More than 20 current Activision Blizzard employees, including "World of Warcraft" lead game designer Jeremy Feezel, have publicly criticized the company's response to a sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuit filed against it earlier this week. Some WoW developers also stopped work today "in solidarity with the women who came forward," Feezel said.

The lawsuit, filed by a California government agency, alleges that women at the company face "constant sexual harassment" and discrimination, especially against women of color. The response from Activision Blizzard executives has been inconsistent. In its first statement to the press, the company called the claims "distorted and often false" and described the government agency behind them as a group of "unaccountable bureaucrats." Chief Compliance Officer Fran Townsend also criticized the lawsuit in an internal email, saying it "presents a distorted, factually incorrect image" of Activision Blizzard and "contains old, out-of-context stories that are not true."

Internal emails from Blizzard President J Allen Brack and Activision President Rob Kostich had a different tone, calling the conduct alleged in the lawsuit "unacceptable" and "disturbing," but neither affirmed that such conduct occurred at the company None.

On social media, dozens of former employees have expressed support for the stories told in the lawsuit and in some cases corroborated the details. More than 20 current Activision Blizzard employees have now publicly expressed disapproval of Activision Blizzard's response to the lawsuit, and dozens more have shown their support by retweeting their colleagues' statements.

"Many of us are not working today in solidarity with the women who have come forward," wrote lead game designer Jeremy Feezel. The statements [from Activision Blizzard] do not represent us. We believe in women, we continue to strive to do better, and we hold others accountable. Actions speak more eloquently than words."

The "World of Warcraft" team said they were "a mixture of outrage, sadness, and hurt," and narrative designer Steve Danuser continued that he was interested in rebuilding the company and the industry, not "corporate bullshit."

More employees expressed similar sentiments:

"I'm not happy with the corporate response so far," said game designer Brian Holinka. 'I don't think it represents me or my beliefs. Many of us have said these things internally. I feel it's worth saying publicly.

"Over the past few days I've been angry at the company I work for, but proud of the people I work with," tweeted a user named Burk, who works as an associate producer at Blizzard. 'We are all united as one, listening, speaking out against the outrageous response and demanding action. We are here, we are angry and we will not be silenced so easily."

"I stand with the victims (of Activision Blizzard) and believe their stories," tweeted Blizzard UX researcher Nikki Crenshaw. Claiming that these stories are "untrue" or "untrue" is a slap in the face to current and former employees and does not represent my core values."

"I really hope Blizzard issues a statement about this situation that I can actually agree with and support, rather than a legal defense position," wrote Kyle Hartline, World of Warcraft server and live ops producer. Hartline added, "We have not been able to make any statements that are unacceptable. 'Because what I have said so far is unacceptable and does not represent me. And I know I am not alone in feeling that way."

"I have heard horror stories, but I know they are all true and should not be denied," tweeted Elsbeth Larkin, tools and software engineer for World of Warcraft. The fact that [Activision Blizzard] dismissed it not once, but twice, is appalling."

In addition to personal statements, a number of developers also tweeted the following statement: "This tweet is my own and does not represent the views of the company. I do not support AB's attempts to mitigate the very real damage suffered by victims of harassment at Blizzard. We absolutely must listen to and support the voices of our women, both present and past."

At the time of this writing, Activision Blizzard has not officially responded to these expressions of disbelief and frustration from its employees. We have reached out to the company for comment and will provide more details as the story develops over the next week.