Activision Blizzard has been in the eye of the storm for a number of months over its troubling workplace culture of discrimination and harassment against employees, but with new reports bringing to light even deeper issues perpetuated by CEO Bobby Kotick himself, pressure on the company and Kotick himself has begun to mount. Recently, number of Activision Blizzard employees came together to demand that Kotick resign, and that, it seems has only intensified.
Yesterday, the ABK (Activision Blizzard King) Workers Alliance took to Twitter to confirm that it had taken its steps to bring about Kotick’s removal further with a petition for the same that had, at that time, been signed by over 500 current Activision Blizzard King employees.
At the time of writing, that petition has over 1300 signatures, with representation from employees from across multiple studios under the company’s management, including Blizzard Entertainment, Activision Publishing, High Moon Studios, Raven Software, King, Toys for Bob, Demonware, Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer Games, Treyarch, and more.
The petition reads: “We, the undersigned, no longer have confidence in the leadership of Bobby Kotick as the CEO of Activision Blizzard. The information that has come to light about his behaviors and practices in the running of our companies runs counter to the culture and integrity we require of our leadership–and directly conflicts with the initiatives started by our peers. We ask that Bobby Kotick remove himself as CEO of Activision Blizzard, and that shareholders be allowed to select the new CEO without the input of Bobby, who we are aware owns a substantial portion of the voting rights of the shareholders.”
Meanwhile, recently, a group of Activision Blizzard shareholders also wrote a letter to company leadership demanding the resignation of Kotick and the removal of other select board members, though at least for now, it seems like the company isn’t willing to take those steps. Read more on that through here.
In light of the troubling reports regarding Activision Blizzard, Xbox and PlayStation heads have also spoken out in criticism of the company.