Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick needs to resign right now

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Wednesday, November 24, 2021

The gaming giant can't reinvent itself if he's still in charge

Activision Blizzard (ATVI) CEO Bobby Kotick needs to step down. The CEO of one of the country’s largest video game companies, Kotick has reportedly told executives at Activision Blizzard that he’ll resign if he can’t resolve the company’s myriad harassment scandals in short order.

But the problems at Activision Blizzard will require systemic changes, including Kotick’s removal right now — especially after The Wall Street Journal’s revelations last week that he knew about the company’s issues for years. Those problems include allegations of rape, sexual harassment, and sexual and racial discrimination.

If the company wants to move past these controversies, it needs to make a dramatic move. If not, Activision Blizzard risks losing the very people who make its games so successful: its software developers, testers, and engineers.

“People are leaving. I'm getting goodbye emails, like almost at least three a week,” explained Jessica Gonzalez, senior test analyst at Activision Blizzard’s Battle.net.

Bobby Kotick returns to the afternoon session of the  annual Allen and Co. Sun Valley media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, U.S. July 7, 2021.  REUTERS/Brian Losness
Bobby Kotick returns to the afternoon session of the annual Allen and Co. Sun Valley media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, U.S. July 7, 2021. REUTERS/Brian Losness · Brian Losness / reuters

“I'm seeing people leaving the company, and high-level women, women that are in senior positions are just leaving the company because they have no faith in Kotick,” added Gonzalez, who helped organize an employee walkout after last week’s Journal report.

The exodus could get even worse, explained Colleen Ammerman, director of the Gender Initiative at Harvard Business School.

“This is something that is very bad for the health of your organization and ultimately for effectiveness,” she said. “You have people who are disengaged in the work. They don't trust leaders. They're more likely to look elsewhere. So you're going to lose talent, and the talent that you retain is probably not going to be performing at its true potential.”

Employees are calling for change

The Journal’s investigation into Activision Blizzard and Kotick kicked off a firestorm among employees who staged their second walkout of the year.

On Monday, Activision Blizzard announced that it’s launching a workplace responsibility committee that has the ultimate goal of eliminating harassment and discrimination. But that might not be enough to satisfy workers, who have been calling for change for months.

Activision Blizzard employees first walked out in July when the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing filed a suit claiming the “Call of Duty” and “World of Warcraft” maker allowed a culture of sexual harassment to fester unchecked for years.