Blizzard Entertainment employees have been newly informed that J. Allen Brack is stepping down from his position as president of the studio, who will be replaced by two cooperating executives. It will be Jen Oneal, the current executive vice president of development, and then Mike Ybarra, who has served as executive vice president and general manager of platforms and technologies since 2019. However, none of them will hold the title of President of Blizzard, which we can see as an opportunity for the head of Activision. CEO Bobby Kotick thus has the opportunity to control Blizzard, but it remains to be seen.
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According to the company, Oneal and Ybarra will now have the task of making Blizzard a safe and warm workplace for all people and especially for women, who have been the victims of previous scandals.
At the same time, business partners, including sponsors, have already begun to distance themselves from Blizzard. The company will be particularly hurt by the loss of T-Mobile, which previously sponsored the Call of Duty League and Overwatch League.
It is also expected that the new management will have to do something about the whole corporate culture, which is referred to more as a “closed fraternity with a strongly masculine environment”. We also learn that Jesse Meschuk, the current head of human resources, no longer works in the company, which was to be expected according to his position.
Bobby Kotick also recently said that the company’s management rejects and condemns discrimination and sexual harassment and that the perpetrators will be punished. However, this was only after 1,500 employees left their workplaces, who demanded fair treatment and investigation of individual cases. Kotick then apologized and hired the law firm WilmerHale to review the company’s policy.
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