Bobby Kotick is a top class weasel. And while he may finally face some of his actions as CEO of Activision Blizzard, it has taken a long time.
Kotick has spent three decades at the helm of Activision, now Activision Blizzard, in a tenure that has consistently proven evil and exploitative. New reports say Kotick was We like to ignore systemic problems, particularly the abuse of its female employeesas long as it didn’t affect the bottom line of the company. We now also know that Kotick threatened to kill an assistant via voicemail, and that he allegedly fired a flight attendant in his private jet afterwards she said she was sexually molested by the pilot.
But these recent allegations are preceded by numerous equally dire reports that illustrate the real human cost of those gains, if not Kotick’s leadership as a whole. While the business community likes to give Kotick endless praise for its transformation a debt-ridden failure of the largest, most profitable company in the video game industryTheir reports last year indicated that Blizzard was aware of underpaid employees Give tips on skipping meals and take advantage of the company’s free coffee to quench your appetite. These workers staved off hunger while also working for a company that housed the highest-paid executive board chairman in the United States.
Kotick’s notoriety among video game fans can be traced back to a presentation at the end of 2009 at the Deutsche Bank Securities Technology Conference, where he was proud in his desire to “take all the fun out of creating video games” and his ability to nurture a “culture of frugality” at Activision Blizzard. The perceived recklessness painted the picture of a man who either didn’t understand or didn’t care about the industry filling his pockets. Back then, there was concern among fans that Kotick had more of an impact on game development than the people who actually made it.
“Thrift” in this case, of course, did not extend to Kotick, whose base salary rose by over $ 200,000 from 2008 to 2009. More recently, Kotick was ready to do it nearly $ 200 million Earlier this year, due to a pandemic spike in the company’s shares, while Activision Blizzard was simultaneously sending pink slips of paper to hundreds of employees above different Departments.
Of course, Kotick’s exploitation is not limited to Activision Blizzard alone. The ominously named internal initiative known as Icebreaker project also saw his company make a desperate attempt to gain control of that call of Duty Series from its creators in 2009.
When former Infinity Ward executives Vince Zampella and Jason West negotiated lucrative contracts for themselves and their studio on the back call of DutyFollowing the success of Cotick, Kotick made sure to include a clause that ownership of the franchise would pass to Activision should the two leads be fired. Immediately thereafter, work began to “dig up dirt” Zampella and West, the tension that led to their being removed from Infinity Ward for an alleged breach of contract. Zampella and West then sued Activision for wrongful termination and counterclaimed Activision for attempting to “hijack” the company’s assets.
While this was eventually settled out of court, several colleagues from Zampella and West’s Infinity Ward jumped up for a new venture now known as Respawn Entertainment.
“It kind of pisses you off at the industry,” West said Vanity fair worked as respawn in 2013 to get Titan Fall out the door. “It’s difficult. If we’re not treated well, what chance does a newcomer have? How do you keep them from being heavily armed with the money by the boys? I wish I had the answer to that question, but I do.” not.”
A year after the Project Icebreaker plans were released, Kotick found himself in a public battle of words with Tim Schafer of Double Fine Productions, who criticized the executive focus on making shareholders happy. Kotick shot back, saying that during the development of Brutal legend– which was originally in production at the former Activision owner Vivendi before he switched to EA – Schäfer “came too late, he missed every milestone, the game was not a particularly good game.” All this although Activision took the trouble , sued Double Fine when it was possible to find a new editor Brutal legend.
Kotick’s acumen for personal gain was perhaps best demonstrated in 2013 during Activision’s restructuring with its then majority shareholder Vivendi. Kotick and CEO Brian Kelly designed the deal so that a separate Cayman Islands mailbox company they founded received Vivendi’s shares and not Activision itself, giving the two men a massive controlling stake in Activision Blizzard. Kotick and Kelly saw this scheme successfully sued by a group of shareholders in the company in the amount of $ 275 million, the largest settlement of its kind back then.
And how did Kotick use that money and power? By supporting right-wing politicians, of course.
While Kotick, a self-proclaimed libertarian, has been prancing with centrists like Hillary Clinton, Cory Gardner, and Kamala Harris. his greatest contributions often go to the most vile ghouls in American politics. Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, for example, got Kotick’s endorsement even as a politician propped up Donald Trump’s right-wing, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ + agenda. So does Paul Ryan, the former Wisconsin representative and vice presidential candidate who made it his life’s work defund institutions like Medicare and Medicaidthat would devastate the weakest citizens of this country.
Not only should Kotick resign, he should have resigned years before. The world is so desensitized to the everyday evils that are being committed in the name of capitalism that it takes something as hideous as ignoring the constant sexual assault that is taking place under your supervision in order to all at the true cost of Activision’s success recall. Kotick is exploitation incarnate and is amply rewarded for it, both with immense financial compensation and with a seat at the table in so-called “polite” society.
What we ordinary people think of Kotick, unfortunately, does not interest him, the board members of Activision or even a large part of the shareholders of the company. The folks at Activision Blizzard who could remove Kotick are feasible hold on to the slimy executive, probably because they are all old friends and just as shitty as he is. To be in the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein Contact booklike Kotick and board member Casey Wasserman both are, must evoke a strange kind of camaraderie.
If Kotick manages to weather this storm and Activision Blizzard replaces him for some other reason at a later date, he will make more than $ 300 million just to leave the company. A real parasite until the end.
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