Bobby Kotick: Celebs Rumors

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Former Activision Blizzard executive Chris Paulson has been named Skybound Games‘ executive vice president and general manager of games publishing. In his new role, Paulson will lead commercial strategy and go-to-market efforts for Skybound’s ambitious slate of games, including a new “secret project” Skybound revealed in connection with Paulson’s hiring announcement Monday.

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick is to leave his role next week.Kotick became CEO of Activision in 1991 after purchasing a 25 per cent share in the near-bankrupt company the previous year. Over the next 32 years, he headed up the company as it grew to become one of the biggest and most influential pillars in the world of video games, acquiring a number of other studios on the way.However, it was claimed Kotick knew about cases of sexual misconduct happening within the company and kept it secret, even after state regulators started investigating the company in 2018.

Bobby Kotick, the longtime CEO of Activision Blizzard, is stepping down Dec. 29 following the company’s drawn-out $69 billion sale to Microsoft that closed in October. The exec — who oversaw some of the industry’s most popular games from Pitfall to Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Candy Crush Saga and Farm Heroes Saga — had said previously he would stay on through the end of 2023.

Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global have held talks about a potential merger of the two media companies, Variety has confirmed.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Bobby Kotick is officially leaving Activision Blizzard on Dec. 29, after more than three decades as CEO of the gaming giant, following Microsoft’s $69 billion takeover of the company.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Microsoft‘s deal to buy Activision Blizzard got the green light Friday from regulators in the U.K. — clearing the way for the $68.7 billion blockbuster acquisition to close nearly two years after it was announced.

Microsoft’s proposed $69B acquisition of Activision could bring harm to the UK’s 45M-strong gaming community, the nation’s competition body has ruled.

Activision Blizzard‘s chief compliance officer.In a company email sent out on Thursday (September 29), CEO Bobby Kotick announced staff that Townsend would be stepping down from her position after less than two years at the Call Of Duty publisher (via The Wall Street Journal).“She [Frances Townsend] tirelessly and successfully navigated a challenging time for the Company with leadership, conviction, and grace,” wrote Kotick in the email. Despite leaving her position, Townsend will continue as an official advisor to Kotick and to Activision Blizzard’s board of directors.Activision Blizzard spokesperson Rich George went on to provide Kotaku with a copy of the company email, which further detailed Townsend’s departure and explained that the company is moving closer to completing the merger with Microsoft.Her role will be taken over by the current senior vice president of ethics and compliance, Jen Brewer, who will be promoted to chief ethics and compliance officer after being at the company for 10 years.Prior to joining Activision Blizzard as chief compliance officer, Townsend served as the assistant for homeland security and counterterrorism to President George W.

Shareholders of video game giant Activision Blizzard have voted in favor of a plan for an annual report on the company’s efforts to curb workplace abuse and harassment.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorGame giant Activision Blizzard said Friday it will commence talks with Communications Workers of America union representatives to negotiate a contract on behalf of 27 quality-assurance employees at Raven Software.On May 23, the QA team at Wisconsin-based development studio Raven Software successfully formed a CWA-affiliated union called the Game Workers Alliance. The union said at the time, “We look forward to working with management to positively shape our working conditions and the future of Activision Blizzard through a strong union contract.”On Friday, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick wrote in a memo to U.S.

According to WSJ, Meta has been investigating Sandberg’s “activities” at the company. This includes “a review of her use of corporate resources to help plan her coming wedding,” the paper said.

The Wall St. Journal is reporting that Meta Platforms COO Sheryl Sandberg may have been prompted in part to give up her position because of a company investigation into her activities, including a review of her use of corporate resources to help plan her upcoming wedding.

Overwatch 2 suggests that the upcoming shooter will include a battle Pass system.As reported by Attack of the Fanboy (via EuroGamer), Jayson Kirby – senior UI artist at Blizzard – recently shared some screenshots which showcased screenshots of Overwatch 2‘s in-game menus.One screenshot in particular – which shows “early conceptual work for the new Overwatch 2 main menu” – details a ‘battle pass’ option. Though much may have changed since the concept art was designed – and Blizzard is yet to confirm any sort of battle pass for Overwatch 2 – it does suggest that the sequel to Overwatch will include the system.A battle pass typically comes in the form of a real-money purchase that allows players to complete challenges in return for cosmetic and in-game currency unlocks.

Blizzard itself, the name and theme of the next World Of Warcraft expansion may have been revealed.Thanks to a public source code update on the official World Of Warcraft website, it appears as though the massively multiplayer online (MMO) game’s next expansion will be called “Dragonflight” (via Wowhead).This is supported by the mention of Base, Heroic and Epic purchase options for Dragonflight in the website’s public source code, as World Of Warcraft’s last expansion, Shadowlands, also has these three purchase options.The public source code also points to the website dragonflight.blizzard.com – which is currently inactive – and as Wowhead notes, this website appears to have been certified last week.Official news of the game’s next expansion will be coming soon, as Blizzard confirmed last month that it will be revealed on April 19, saying: “We’re excited to show you what we’ve been working on and where your adventures in Azeroth will go next.”This supposed Dragonflight expansion may be released in 2022, as since 2008’s Wrath Of the Lich King expansion for World Of Warcraft each expansion has been released two years apart. That said, the pandemic’s impact may have pushed the release back into 2023, and there’s no confirmed release date yet.Activision Blizzard is currently mired by misconduct allegations that surfaced in the middle of last year, and since Microsoft announced it was acquiring the company, multiple US Senators have accused the Xbox-owner of protecting Activision Blizzard’s CEO Bobby Kotick.Activision Blizzard also settled a federal lawsuit last month for around £13.7million, although it is still involved in other legal proceedings at this time.

Activision Blizzard has settled its lawsuit with the U.S.

Microsoft and Activision Blizzard regarding the recent acquisition occurred days after the report on CEO Bobby Kotick.An SEC filing was published on Friday (February 18) stating that Kotick and Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer entered talks about the acquisition on November 19, just three days after a report alleged that Kotick had known about Activision Blizzard’s misconduct for years.In September of last year, it was announced that Activision Blizzard was cooperating with an SEC investigation into the allegations of sexual harassment at the company, which this filing refers to.Part of the SEC filing reads: “On November 19, 2021, in the course of a conversation on a different topic between Mr. Spencer and Mr.

Activision Blizzard, Bobby Kotick, has donated over $600,000 (£450,000) to causes that promote the election of Republican candidates.A report conducted by CNBC has found two private companies with links to Kotick which have made a number of large donations to Republican causes, with the aim to elect those candidates into office. The first company is Norgate LLC which made donations of $500,000 (£370,000) to the Senate Leadership Fund in 2020. The fund was aimed at supporting Republican candidate Mitch McConnell.Norgate LLC is linked to Kotick by the addresses it is registered under in California.

Microsoft president Brad Smith has said that staff at Activision Blizzard will be “under scrutiny” following its acquisition of the publisher.Last month, Microsoft purchased Activision Blizzard in a deal worth around £50billion, with the US Federal Trade Commission currently conducting an antitrust investigation.The purchase comes after Activision was hit by a lawsuit filed by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing and another by the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission following multiple allegations of sexual harassment, discrimination, and workplace misconduct.In between that, its own staff also filed a complaint too, alleging that the company used intimidation and “coercive tactics” to stifle staff trying to improve working conditions.It’s also been alleged that Activision CEO Bobby Kotick was aware of sexual misconduct claims within the company since 2018 but did not inform Activision’s board of directors. A report by the Wall Street Journal also suggested that Kotick played a first-hand part in the culture that has embroiled Activision in sexual harassment lawsuits and investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission.Speaking CNBC (via VGC) about the accusations, Smith said: “We’re looking to the leadership team at Activision Blizzard today to make culture and workplace safety a top priority every single day, until the day when this deal hopefully closes.

Blizzard studio head, Mike Ybarra, has told fans to “stay tuned” for more news on Warcraft, Overwatch and Diablo.The news came via Twitter. When a Twitter user suggested that Blizzard should dedicate more of its time on existing products, Ybarra revealed more.In a tweet, Ybarra explained that “Blizzard is a big studio [with] talented and growing teams”. He continued by adding that “you’ll be hearing more on that from Warcraft and Overwatch“.

Sony has made some of its first comments regarding Microsoft‘s £50billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, saying it expects the games to remain on PlayStation.As spotted by Bloomberg, a Sony spokesperson speaking to the Wall Street Journal today (January 20) has said that it expects Activision to honour its contractual agreements despite being bought out by its competitor Microsoft.“We expect that Microsoft will abide by contractual agreements and continue to ensure Activision games are multiplatform.”Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming has said that Microsoft does not intend to pull communities away from PlayStation by taking games away from the platform. Analysts also suggest that due to the large number of players of Activision’s biggest franchise Call Of Duty, regulators would prevent Microsoft from making it an exclusive title over fears of monopolisation.However, Spencer made similar remarks during the acquisition of Zenimax.

Microsoft is acquiring rival Activision Blizzard in a $68.7 billion deal that will reshape the video game sector.

Nintendo of America email has surfaced addressing the ongoing situation at Activision Blizzard and the reports surrounding its CEO Bobby Kotick. As reported by Fanbyte, an email penned by Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser went out to all levels of the company, including internal developers like Retro Studios.“Along with all of you,” starts Bowser, “I’ve been following the latest developments with Activision Blizzard and the ongoing reports of sexual harassment and toxicity at the company. I find these accounts distressing and disturbing.

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has reportedly told senior managers that he will “consider leaving” if he cannot quickly fix ongoing issues surrounding sexual misconduct within the company.According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, Kotick said on Friday (November 19) that he would keep the possibility of resignation open if he could not fix issues within Activision Blizzard “with speed”.These “issues” refer to ongoing allegations of a “frat boy culture” and sexual misconduct, which the state of California has sued Activision Blizzard over.In the meeting on Friday, Kotick reportedly said he was ashamed of some of the incidents that have occurred during his time at the company, and apologised for how he has handled them.Kotick’s

Call Of Duty: Vanguard season one and Call Of Duty: Warzone‘s Pacific map have been hit with one-week delays.Amid the protests at Activision Blizzard and calls for CEO Bobby Kotick’s resignation, it has been announced that both Vanguard’s season one and Warzone’s Pacific Caldera map will launch on December 8, the same day as the launch of the Halo Infinite campaign.Call Of Duty: Vanguard players will get 24-hour exclusive access to play the Warzone Caldera map on December 8, as open access begins on December 9.Update: Season 1 of #Vanguard and Warzone Pacific will now release Dec. 8.

Activision Blizzard employees, demanding that CEO Bobby Kotick resigns.As spotted by Kotaku, a petition by the ABK Workers Alliance – which is made up of Activision Blizzard employees – has gathered signatures from 1300 fellow workers.

Xbox head Phil Spencer has reportedly sent out a staff-wide email stating that Microsoft will be “evaluating all aspects” of its relationship with Activision Blizzard, in the wake of major sexual misconduct allegations.According to a report by Bloomberg, Spencer has sent an email stating that he is “evaluating all aspects” of Microsoft’s relationship with Activision Blizzard, and has clarified that the company is already “making ongoing proactive adjustments”.Spencer added that he is “disturbed and deeply troubled by the horrific events and actions” at Activision Blizzard, which faces allegations of sexual misconduct.

Activision Blizzard shares are on track for a 19-month low following allegations that CEO Bobby Kotick knew about sexual misconduct claims.A new report alleges that Kotick, who has been CEO of Activision Blizzard since its inauguration in 2008, knew about sexual misconduct claims at the company for years.These allegations have already affected Activision Blizzard’s share prices, with J.P.

Activision Blizzard leadership has reportedly told employees that the company’s “zero-tolerance policy” will not be applied to CEO Bobby Kotick because it has “no evidence” to prove recent claims made against him.In a company-wide meeting, Game Developer (thanks, VGC) reports that leadership within Activision Blizzard answered several pre-screened questions from employees.One of these questions asked if Activision Blizzard’s recently-announced zero tolerance policy would be applied to Bobby Kotick, after a damning report claimed that he allegedly knew about sexual misconduct within the company since 2018.

Activision Blizzard shareholders are asking for the resignation of CEO Bobby Kotick in a letter to the company’s board of directors.READ MORE: Sexual harassment claims, lawsuits, and several high profile departures – what’s going on with Activision Blizzard?The shareholders, who have a total of 4.8 million shares to their name, and are also calling for the board’s two longest serving directors, Brian Kelly and Robert Morgado, to retire by December 31.It comes after a report that said Kotick was aware of sexual misconduct allegations at the firm but did not inform his board of directors.

Activision Blizzard employees have staged a walkout, with the Activision Blizzard Workers Alliance calling for CEO Bobby Kotick to be replaced.As reported by Eurogamer, roughly 150 employees at Activision Blizzard have staged a physical in-person walkout, in the wake of a damning report that alleges CEO Bobby Kotick has known of sexual misconduct claims since 2018.According to Valentine Powell – a senior UI engineer at Blizzard Entertainment – “over 150 people” attended the protest in person, with “a lot more participating remotely”. Activision Blizzard Workers Alliance later added that a further 90 employees attended a virtual walkout.So heartened to see so many people show up to make their voices heard.

Content warning: This story contains description of alleged sexual assault.The Activision Blizzard board of directors has said it remains confident in CEO Bobby Kotick amid allegations he knew about the company’s sexual misconduct for years.In a news release from earlier today (November 16), the board said it “remains committed to the goal of making Activision Blizzard the most welcoming and inclusive company in the industry.

Content warning: This story contains description of alleged sexual assault.The co-head of Call of Duty developer Treyarch, Dan Bunting, has quit the studio following a report in the Wall Street Journal.The report, which also points at Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick as being aware of the allegations, reveals that Bunting was the focus of an internal investigation in 2019 over claims that he sexually harassed a female employee in 2017.

Content warning: This story contains description of alleged sexual assault.A new report alleges that not only has Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick been aware of sexual misconduct claims within the company since 2018, he reportedly told his assistant that he would “have her killed” in a voicemail left in 2006.A report by the Wall Street Journal alleges that in 2018, Kotick was informed via email that a female employee had been raped in 2016 and, in 2017, pressured by a male supervisor to drink too much alcohol within the office and other work events.The victim reached an out-of-court settlement with Activision, however Kotick did not tell Activision’s board of directors anything about the settlement or alleged rape.The Wall Street

The CEO of Activision Blizzard, maker of popular video games like Call of Duty, Overwatch and World of Warcraft, conceded widespread failures to protect workers and outlined sweeping changes.

Activision Blizzard, has voluntarily reduced his income until the company has met new self-imposed targets in response to a raft of sexual harassment and discrimination allegations.In an open letter to employees, Kotick says he has asked Activision Blizzard’s Board of Directors to reduce his pay to “the lowest amount California law will allow” until the company has “achieved […] transformational gender-related goals and other commitments”.Kotick says this means $62,500 (£45,500) for this year. Kotick adds, “To be clear, this is a reduction in my overall compensation, not just my salary.

a lawsuit filed Monday, also agreed to strengthen policies and programs to prevent harassment and discrimination and develop software and training programs to improve workplace policies and practices for employers across the technology industry, it said.“There is no place anywhere at our company for discrimination, harassment, or unequal treatment of any kind,” Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick said in a statement. “And I am grateful to the employees who bravely shared their experiences.