The pressure on Activision Blizzard and its CEO Bobby Kotick continues to rise. After PlayStation boss Jim Ryan, Xbox boss Phil Spencer has now expressed himself critically and issued a threat through the flower.
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick is likely to have a few sleepless nights ahead of him as the pressure mounts. According to the report in the Wall Street Journal, after Kotick was well aware of cases of sexual harassment and coercion in the company, but did not intervene and in some cases even hushed them up, there is now more and more criticism from the ranks of other game companies.
At first, PlayStation boss Jim Ryan was critical, but now Xbox boss Phil Spencer is in the same direction. In a circular email, Spencer told Xbox employees that he and the leadership of the gaming team were extremely upset and concerned about what was going on at Activision Blizzard, and that such behavior had no place in the gaming industry. But not only that, Spencer even sent a threat afterwards. All aspects of the relationship with Activision Blizzard would be evaluated and proactive adjustments made.
Activision Blizzard responded in a statement to IGN. Respect the feedback from all partners. There are important changes that have been implemented in the past few weeks and we would continue to work on them. The work is committed to making the culture and work environment safe, diverse and inclusive. It would take time, but you don’t want to stop until the team is in the best possible working environment.
The company still seems a long way from that. According to the disclosure report in the Wall Street Journal, over 1,000 employees have already signed a petition calling for Bobby Kotick to step down from the post of CEO immediately. You no longer have confidence in the leadership qualities of Kotick: “We ask that Bobby Kotick remove himself as CEO of Activision Blizzard, and that shareholders be allowed to select the new CEO without the input of Bobby, who we are aware owns a substantial portion of the voting rights of the shareholders.”
