Bobby Kotick Will Exit Activision Blizzard after 30 Years

Bobby Kotick is expected to leave Activision Blizzard after the acquisition by Microsoft. Get all the details here.

Activision Blizzard King (ABK) CEO Bobby Kotick is expected to leave the company after 30 years on January 1st, 2024. With Microsoft sealing the deal on the ABK acquisition in the UK, it is confirmed that the publisher of Call of Duty, Overwatch, World of Warcraft, and Candy Crush will be welcomed into the Xbox Studio family.

This comes at the tail end of a 21-month-long saga that began with Mircosoft offering $68.7 billion USD in cash, making it the largest game industry acquisition by a wide margin. After court hearings with regulators around the globe, the controversial merger is finally set in stone.

Bobby Kotick will part with the gaming giant in 2024

This leaves us with the fate of Bobby Kotick the current CEO of Activision Blizzard King who's been with the company since 1991 and was instrumental in Activision's acquisition of Blizzard Games in 2008. Making him one of the most important people in the industry.

But Kotick has also been at the forefront of many controversies over the years. Being always accused of being the major force behind many of Activision Blizzard's more predatory business practices famously saying that the company isn't interested in games they couldn't run into the ground and doesn't have the potential to be exploited every year.

While that statement was given all the way back in 2008, you will only have to look at the monetization of Diablo 4 and the current state of Call of Duty to find that this business strategy is still employed today.

Kotick was also at the forefront of the lawsuit filed against the company in 2021 by the Californian Department of Fair Employment and Housing. Which asserted that the company fostered a “frat boy” culture that allowed misogyny, racism, and sexual misconduct. It ran so deep that several higher-ups resigned before or in the wake of the lawsuit.

CEO Bobby Kotick stated at the time that he wasn't aware of these issues up until the lawsuit which was later disproven in an investigation by the Wall Street Journal. In fact, Kotick had known about these issues for years and neglected to do anything about them.

The Lawsuit was settled in February of 2023, and ABK announced they would offer a combined sum of $35 Million USD to the victims. Bobby Kotick will potentially earn up to $375 Million USD for securing the merger with Microsoft.

As mentioned in this open letter to all employees of ABK, Kotick will exit the company at the start of 2024. He left behind a troubled legacy and a company that is still plagued by many issues that are now Microsoft's responsibility.

We'll keep you up to date on any further developments here at ESTNN.