2023-12-30 14:32:01
You are probably aware that Bobby Kotick, the former CEO of Activision Blizzard, is not a personality that is really appreciated by players and employees of the company he managed, for several reasons. While he has just left office, former Activision Blizzard developers have spoken out to castigate him.
“Bobby’s decisions made our games worse”
@chhopsky, a developer who worked on Call of Duty for two years at the Demonware studio, denounces the practices of Bobby Kotick. She explains that her decisions only made the games worse.
Bobby’s decisions made our games worse.
Although there is obviously no death here, this is not really the case with another speech that she denounces. Bobby Kotick in fact “threatened to have an employee killed”.
She seems in fact to allude to comments made in 2006 and then reported by the Wall Street Journal in 2021.
An Activision spokesperson later said in an email to Business Insider that “Mr. Kotick quickly apologized 16 years ago” for this voicemail left for his assistant. The representative also called the threat “blatantly hyperbolic and inappropriate” and said he “deeply regrets the exaggeration and tone” of the post.
We must no longer let these practices pass
Following this, @chhopsky explains that she demanded in front of the entire general assembly the dismissal of Bobby Kotick, although this might have put her in a delicate situation. She is nevertheless aware that her seniority and her opportunities with other companies gave her a certain security.
Despite everything, she calls on employees to never let this type of comment slide.
We may not have unions, but we have power if we work together. Ask the loudest, most annoying question at the general meeting. Be brief, direct, precise, and leave no room for procrastination in the response. Be sharp, direct, and do it clearly and without anger so they can’t attack your performance.
She also invites employees to register so that they have evidence to defend themselves “because pissy executives will take their exposed failure personally.” She particularly emphasizes having been protected by Demonware in this specific case.
She also mentions another case at the start of her career which led a technical director and his team to resign because they were doing “this kind of thing”.
Employees abandoned to their fate
Another former Activision Blizzard employee has spoken out to denounce Bobby Kotick’s methods. Andy Belfordhaving notably worked on planning the launch of Overwatch 2 on Steam, explains that he was aware months in advance that the game was going to be the victim of review bombing, in other words, that countless players were going to overwhelm the page Steam of the game negative reviews.
His team requested months in advance for more information, more details and more resources to help with the anticipated influx, but all was refused.
Also, he denounces that Steam moderation has been entrusted to the community team when that is not its role. Andy Belford refused to allow his team members to be exposed to “this level of toxic content/posts,” but that didn’t change anything. The decision to launch the game on Steam without any additional help would come down to Bobby Kotick.
This is just one example of the culture Kotick created at AB: shit flowed downstream, usually landing on the lowest paid and most overworked people. Management was too busy reacting to directions and decisions that made no sense. […] All that mattered was the current quarter’s earnings call.
A CEO not really appreciated
In 2021, cases of harassment, discrimination and assault within Activision Blizzard came to light, initially leading to the dismissal of 20 employees within the company. Bobby Kotick was quick to take measures to protect employees who are victims of this scourge.
However, the controversial CEO lost even more respect among players and employees when it was revealed that he was aware of certain cases, but did not act firmly enough.
It remains to be seen whether tongues will continue to loosen.
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