After confirming the Microsoft purchase of Activision Blizzard for about 68.7 billion dollars in cash, which makes the operation the largest in the history of Redmond, in addition to the largest in the video game sector to date, there were several doubts in the air about the operation. And not precisely about the passage of its main franchises and games to the company. Indeed, the popular Call of Duty and World of Warcraft, among others, and the well-known Candy Crush, along with the rest of the titles, will be integrated into Microsoft Gaming, the division of the company dedicated to video games.
There was also no doubt about what would happen to its employees: all 10,000 of them will become Microsoft employees. But it seems that one will not be: Bobby Kotick, its CEO. As several sources have confirmed to the Wall Street Journal, when the purchase transaction is completed, which could take between 12 and 18 months, Kotick will leave his position and the company. This dissipates one of the main doubts that had arisen after the announcement of the purchase.
Microsoft and Kotick, according to information that has reached the Wall Street Journal, would have reached an agreement for him to remain in his position for the time being. However, this information is not in line with what the company has announced in the statement confirming the purchase of Activision. In it he mentions that “Bobby Kotick will remain CEO of Activision Blizzard, and he and his team will remain focused on driving ongoing reinforcements to further strengthen the company’s culture and accelerate business growth.«.
Of course, the note also confirms that once the operation is closed Activision Blizzard will be a division of Microsoft Gaming and will report to Phil Spencer, the CEO of said division. Kotick is no longer being talked about at this point, so it may be an indication that his departure will be effective when Activision is already a part of Microsoft Gaming. It would be very strange if it were otherwise, since it does not seem feasible that Kotick, one of the best-known CEOs in the world of video games, and with a remarkably large salary, would report not to the CEO of Microsoft, but to a manager who he is below Satya Nadella, and to whom he must report.
Kotick’s departure would also help calm things down at Activision Blizzard and the ecosystem that surrounds it, after a large-scale scandal uncovered a few months ago, involving cases of sexual harassment and rape in the company. Kotick has apparently been aware of what was going on for years, and on at least one occasion intervened to prevent an employee accused of sexual harassment from being fired, which was recommended by Activision’s human resources department.
In view of the facts, the State of California sued Activision last summer for sexually harassing and discriminating against its employees, which only increased the scandal and pressure from shareholders and partners on the company’s board. And in November, following a separate Wall Street Journal article about the scandal, about a fifth of Activision employees signed a petition for Bobby Kotick to resign. It was also after this article that Microsoft started approaching Activision for a purchase.
When the cases were made public, creating a huge scandal, the Head of Xbox Phil Spencer, sent an email to the staff to tell them that from Xbox they were «evaluating all aspects» of the division’s relationship with Activision Blizzard, and «making continual proactive adjustments«.
Microsoft, in fact, had to answer several questions about what was happening at Activision in a video call meeting with its investors as part of the announcement of its purchase. The Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, has stated about the purchase that in the company they believed that «it is critical that Activision Blizzard move forward on its cultural renewal commitments. We support the goals and work that Activision Blizzard is doing. We also recognize that once the deal closes, we will have significant work to do to further develop a culture where everyone can do their jobs to the best of their ability.«. Without a doubt, this means that Kotick’s departure will not be the only adjustment that is carried out in Activision Blizzard to end the scandals within it.
Photo: Bobby Kotick
