As of yesterday, Bobby Kotick officially stepped down from his role as the head of Activision Blizzard. The departure, after his 32-year tenure with the gaming giant, comes with a notable financial package, rumored to be as much as $400 million. However, the gaming community is not bidding him farewell with cheers and applause.
As the news broke, social media platforms, especially Twitter, became a hotbed for those in the industry, particularly current and former employees of Activision Blizzard, to break their silence. A wave of posts has flooded Twitter, with individuals sharing their stories of dealing with or being affected by the now-former CEO.
The chain of revelations seemingly began with a post from @chhopsky, a former COD developer, who bluntly declared, “Bobby’s decisions made our games worse.” They went on to share a troubling encounter involving Kotick, where he allegedly issued an open death threat to an employee. “In the all-hands that followed, no one wanted to speak first, so I demanded his firing in front of everyone,” they added.
Breaking my silence to share a fun fact: 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 us with the anticipated influx, all flatly denied. https://t.co/bALYcb0lg0
— Andy Belford (he/him) 💙 (@andybelford) December 29, 2023
Another former Blizzard employee, @andybelford, disclosed how warnings about potential review-bombing for Overwatch 2 on Steam were ignored, leading to the predicted fallout. Requests for additional help were reportedly denied despite months of advance notice.
Further adding to the uproar, one user highlighted Kotick’s unpopularity within the Chinese gaming community, branding him as “the guy to blame” for the termination of Blizzard games’ services in China. Apparently, groups of people are even celebrating his departure with fireworks!
Past incidents involving Kotick are also resurfacing on social media, including accusations that he “cost the Overwatch 2 team months of development” and blamed the company’s declining stock prices on the game. It seems a widespread revolt is underway following Kotick’s departure, with more bizarre interactions with the ex-CEO surfacing on social media.
2023 ends magnificently 👋 pic.twitter.com/LCMV1vAD7M
— Stan (@Minkendorfer) December 29, 2023
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