Blizzard Entertainment president J. Allen Brack has fallen on his sword as the company is still mired in controversy after an explosive lawsuit was made public last week. Relatively new to the job, Brack took over from Blizzard co-founder Mike Morhaime in 2018, but he will now be replaced by new co-leaders Mike Ybarra and Jen Oneal. Ybarra spent most of his career at Microsoft in a variety of roles, including overseeing Xbox partner studios and Xbox Game Pass, before joining Blizzard in 2019. Jen Oneal was the leader of Vicarious Visions until the studio was swallowed by Blizzard earlier this year. It seems pretty clear that people new to Blizzard, with little connection to its history (or history of workplace toxicity), have been specifically chosen to move the company forward. Outgoing Blizzard President J. Allen Brack had the fwhat to say about the new leaders…
I am confident that Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra will provide the leadership Blizzard needs to realize its full potential and accelerate the pace of change. I expect that they will do this with passion and enthusiasm and that they can rely on them to lead with the highest levels of integrity and dedication the components of our culture that make Blizzard so special.
Activision Blizzard continues to face pressure from all sides after an explosive lawsuit was made public last week. The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) has filed suit against Activision Blizzard for widespread gender discrimination and sexual harassment at the publishing houses Call of Duty and World of Warcraft. Activision Blizzard’s Official Response to the Suit accuses the DFEH of being “distorted” […] and false” descriptions and insists the painted image “isn’t the Blizzard workplace of today.” An open letter objecting to the official response was signed by thousands of current and former Acti-Blizz employees, and on Wednesday a Strike staged. Acti-Blizz CEO Bobby Kotick would eventually apologize for the company’s initial response, calling it “tone deaf.”
Brack himself remained largely silent as his company was engulfed in turmoil, although he did send a letter directly to employees (shared by Jason Schreier) calling the allegations “deeply disturbing” and expressing his disdain for “bro culture”. The response was perceived by many as clumsy and inadequate.
Activision Blizzard is holding their call for quarterly earnings today. More news is likely to come.
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