Bobby Kotick is finally out as CEO of the video game company Activision Blizzard. He already left behind a sordid legacy, but now former employees are revealing more about their nightmare experiences working under his leadership.
Kotick officially stepeed down as CEO of Bilizzard on December 29, 2023, after 32 years with the company. His resignation came as part of Microsoft’s acquisition of Blizzard, though employees had been calling for his resignation for years. His departure is still bittersweet, as he walked away with a $400 million payout and, thus, isn’t bound to feel much of a sting over the reorganization propelling his retirement. It’s a far more dignified exit from the company than he deserved.
In 2021, Activision Blizzard was sued by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing and The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for misconduct and discrimination. The ECC suit was settled quickly and quietly, but both suits detailed a horrific workplace environment at the gaming company, where women were seldom hired in the predominantly male company, paid less than their male colleagues, and faced firing or denial of promotions based on factors like motherhood or pregnancy.
Additional allegations included rampant sexual harassment and misconduct, with there even being terms like “cube crawls” and the “Cosby suit” among employees to reference notorious sexual harassers and their tendencies, and one female employee took her own life during a corporate retreat after being the target of sexual harassment.
Activision Blizzard denied the allegations and settled with the DFEH, too. Still, to many, it was hardly a satisfactory outcome, especially since the settlement amounts were relatively small compared to the company’s $70+ billion net value. Meanwhile, Kotick didn’t face repercussions when The Wall Street Journal alleged that he had known about and been complicit in the workplace harassment for years. His employees called for his firing back in 2021. Now that he is finally gone, employees are speaking freely about their experiences under him.
Former employees describe working under Bobby Kotick
Kotick’s complicity in Activision Blizzard’s workplace harassment is the most disturbing accusation against him. However, there have been other allegations about his ineffectiveness as a CEO, including that he once cost Overwatch 2′s team ten months of overtime work on random projects that were ultimately canceled. Hence, it’s not surprising that plenty of other former employees have similar stories about Kotick’s actions ruining their work.
Former Demonware programmer Christina Pollock alleged that “Bobby’s decisions made our games worse.” Additionally, she said had only been working there for a month when she learned that Kotick had threatened to have his assistant killed.
Blizzard Community Development Manager Andy Belford revealed that the company’s managing team had predicted Overwatch 2′s review-bombing during its steam launch. However, the team’s pleas for details or resources to help deal with the review-bombing were ignored, allegedly per Kotick’s orders. Belford and his team were forced to moderate the influx of review-bombing on Steam, thus being exposed to significant harassment and toxicity with no help or sympathy from higher-ups.
In addition to Belford and Pollock, other developers are being encouraged to share their stories. One user noted that one of the perks of Kotick’s firing is that all the employees who previously couldn’t speak against him are now able to reveal what a terrible boss he was, as he destroyed their games and failed to protect them.
These stories are also crucial as some still cannot let go of the fact that Activision Blizzard did grow under Kotick. However, Pollock’s and Belford’s stories reiterate that the company didn’t flourish because of Kotick; it flourished in spite of him.
(featured image: Loren Elliott / Getty)
