Activision Blizzard employees demanded the resignation of Bobby Kotick. The petition has already been signed by over 1300 people. Meanwhile, Phil Spencer announced that Xbox will reconsider the terms of cooperation with the scandalous company. According to him, such an attitude towards employees has no place in the gaming industry.Overwatch
Employee protests
Yesterday, a group of ABetterABK employees published a petition demanding the resignation of Bobby Kotick.
At the moment, 1,337 employees have signed up for it.
“We, the undersigned, no longer believe in the leadership of Bobby Kotick as CEO of Activision Blizzard. The information received about his behavior and methods of managing our companies contradicts the culture and principles that we demand from our management, and directly contradicts the initiatives organized by our colleagues,” the petition says.
Employees want Kotick to remove himself from the post of CEO of Activision Blizzard, and shareholders have chosen a new person for this position. At the same time, the Cat himself should not take part in making a decision. Employees explain this by the fact that he owns a significant part of the votes in the board.
According to data at the end of the third quarter, Activision Blizzard employs about 10 thousand people. Thus, the petition for the resignation of Bobby Kotick was signed by a little more than 13% of all employees of the company.
ABetterABK has also published a public petition on Change.org , which anyone can sign as a sign of solidarity with Activision Blizzard employees. Now she has already collected over 11 thousand signatures, and their number continues to grow.
Meanwhile, the management of Activision Blizzard once again stressed that it intends to continue to adhere to the chosen policy to change the situation for the better. “We know it will take a long time, but we will not stop until we create the best conditions for our team,” the statement said.
Phil Spencer’s reactionThe head of Xbox spoke about the situation around Activision Blizzard in an email to employees.
His text was placed at the disposal of Bloomberg.
According to Spencer, he and the management of Microsoft’s gaming division are “disturbed and deeply disturbed by recent events.” He also stated that the actions and behavior described in the lawsuits and the investigation of The Wall Street Journal “have no place in the gaming industry.”
Spencer stressed that Xbox is now “evaluating all aspects of the relationship with Activision Blizzard.” The company is ready to review the terms of the partnership and take the necessary actions for this. Whether Microsoft will work less with Activision is not specified.
Jim Ryan, who heads Sony Interactive Entertainment, made a similar criticism of Activision Blizzard yesterday. He noted that PlayStation is unhappy with the actions of its partners and is concerned about recent events.
The situation with stocksActivision Blizzard shares continue to slowly fall after the publication of the latest investigation.
On Thursday, they lost another 3% in price, and the overall drop over the past week exceeded 10%, Bloomberg notes.
At the moment, the company’s shares are trading at $62.67 apiece. This is the lowest figure since May last year.
In light of the scandalous events, analysts are lowering their recommendations for Activision Blizzard shares. As JPMorgan Chase Holding notes, the Bobby Kotick scandal and related headlines only introduce additional uncertainty and increase risks.