Jason Schreier/Bloomberg: Blizzard president J. Allen Brack is leaving the company, Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra to take over as 'co-leaders of Blizzard'
- Thread starter Uzupedro
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Why would they expect a different answer. If she was removed they would have said so.
Big Time Bobby's gonna point to this and whatever minor things follow as his ability to clean house and protect the Activision brand, and net himself another juicy bonus
Brack had been with the company forever and so were the people who had the job before him. So this will be the first time in a very long time that the people who are in charge at blizzard are not historically from blizzard.
This could be exactly what the company needs to get itself back on track.
This could be exactly what the company needs to get itself back on track.
Blizzard feels more and more Hollow every year.
I'm glad some people are being held accountable in this nightmare of a situation they've let fester for god knows how long over there.
Feels like Blizzard will be a support studio for Call of Duty by 2026.
I'm glad some people are being held accountable in this nightmare of a situation they've let fester for god knows how long over there.
Feels like Blizzard will be a support studio for Call of Duty by 2026.
I mean I expected something to be done when she has been posting Tweets about whistleblowing, and BLOCKING HER OWN COMPANY'S EMPLOYEES (you can't make this shit up) for tweeting at her. We all knew JAB was a scapegoat (albeit not a big loss in the grand scheme of things) but so much more needs to be done.
I genuinely wouldn't be surprised if they didn't make a COD game by the end of the decade. Maybe the Vicarious Visions team leading it given their prior experience on Destiny. Either way, I hope I'm wrong.
Gaming is better with a healthy Blizzard, but Blizzard needs to not be a toxic cesspool as well.
That and the fact that he has made their value skyrocket. The guy would have to be directly involved to get pushed out the door.
All this has shown is Blizzard was never healthy. Gaming can be better with a healthy Blizzard and the steps to get there would hopefully start here. The employees want it and seemingly the new leaders of Blizzard don't seem like they're set to get in the way of it. It's just going to require a lot of work and we won't know if it happens until it does.
And them making CoD games is a silly thought. If anything expect CoD to consolidate more now that Warzone is a thing and likely will remain a thing for years to come.
Didn't vicarious visions join blizzard in January of this year?
Will feel like a hollow move for appeasement if there isn't quick changes elsewhere.
You might wanna reread what you said. You implied he wasn't involved in this, when of course he is. If he can push for Blizzard to change their development strategy he can also push for a change in company culture, but he clearly hasn't. He's implicit at best. That's without going into the sexual harassment case just linked to you.
After reviewing the new elected leaders, I'm feeling better about the change that needs to happen. I am hopeful that this is a step in the right direction toward meaningful change.
Slightly OT, with Vicarious becoming more integrated/leading Blizzard, I wouldn't be surprised to hear some sort of WoW remaster announcement in the next couple years.
Slightly OT, with Vicarious becoming more integrated/leading Blizzard, I wouldn't be surprised to hear some sort of WoW remaster announcement in the next couple years.
I think you're wrong on this and what we're seeing here is being done to protect the stock price and Bobby Kotick. Firing Brack doesn't address what the employees have asked for so these situations can't happen again, nor the systemic issues that led us to this moment.
Look, I know everyone here is like "Fuck blizzard" and I get it, but Brack's firing or "leaving" doesn't mean shit. He's been Blizzard's CEO since 2018. Don't be fooled by this. Activision has been hoping that this was just contained to the blizzard side and we've seen that the horrible shit we've seen reported happened on the Activision side as well.
A toxic culture like what we've seen at Activision Blizzard is super pervasive, it isn't just a matter of the CEO or upper management being the problem, it's middle management too. You have to gut almost the entire management of a company this size (after an outside investigation) if you found that they looked the other way when these things were happening along with replacing practically every HR representative there that touched these things and did nothing. You also have to get rid of people like Fran Townsend who has basically been saying this shit didn't happen. And we don't see Activision doing that. Instead they're firing Brack because it makes it LOOK like they're cleaning house.
The fact is activision blizzard's c-suite's stance this entire time has been to say "this is awful!" is just a show. Look at all the other actions they're taking. They hired a union busting firm because they know the only way their employees can change what is happening is unionizing and they saw a giant walk out last week. They hired Fran Townsend as a compliance officer and she came out and said, in essence, that these awful stories of harassment didn't happen. They didn't hire this woman by accident and they didn't just randomly choose this law firm. They did this for a reason.
So firing Brack doesn't surprise me but please KNOW it's just for show. It doesn't mean they've actually CHANGED the culture that lead to all this awful shit we've seen on both the Activision and Blizzard side.
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So let me get this straight.
- Brack becomes president at the end of 2018.
- Early 2019 the investigation starts (mentioned in the lawsuit that early 2019 Brack was sent emails by female employees of the toxic situation at the Battle.net team).
- Ybarra joins the Blizzard part of the company as executive VP and General Manager in 2019.
- Afrasiabi is fired in 2020.
- VV is merged into Blizzard beginning of 2021.
- Jen Oneal becomes executive VP of development at the Blizzard part of the company at the same time.
One man leaving isn't going to change but so much, unfortunately. They still haven't done ANYTHING with the worker's demands, and the fact that Brack is leaving the day before the earnings call calls into question just how much he "stepped down" vs. "was fired to take some of the heat from shareholders off".
It's a save face maneuver, I don't believe it's anything more.
It's a save face maneuver, I don't believe it's anything more.
Does any of this matter(aside the Activision Publishing part which does)? Blizzard leadership through the years has failed time and again, JAB included. Blizzard has been rotten since its early years pre-Activision. That leadership has been put in place from more of Activision end/hire over some Blizzard veteran is not some conspiracy for Kotick to take control of a company he's already in control of. If Blizzard is going to change, it needs to actually change. Whether this actually happens remains to be seen, but I feel better about it knowing there is actual new leadership, not someone from the "golden years" of Blizzard.
Of course this matters. There's blatant Sex Discrimination under both the Activision and Blizzard publishing parts of the company. Yet only the Blizzard part is (rightfully) hit. Where is the accountability on the Activision Publishing side? Why should the Blizzard part be the only thing that needs to change? They are both rotten to the core.
Yes: Activision is equally as rotten. Don't forget, the suicide was from the Activision side of the business.
I implied nothing.
With "the best he can do" i meant what Bobby thinks is the "best" course of action to keep going. I'm fully aware of the sexual harassment case and as we have seen it meant jackshit to him; if we didn't leave Activision back in 2007 do you seriously think he is going to step down in the year 2021 when the whole company is much bigger than before?
Also, the shareholders aren't going to vote against him no matter what, that's just capitalism for you. They care more about the $$$ than the sexual harassment, as long as their revenue is up YoY they ain't going to push for an actual change.
Company structure. Blizzard has its own CEO/President/Leaders. Activision is the same. Got it's own CEO/President. Bobby is the group CEO, arguably he has little to nothing to do with the day to day workings of Activision or Blizzard, outside of meeting with his direct reports who are the heads of said groups. He can always say he wasn't aware or made aware of these issues and "clean house" by scapegoating the presidents and letting them go.
I really don't know enough about the Activision Publishing part here but Blizzard is clearly the meat of the lawsuit they currently have in front of them, so it shouldn't be surprising that actions at Blizzard are happening as soon as they are. I'd like to think there's more changes to come, but we'll have to see. That lawsuit isn't going anywhere any it's not going to get any better unless Activision Blizzard keep making moves to please the state.
To clarify, I wasn't speaking about the Activision Publishing portion you mentioned.
There's a distinction to be made.
There's Activision Blizzard while Activision Publishing and Blizzard are two separate entities. Of course the parent company; Activision Blizzard is resposible for Blizzard and Activision Publishing, but i don't think Activision Publishing has any lawsuit or sexual allegations? (correct me if i'm wrong)
Activision Publishing is specifically mentioned in the lawsuit. For example here:
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And with regards to what Delusibeta was saying. Under Sexual Harassment there are three points, two of the three specifically mention Blizzard/Blizzard IPs. The third which involves the suicide uses defendants as the sole describer. I cannot find an article that confirms it happened at Activision publishing but perhaps Delusibeta can share that.
(spoiler tagged the content considering it contains disturbing information)
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I'm not arguing against any of that. The sad reality is he'll probably stay in his position because the money the company make.
I was more arguing against you saying "unless he is involved in all this." It comes off as a defence because of course he is.
While Brack's departure certainly isn't the end of the fight, it is a big and important step.
This is just fucking unacceptable:
You can't be President of a company and know that a serial sexual harasser works for you and only give him slaps on the wrist.
It's a little cliche, but corporate culture does start at the top. Brack permitting Afrasiabi's behavior creates a culture that permits the degradation of women.
His removal is an important step.
I don't think this is accurate. We shouldn't expect Activision/Blizzard to name every person that they fire.
Fran Townsend has no material impact on Activision/Blizzard - she's not a keyman - and so there's no reason to expect Activision to proactively announce her departure.
For any positive change to take effect, you have to gut almost the entire management of a company of this size if you found that they looked the other way when this awful shit was happening, along with replacing practically every HR representative that sat there and did nothing. They also have to get rid of Townsend as well, and I honestly can't see Activision doing any of that when their bottom line comes first.
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Agreed. The HR Dept is 100% complicit, and enabling all this behavior.
Also, don't allow Brack to leave by saying he's "leaving the company to pursue new opportunities".
That's yet another example of protecting the execs.
I bet he gets millions of $$ to say goodbye too.
Jesus Christ himself could become president of the company and I would still never buy a Blizzard or Activision game ever again.
The company's dead to me.
The company's dead to me.
I'm glad but I also have the feeling that he's only the sacrificial lamb since Kotick is still there.
Guy that nobody liked gets brought in, does a terrible job at Blizzard because that's what he was expected to do, fires a ton of employees, sending the company reputation to the gutter with a ton of bad publicity incidents, so Activision can gain more control. Easily written down as the fall guy, and nothing will change.
Incredible that Kotick was able to use this incident to consolidate his power over Blizzard, especially when you consider the most horrifying allegation in that complaint wasn't even attributed specifically to Blizzard Entertainment.
Activision Blizzard Is Losing Overwatch Sponsors After Lawsuit
T-Mobile appears to have pulled support for the Overwatch and Call of Duty Leagues
kotaku.com
"the websites for both the Overwatch League and the Call of Duty Leagues removed reference to T-Mobile at some point in July. On July 21, both sported the T-Mobile logo. By July 31, neither did. The 20th entry period of T-Mobile's Call of Duty sweepstakes has quietly been canceled. What's more, team members for the New York Subliners, a Call of Duty team, appear to have taped over the T-Mobile logo on their jerseys," đź¤
Finally a language they'll understand.Activision Blizzard Is Losing Overwatch Sponsors After Lawsuit
T-Mobile appears to have pulled support for the Overwatch and Call of Duty Leagues
"the websites for both the Overwatch League and the Call of Duty Leagues removed reference to T-Mobile at some point in July. On July 21, both sported the T-Mobile logo. By July 31, neither did. The 20th entry period of T-Mobile's Call of Duty sweepstakes has quietly been canceled. What's more, team members for the New York Subliners, a Call of Duty team, appear to have taped over the T-Mobile logo on their jerseys," đź¤