Activision employees weigh in on former CEO Bobby Kotick after exit
With Bobby Kotick officially retiring from Activision Blizzard as active CEO, the current and former employees of the company have some choice words.
30th Dec 2023 11:08
Images via Activision Blizzard
Activision employees weigh in on former CEO Bobby Kotick after exit
With Bobby Kotick officially retiring from Activision Blizzard as active CEO, the current and former employees of the company have some choice words.
30th Dec 2023 11:08
Images via Activision Blizzard
Bobby Kotick has been one of the big personalities of the game industry for a long time now, but he's finally left the space after retiring from his role as CEO of Activision Blizzard - and his former employees have some choice words about his tenure.
Activision's developers don't have kind words for Bobby Kotick
With Bobby Kotick officially leaving his role as CEO of Activision Blizzard after over 30 years in charge, the company has begun a new chapter under the Xbox leadership.
However, the wounds are still fresh for some, and many developers have used Kotick's exit as a chance to celebrate and shine a light on the potential problems caused by his leadership.
A former Call of Duty programmer called @chhopsky, explicitly stated "Bobby's decisions made our games worse", though they couldn't elaborate on the exact details due to an NDA.
They even spoke about a time that they demanded Kotick's firing "in front of everyone", shortly after he had reportedly threatened to have an employee killed.
Andy Belford, a former Community Manager at Blizzard, also spoke up about the planned Overwatch 2 Steam release and Kotick's effect on it.
"When we planned OW2's Steam launch, my team warned (months in advance) that we're going to be review bombed. We begged for more information, more details, and more resources to help is with the anticipated influx, all flatly denied."
He continued, talking about how the community team was forced to moderate the Steam page and forums, despite it not being a part of their job. It also turned out that the decision to launch on Steam with no extra support or help was reportedly solely down to Kotick.
What is the future of Activision Blizzard now?
With Kotick no longer at the head, and the company now under the Xbox label, Activision Blizzard will have a different structure, which was recently announced by Microsoft.
Both Activision and Blizzard will have different presidents, with Rob Kostich and Mike Ybarra heading them up, respectively. However, both will now report to Matt Booty, the current President of Game Content and Studios at Xbox. Activision will hopefully enter a new chapter as part of this structure and can avoid some controversy for now.
About The Author
Tarran Stockton
Tarran is a Senior Guides Writer at GGRecon. He previously wrote reviews for his college newspaper before studying Media and Communication at university. His favourite genres include role-playing games, strategy games, and boomer shooters - along with anything indie. You can also find him in the pit at local hardcore shows.
