EA tells employees it will not publicly defend abortion or transgender rights

“Being an inclusive company means being inclusive of all those points of view"

An executive at Electronic Arts (EA) has shared that the company will not make a public statement defending abortion or transgender rights, claiming that “being an inclusive company means being inclusive of all […] points of view.”

During an internal company-wide town hall meeting on Tuesday (May 24), Kotaku has reported that “many” employees at EA repeatedly asked company leadership to make public statements to defend abortion rights and transgender rights.

However, according to a transcript of the meeting, chief people officer Mala Singh told employees that EA will only make public statements that “actually have a positive impact.”

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“These things are hard and they’re personal and we all have our own perspectives and sometimes we won’t speak, and that will be upsetting and I understand that, we really do,” added Singh, who said that EA considers “multiple perspectives and then decide what’s in the best interest of EA and the various communities of stakeholders we have, including our people, our players, our fans and stakeholders, [and] our shareholders.”

Addressing recent mass shootings in America and a potential overturning of Roe v. Wade, Sing said “one of the other things you’re going to see is we’re going to be making some more healing circles available through modern health.”

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Credit: Electronic Arts/The Sims

It’s unclear what these healing circles entail, but EA’s corporate communications director Lacey Haines said “we’re not going to comment further on the Global Town Hall, as that is a company confidential forum.”

“That said, we work to create an environment where our employees can talk about complex issues in our world today. We do this in a number of ways, from Town Halls to Slack discussions, group dialogues, surveys, and more,” continued the statement.

“From all of that, we recognize these topics are deeply personal, and we know that there are many strong opinions, and some will be disappointed when we say that we’re not making public statements because we’re focused on the ways we can support our people around the world as their employer. That is what we’re doing, in this case, making sure that people have access to the healthcare benefits we provide as a company, even if those aren’t available locally.”

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Earlier in the month, several major studios – including Double Fine and Bungiemade statements opposing the U.S. Supreme Court’s internal decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

In other gaming news, Activision Blizzard employees have formed an anti-discrimination committee.

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