Bobby Kotick’s reportedly trying to keep it quiet, too.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, since July of last year, roughly 37 employees at Activision Blizzard have been let go or otherwise forced out of their positions, with another 44 having been disciplined in the wake of the ongoing harassment and misconduct investigations. By October, the company stated that over 20 people had left the company, with another 20 having been disciplined. Activision Blizzard was also supposed to share a publix summary of that information over the holidays, but CEO Bobby Kotick supposedly jettisoned that idea over concerns that it would make the company look worse.
A spokesperson for Activision Blizzard denied “the assertion regarding Mr. Kotick”, in addition to rumors that employees had filed about 700 reports of misconduct and other issues since July. That month just so happens to coincide with the suit leveled against Activision by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH), which accused the company of fostering a “frat boy” culture replete with discrimination and sexual harassment.
With several of the company’s notables having departed, attention has closed in on Kotick. Perhaps the most damning thing for the embattled CEO is the fact that he knew about some of the worst excesses, and potentially even covered some of these incidents up to protect the accused employees. Hence the employee walk out.
Not only employees, but state treasurers and investors have been more than a little worried by it all. After all, it’s usually not a good thing when company stock drops in value by nearly 30% over the course of half a year. Not to mention many major companies that do business with Activision Blizzard outright stating their intention to reassess their relationship with the company, including the likes of PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo. Hell, recently Lego delayed the release of an Overwatch 2 set due to all of this.
So, yeah, probably not going to be a great year for Activision Blizzard.
Source: Engadget
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