- Activision Blizzard is again under the spotlight for negative reasons
- Employees criticize upper management for wasting time and energy on projects that get canceled
- This prompts many employees to leave the company
Many Activision Blizzard employees have been recently leaving the company and CEO Bobby Kotick is being blamed for it.
Employees Are Yet Again Unhappy with Blizzard Management
In recent times, Activision Blizzard is again in the spotlight, but this time the many scandals that plagued the company throughout 2021 are not the center of attention. Instead, that place is taken up by the announcement that Microsoft is purchasing Blizzard for $68.7 billion. This is the most expensive such deal in the history of gaming and will make Microsoft the third largest gaming company after Tencent and Sony.
However, Activision Blizzard’s troubled past few months continue to haunt the company. Employees are again speaking out against upper management, this time prompted by a GamesBeat report. In it, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick blamed the company’s stock prices on Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4, which are currently in development.
In response to Kotick’s claims, employees have taken to social media to criticize upper management’s decisions. A Twitter user by the name of Tracy Kennedy, who works on the Overwatch team, said that management would often task teams with projects that would later end up getting canceled. According to Kennedy, this practice took away time from the development of Overwatch 2.
Employees Blame Kotick
As well as criticizing upper management’s time-wasting practices, Kennedy also said many employees, sometimes entire teams, are exiting the company. She and many others are blaming Kotick for that exodus.
Regarding the Microsoft purchase, many employees have voiced their concerns over the past couple of days. Some are angry that Kotick will remain at his post at least until the purchase is complete, which could take 12 to 18 months. Others criticize the fact that when he exits the company, he will do so packing a large sum of money. Employees are also complaining of the fact that upper management still seems to support Kotick.
In short, many employees say that Activision Blizzard’s upper management is to blame for the company’s many scandals and lawsuits for breeding a toxic workplace culture, that have plagued the organization through last year. Many say that although working with teams is nice, they do not make decisions that waste time. Others are still calling for Kotick’s removal from his post.
