.
I have been asked and want to make it clear: Jen and I shared with management that we wanted to be paid the same to co-lead Blizzard together," Ybarra wrote. This is a difficult time for all of us, myself included. I know many leaders plan to meet with their teams throughout the day. "Hello Blizzard, please see the email I sent this morning.
The messages, screenshots of which were viewed by IGN, were posted in a public Slack channel and directed to Blizzard employees. Yesterday, Ybarra responded to allegations in internal messages separately confirmed by multiple Blizzard employees. Ybarra has now told Blizzard employees he and Oneal asked for pay parity together, but Oneal says she was offered an equal contract only after resigning from the role. Amid yesterday's explosive allegations that CEO Bobby Kotick was aware "for years" of abuse at Activision Blizzard, additional reports emerged that former Blizzard co-lead Jennifer Oneal wanted to resign in part due to issues that included being paid less than her male counterpart, Mike Ybarra.