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Activision Blizzard employees are expressing their displeasure at the response from management staff to CEO Bobby Kotick’s allegations.
The 24 hours of Activision Blizzard were eventful after the fallout of the investigation report published by the Wall Street Journal. The article directly implicated Activision CEO Bobby Kotick for committing sexual misconduct during his tenure and suppressing calls to fire other senior executives for doing the same.
In the wake of the new allegations, Activision Blizzard staff have organized a virtual walkout for those still working from home and in-person walkouts for those in the Activision Blizzard offices in Irvine, California. The walkout was called by the ABK Workers’ Alliance hours after the report was released. Activision Blizzard employees have also requested the resignation of CEO Bobby Kotick, but he has yet to do so. Senior executives responded by holding a series of hands-on meetings with staff at Activision, Blizzard and King in an attempt to “boost morale.”
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Activision Blizzard staff would not have been impressed with the content of the meeting. Statements from company staff members claimed the meetings were nothing more than one-sided listening sessions with pre-screened questions with executives and included a pre-recorded message from Mike Ibarra. Kotick did not speak in any of the meetings with Activision, Blizzard or King employees. The board decided to further double down on Bobby Kotick’s defense and took no action to remove or reprimand the ailing CEO. Rather than firing Kotick from his post, Activision Blizzard aims to regain the trust of its employees in an attempt to weather this latest firestorm.
Some Activision Blizzard shareholders have joined in calls to oust Bobby Kotick from the company. Shareholders led by the Strategic Organizing Center Investment Group (SOC) have called for Kotick’s resignation as well as the retirement of Activision Blizzard board members Robert Morgado and Brian Kelly. Board members are asked to announce their retirement before December 31, failing which a vote could force their dismissal.
Anger over the situation at Activision Blizzard has spread outside the company as developers at other studios responded to the state of the company’s turmoil. Toys for Bob development studios, Ubisoft, Wild Blue Studios have made solidarity statements or come forward to protest to Activision staff. PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan has also expressed his dissatisfaction with Activision Blizzard and agrees Activision has not done enough to fix the company’s problems.
The attempt to boost morale appears to predate the Wall Street Journal report claiming the company decided to give its employees Thanksgiving week. These tiny efforts have done nothing to address the issues raised by the ABK Workers Alliance and will only continue to damage the relationships between workers, managers and the public that this scandal continues to attract.
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Source: Bloomberg
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About the author Bryce L. Jackson (41 published articles) More from Bryce L. Jackson
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