Bye Bye Bobby!

Now seems a good time to remarks on the exit of a major figure in the MMORPG industry: Activision's Bobby Kotick. Within the last few days, the public learned that Kotick's 32-year reign as head of Activision will end at the end of 2023. Not a major surprise. 

The Activision CEO was widely expected to leave once Microsoft's acquisition of the company received approval from authorities in the US and UK on Friday. As part of clearing a path through the regulatory concerns Activision wound up settling governmental claims.

Activision has also paid several multimillion dollar settlements, including $18 million to the Equal Employment and Opportunity Commission in 2022 to settle a federal sexual harassment lawsuit, and $35 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission in February to settle charges it violated an SEC whistleblower protection rule and failing to maintain adequate disclosure protocols.

Forbes also reported that Kotick will not leave empty handed. In addition to the millions of shares of Activision stock he owns (the purchase price was $95/share), the former executive will receive a large golden parachute. From Polygon:

The Activision Blizzard CEO has long-been one of the highest paid CEO’s in the United States. Once he leaves Activision Blizzard, Kotick is expected to receive a massive “golden parachute,” at least $15 million, according to financial documents. That’s seemingly without considering Kotick’s millions of shares in Activision Blizzard. Other top executives will receive between $2.6 million and $4.1 million.

A lot has been made of the lawsuit filed against Activision by the California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) for sexual discrimination and creating "a culture of 'constant sexual harassment' and gender-based discrimination." But the Polygon article listed some other not-so-favorable actions throughout the years.

The CEO notoriously said during a presentation at the Deutsche Bank Securities Technology Conference in San Francisco in 2010 that he brought in, years prior, packaged goods executives to “take all the fun out of making video games,” noting that Activision Blizzard succeeded in “instill[ing] the culture, the skepticism and pessimism and fear that you should have in an economy like today.” In 2019, Activision Blizzard and Kotick came under fire for announcing widespread layoffs — 800 jobs cut — despite boasting its “record-setting” revenue in 2018. “While our financial results for 2018 were the best in our history, we didn’t realize our full potential,” Kotick said at the time.

I'm not sure, but I think on New Year's Eve a lot of people will celebrate more than the beginning of 2024. The only question now is who will World of Warcraft players settle on as the new corporate villain. Over the years the torch passed from Vivendi to Activision to Kotick. Who's next, Microsoft as a whole or Phil Spencer?