Blizzard Entertainment has announced a change of leadership. J. Allen Brack is no longer the head of the company. Instead, it will be managed by two top managers who recently joined the studio. One of the new leaders is a woman.
What exactly is the reason for the removal of Allen, the company itself does not specify. However, it is obvious that this is Blizzard’s reaction to a series of scandals that have been shaking it for the third week. Recall that they began with a lawsuit in which the company was accused of discrimination against employees based on gender. According to him, the company deliberately does not promote women in the service and understates their salaries. Together with the lawsuit, the stories of numerous harassment, sexism, peeping and even the suicide of one of the employees, which could be related to the harassment of her supervisor, were made public.
The new leaders of Blizzard Entertainment are:
- Jen Oneal is the former head of Vicarious Visions (the studio is now part of Blizzard and is developing a remake of Diablo 2). Jen joined Blizzard as executive vice president of development this January;
- Mike Ybarra is a Microsoft veteran, where he has worked for more than 20 years. In 2019, he resigned from the post of vice president of Xbox gaming at Blizzard to the position of executive vice president responsible for development Battle.net , as well as development services.
The company notes that both leaders are devoted to all employees and are aimed at making Blizzard the safest workplace “for women, for people of any gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation.”
Allen is not just displaced, but is leaving the company, according to Jason Schreier. What exactly he will do is unclear. He became president of the company in 2018, after Blizzard’s permanent CEO and co-founder Mike Morhaime left.
Onil and Ibara, who replaced Allen, will not be the company’s presidents. Now the positions of studio leaders are being secured for them.