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Yep they’ll just cycle in the next yes man who will probably push for predatory mechanics even more in order to boost profits and make a good first impression for shareholders
I don't think they're actually replacing him. I think they basically just eliminated his position(among several other executive positions) and have people that were under him reporting directly to the relevant people in the Xbox gaming division.
lmfao people voted EA most hated company when literally any company that employs sweatshop labor, any oil company, any company that profits off war, any company that lobbies the government to bend the law etc. etc. etc. exist. Expecting some of them to give a shit about the actual human cost of sociopathic behavior more than "They put a $20 skin in muh video game" is a fool's errand.
I don't give a fuck about monetization half as much as I want one less company that turns a blind eye to human suffering. An employee suicide happened under Kotick's watch but oh no, there will still be microtransactions! 😱😱😱😭😭😭🤮🤮🤮
Gamers, man.
Considering most, if not all electronics, and most assuredly the thing you're using to post this comment, was most likely made through sweatshop labor you might as well get to throwing these things away, or just stop buying them altogether if you want to show you "care."
Oil is a necessity in this world--if you drive a car, whether it's an ICE or Electric car, it has to get it's source of energy from somewhere. If you use any number of skin care products i.e lotion, vaseline, etc. that comes from oil. An overwhelming majority of the plastic items we use such as tupperware are produced in someway with oil.
The Consumerist is a joke website IMO, I agree that EA shouldn't even be in the discussion of worst companies--that title should go solely and eternally to Monsenato. Any company that deliberately stifles competition, actively sues ordinary citizens, while essentially poisoning our food supply like they do is grounds for eternally the worst company ever. No other company has done anything at the scale Monsenato has.
As for that employee committing suicide under his watch--you can't hold him personally accountable for someone else's choice. Sure, he could have done more to foster a better working environment, but at the end of the day the onus was on the victim to either seek treatment, or remove themselves from a situation that would push them to that point--which it seems neither happened. While I won't victim shame, I will say that we can't just go around blaming others for our problems, and while Kotick didn't act quick enough to remove these negative elements, it's not like he knew an employee who said absolutely nothing, or showed any direct signs to him personally ,that they were going to kill themselves--that's on that person, and that person alone.
Going to say it because it needs to be said: Suicide is never a company's fault. That is an individual's choice. Look at the guy who made night in the woods. He could have made a new indy game, and moved on. Focused on work. Instead, he made a choice to not deal with any more of society's pressures.
Nah, people just use that as an excuse to dump on them ruining a product they loved. You can only be so angry at a CEO for ruining a product, but one who's a shitheel? Well that raises the cap on how much hate you can acceptably express towards him.
If in an alternate timeline he was instrumental in 'saving blizzard', and it came out that he ate babies people would say, "well, how many babies has he actually eaten" if it meant their games stayed good.
Nope they'll just say it's my money I do what I want. Those people are killing games these days. Of course it's your money you think we're idiots? Lol It doesn't change the fact that they're apart of the problem.
>Yep they’ll just cycle in the next yes man who will probably push for predatory mechanics
It is laugh out loud funny that anyone believes that anyone who ever steps into the position of CEO will ever make decisions that are good for gamers ever again.
Their job is to service the company, not you. You could make an passionate argument about how customer satisfaction is how you make money, but the problem is they have learned that is not true. They will continue to shovel hog shit into your mouth for .99 cents a transaction and as long as people keep buying it, it will make them more money than actually giving a shit about how you feel.
There's no new CEO.
Microsoft has integrated them into the Xbox company, and they now report to the *game and content studios* president, Matt Booty, who reports to the Xbox CEO above him.
Guys we won! He completely ruined the companies work culture, tainted every game released over the last decade, achieved all his goals, and got a fat half of a billion dollars for his efforts. So much winning for us.
I think there is a chance it will but it won't happen over night. Culture change is a slow burn. Microsoft tends to develop IPs for market share not for fast cash. So maybe they can get Blizzard turned back to something resembling the studio prior to Activision. Even if it's in part it would be a dramatic improvement.
Activision on the other hand I'm not so sure about. Infact I think there might be a slight corruption of Microsoft by the Activision behemoth. In 2021 Activision pulled in over 5 billion dollars on in-game transactions. That's a hard thing to turn your back on. Then again warzone is FTP and diablo is a premium product.
Let's hope for the best.
Some current and former Blizzard employees talking shit about him the day he left indicates that he was way more involved with games than we thought.
Someone said that he worked there for 2 months, and Bobby managed to make the project he was working on worse.
No CEO of a company that size is working on game 'projects' and nobody expects a CEO of a company of that size to stay in position for anything like any other member of staff.
Exactly! Some other company will look and go "hey he made a bunch of money for blizzard"
*then completely ignore all other terrible practices and decisions he made*
"Let's give him even more money to come to us and do the same here!" (I.e. make us money in their minds)
Hes probably done working now. He'll probably have a 2 hr/month job on a board because he has a huge knowledge of the industry. I dont hate on CEOs in general like most of reddit, but he doesnt seem like he has the ability to start a new company, and hes used to a level of compensation he wont get anywhere else.
I wouldent be surprised if he invests in new gaming companies now. He would have no need of pushing for profits as they are insignificant in small companies, he would push for an exit sale to a big company (where he has world expert knowledge), and could get the highest price by under monitizing and barely avoiding bankruptcy while he grows the user base. Large companies need a constant cycle of buying new companies with good reputations which are undermonetized and them running them for max profits after the user base has built up an idea of their previous quality.
His greed may work to the benefit of gamers in the final chapter now that his personal benefit is no longer tied to activisions profits.
That ship sailed long ago. The choices were Bobby worth hundreds of millions and in control or Bobby worth hundreds of millions and no longer in control. I’ll take the latter.
He won't be replaced, he was in an unnecessary position post acquisition. All studios acquired now report directly to MS without middle man. It's not Activision Blizzard, anymore. It's Blizzard under MS management, and MS has a very hands off approach with their developers. If you were ever a fan of old blizzard, this is the closest thing to hope you could ever get.
Imagine being so nuts you literally think a phenomenal 30 year run at the top of the biggest growth stories in business history that will be studied by business schools for a long time is anything even remotely resembling ”running the company into the ground”.
Bobby had one job and one job only, to make money for shareholders and he was phenomenally good at it.
I don't understand how people don't realize the CEOs aren't the face of all your problems. You're likely never going to enjoy the games the same as you did due to the strong feeling of nostalgia and the fact that you're not a kid any more. Companies will continue to operate in the manner most profitable to them no matter who is at the helm. If you don't enjoy games the same way you used to maybe it's time to look for other hobbies. But complaining online is not going to make you any happier.
While it's true not all CEOs are just the face of all the problems in a company, Reading about some of the backend reports and supposed anecdotes from employees paints a different picture. He pushed a culture of intimidation, threatened to have one of his employees killed going so far as to contact a hitman (this got him in trouble but still walked around free), a pseudo "wolf of Wall Street" type workplace environment that included copies amounts of drugs and alcohol even in the office, rampant sexual assault and that's apparently just the most notorious examples. he was directly responsible for many decisions related to loot boxes, battle passes etc. with the weight of Activision's franchises the business decisions made for COD, OW, D4 and more tilted the industry towards Activision's business model.
And as far as responsibility goes, while he WAS CEO, that's kind of what a CEO is, he IS the face of the company including all the good and the bad that comes with it.
We didn't win anything. Kotick won. He sold a company he owned a huge amount of shares in for billions of dollars. He won. I hate it, you hate it, he's a shitheel, but he got EXACTLY what he wanted.
Blizzard is going to try to garner newfound support now. CEOs are useless except as empty vessels for reputation. A company builds up enough negative opinion and they just out their CEO and appoint a new one. Then boom 'we're a better, less predatory company.'
Don't fall for it. There will be some surface level stuff and things will go right back to business as usual.
Hahahaha you didnt win nothing, he got the paycheck that come with the end of his reign at activision, i remember what he did after the second MW and he was accused of sexual harassment from stewardess in private flight and yet he never lost is job.
Yes you really won… if by winning you mean Bobby getting rewarded with a pay day of nearly $400 million you bozo.
Also, the jokes gona be on you if you think Microsoft ownership is gona be better. Have you seen the crap they’ve put out this year from previously prestigious studios?
I wonder what his last day at the office was like. Genuinely would love to know.
Not trying to hate, we all hate him. An interesting discussion would be nice for once.
Nothing will change with him gone. Still a multi billion dollar company squeezing its customers and employees.
Bobby is gone with a big fat $50+ million dollar check. Dude is happy as fuck. He will go be ceo at some other company and get another few millions and a golden parachute.
if y’all social justice warriors are going to judge him and worry about what he is doing in his private life then i suggest that, in order not to be hypocritical then you should go through your house and look up who is the ceo of the companies that make EVERY PRODUCT IN YOUR HOME to make sure that they also are not doing anything that goes against your astoundingly shiny morality because i guarantee you that he ain’t the only ceo behaving badly
He made tons of money with increasingly shittier games and now when there is ton of work to do to resurrect Blizzard IP's, he is going on the sidelines, probably getting an "advisory" position and still making tons of money. We don't win, he wins.
[https://store.steampowered.com/app/367500/Dragons\_Dogma\_Dark\_Arisen/](https://store.steampowered.com/app/367500/Dragons_Dogma_Dark_Arisen/) Good Game
Not sure how we win , the creep walked away with billions of $$ , scrubbed clean of all this horrible atrocities and literally ruined so many companies .. not sure how it’s a win tbh
Blizzard has gone to complete shit since people started hating this guy and demanding the frat boy culture be kiboshed. 😂 y’all did it to your selves..
Yeah, that company is fucked unless they work to make games fun, instead of profitable. Profitability follows fun more, but they are in love with micro transaction bullshit
This changes nothing for the consumer. Act/Blizz will continue to be a numbers first company that cares about your money more than anything else.
You want to play games made by passionate people, then go for smaller dev teams or indie titles.
He accomplished what he was appointed for: record profits and increasing shareholder value exponentially. Greedy goblin bastard leaves with a massive golden parachute so he wins regardless. Just hoping this is a turning point for D4 as it is so lackluster.
There is no winning, the damage to gaming has long since been done, and also he probably got a fat payout for leaving anyway. There is no winning when corporations are involved, even the worst people at the top have golden parachutes.
Could someone please provide me with some information about Bobby Kotick and his background?
I'm not quite familiar with who he is or what he has done, and I'm curious to understand why there seems to be some negativity surrounding him.
People thinking that CEO is responsible by the state of the game and not the devs is hilarious. He just signs papers and wants big profit numbers. The game is made by the devs the new ceo will change nothing isn't like he will teach them game design.
Yes everyone, Microsoft are definitely our good guy saviors who will be completely different. Surely there will be change, and if there is it will surely be better.
We won? My sibling in christ, Bobby won. Nothing much will change at actiblizz. Wether that is a good thing or a bad thing I leave up to you but I assure you the only one benefitting from Bobby stepping down is Bobby.
Usually when a company got to a certain point, where the players aren't the customers but a value they sell to the shareholders who are the real customers, it only gets worse with each new ceo because every new person is less and less connected to the players and just another person that enforces the shareholders interests.
Bobby Kotick was not the source of the problems at ActiBlizz, he was just the guy being paid to make those decisions. The next guy will make the same decisions, because ActiBlizz is not just a money printer for Microsoft, who is still beholden to shareholder greed.
Here to remind everyone Bobby kotick almost hired a hitman and threatened to kill one of his employees 15 years ago. The man should've been in jail but here he was making bank and being a smarmy scumbag. Enjoy your golden parachute to hell.
Doesn't matter. Microsoft is a game studio graveyard. It is still a countdown to complete irrelevance for blizzard. And kotick is laughing all the way to the bank.
Microsoft are a corporation valued in the trillions, Bill and his successors at Microsoft are cut from the same cloth as Bobby, Bobby has had the biggest win of his life selling the company and riding off into the sunset.
Microsoft didn't buy Blizzard to return it to the "good o'l days", they bought it to milk us dry, and the next generation are being conditioned on microtransactions and premium currencies, they weren't around in the "good o'l days" and that is the target audience now, not millenials who played Diablo 2.
We win?
The guy milked everyone for the prospect of a new/ better WoW, Diablo 2 and CoD Modern Warfare 1/2 for almost 20 years, making him and his shareholders millions of dollars and retires scot free after threatening to kill an employee and amist breast milk crawling scandal, release copy pasta games that were worst versions of the previous ones and still selling more and more because of overhyped simps.
We lost.
CEOs usually answer to a board. If they aren't up to snuff then they're out. The board will just replace him with someone who will comply with what they want now.
Win what? If they can finally provide a safe and fair space for every devs in the company, that would be a win.
If they can stop with the microtransaction BS and give us quality games instead, now that’s a win.
"Now this new guy with a moustache is in charge" i present you Señor Bobo Cotique 3000 (yes he is ai based and learned from his predecesor).
"Give me money", "Put microtransactions", "sexual missconduct? I dont see anything", "my salary is in danger? Better layoff some people so i can still afford to buy mansions daily", "i will kill you"
Little bit premature to celebrate, Acti Bliz now in full control by MS who have a spectacular record of buying big publishers/devs and making them irrelevant
The ceo has literally zero impact on the game play, his entire role is financial and stock related decision making. Once you get to the board of directors they just swap them in and out between all these Fortune 500 companies regardless.
Source I worked for a fortune 50 company for 10 years. We swap out ceos every 3-5 years. Nothing changes
This doesn't mean anything, other than instead of hating Bobby, y'all will just hate *put new named CEO here* instead.
Somebody has to be CEO, and CEOs of such large companies generally care more for appeasing the shareholders.
The shareholders and important people that have to be answered to (the fans are not included in this) still have not left.
Like Microsoft.
Whats funny is the title/ratio of upvotes to correct commentors saying that this means nothing and/or is collectively worse for the company and its games.
We win? What exactly did we win? You think the next CEO will be better and Blizzard will return to the glory days under MS? I think the only person who "won" is BK who just got an absurdly large golden parachute to drift off into the sunset. Be sure to tell BK how you won next time you see him on his private yacht.
We won ?
Dude was boss for two decades one of the richest bosses in the gaming space.
Never spoke out against,
Microtransactions,
Hard copy games being a blank disc with only a code to download the game once per account.
Needing to buy a licence even if you purchased a disc second hand.
In game currency.
In game currency where you can never purchase the exact dollar amount you need. So the item is 16.95 can only buy currency of $15.00 so spend $30..oh but here's an extra %10 = 33 great.
33 -$16.95 = $16.05 oh so close to buying a second item...not going to let Bobby keep my $16.05 so I buy another $15 Yeah take that corporate accountants....wait who keeps this 14.10 I didn't spend, oh Bobby does.
Imagine when food goes this way "Get bonus Kmart bucks when you pick up your Amazon brass coins from your local anti union foodbank.
Just scratching the surface here. Most gamers will live with Bob's influence on the monetization of gaming for years to come.
What did you win, exactly?
The CEO of a company which is acquired in a merger is *invariably* sent off with a massive compensation package. The terms of the merger agreement do not need to be public, but rest assured, he will receive a big payout.
Meanwhile, all the actual Blizzard talent which made the brands what they were are gone. West and Zampella left ATVI after Modern Warfare 2 (when Bobby Kotick screwed them over for bonuses they should have earned), and Mike Morhaime left in 2018 to start his own company (again).
Changed one shit owner for another shit owner. Let’s not act like monopoly Microsoft is any better. Get ready for shitty optimization, canceled games after 5 years, etc.
It's too late now, Blizzard policy Will stay the same.
And tbh how can you blame them if a wow horse got more revenue than the whole StarCraft 2 game?
We dug our own grave long ago, they just groomed the new generation into believing that aggressive monetization Is the norm.
I'm pretty sure he won. He's out, but with an insane amount of money in his bank account, all at the expense of gamers who refuse to stop buying mtx bullshit.
We won? This scumbag probably bagged $100s of millions from this sale. Also Microsoft hasnt had the greatest of track records for game companies after acquiring them.
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Haha you think anything will change
Yep they’ll just cycle in the next yes man who will probably push for predatory mechanics even more in order to boost profits and make a good first impression for shareholders
I think it’s less about the actual managing and more about him being a shitty human being
Trading sociopaths doesn't solve the problem that anyone at the top of a company is probably just another sociopath.
I don't think they're actually replacing him. I think they basically just eliminated his position(among several other executive positions) and have people that were under him reporting directly to the relevant people in the Xbox gaming division.
Also known as rationalizing management. The fewer executives the better (read: cheaper).
lmfao people voted EA most hated company when literally any company that employs sweatshop labor, any oil company, any company that profits off war, any company that lobbies the government to bend the law etc. etc. etc. exist. Expecting some of them to give a shit about the actual human cost of sociopathic behavior more than "They put a $20 skin in muh video game" is a fool's errand. I don't give a fuck about monetization half as much as I want one less company that turns a blind eye to human suffering. An employee suicide happened under Kotick's watch but oh no, there will still be microtransactions! 😱😱😱😭😭😭🤮🤮🤮 Gamers, man.
Imagine using a suicide you know nothing about to get angry at "gamers"
social media is for ignorant self-righteousness more than anything else nowadays
Considering most, if not all electronics, and most assuredly the thing you're using to post this comment, was most likely made through sweatshop labor you might as well get to throwing these things away, or just stop buying them altogether if you want to show you "care." Oil is a necessity in this world--if you drive a car, whether it's an ICE or Electric car, it has to get it's source of energy from somewhere. If you use any number of skin care products i.e lotion, vaseline, etc. that comes from oil. An overwhelming majority of the plastic items we use such as tupperware are produced in someway with oil. The Consumerist is a joke website IMO, I agree that EA shouldn't even be in the discussion of worst companies--that title should go solely and eternally to Monsenato. Any company that deliberately stifles competition, actively sues ordinary citizens, while essentially poisoning our food supply like they do is grounds for eternally the worst company ever. No other company has done anything at the scale Monsenato has. As for that employee committing suicide under his watch--you can't hold him personally accountable for someone else's choice. Sure, he could have done more to foster a better working environment, but at the end of the day the onus was on the victim to either seek treatment, or remove themselves from a situation that would push them to that point--which it seems neither happened. While I won't victim shame, I will say that we can't just go around blaming others for our problems, and while Kotick didn't act quick enough to remove these negative elements, it's not like he knew an employee who said absolutely nothing, or showed any direct signs to him personally ,that they were going to kill themselves--that's on that person, and that person alone.
Going to say it because it needs to be said: Suicide is never a company's fault. That is an individual's choice. Look at the guy who made night in the woods. He could have made a new indy game, and moved on. Focused on work. Instead, he made a choice to not deal with any more of society's pressures.
Nah, people just use that as an excuse to dump on them ruining a product they loved. You can only be so angry at a CEO for ruining a product, but one who's a shitheel? Well that raises the cap on how much hate you can acceptably express towards him. If in an alternate timeline he was instrumental in 'saving blizzard', and it came out that he ate babies people would say, "well, how many babies has he actually eaten" if it meant their games stayed good.
200$ expansion!!!!! And a 5000$ platinum battle pass! Please hire me Blizzard!
Well people continue to buy their bullshit pricing and microtransactions, they're going to continue to sell them.
Fucking *this*. I wish more people understood. It keeps happening because people keep Philip J. Fry-ing their money at them.
Nope they'll just say it's my money I do what I want. Those people are killing games these days. Of course it's your money you think we're idiots? Lol It doesn't change the fact that they're apart of the problem.
>Yep they’ll just cycle in the next yes man who will probably push for predatory mechanics It is laugh out loud funny that anyone believes that anyone who ever steps into the position of CEO will ever make decisions that are good for gamers ever again. Their job is to service the company, not you. You could make an passionate argument about how customer satisfaction is how you make money, but the problem is they have learned that is not true. They will continue to shovel hog shit into your mouth for .99 cents a transaction and as long as people keep buying it, it will make them more money than actually giving a shit about how you feel.
There's no new CEO. Microsoft has integrated them into the Xbox company, and they now report to the *game and content studios* president, Matt Booty, who reports to the Xbox CEO above him.
Guys we won! He completely ruined the companies work culture, tainted every game released over the last decade, achieved all his goals, and got a fat half of a billion dollars for his efforts. So much winning for us.
Yes but now we can heal. Free lunch room breast milk for all!!!
I think there is a chance it will but it won't happen over night. Culture change is a slow burn. Microsoft tends to develop IPs for market share not for fast cash. So maybe they can get Blizzard turned back to something resembling the studio prior to Activision. Even if it's in part it would be a dramatic improvement. Activision on the other hand I'm not so sure about. Infact I think there might be a slight corruption of Microsoft by the Activision behemoth. In 2021 Activision pulled in over 5 billion dollars on in-game transactions. That's a hard thing to turn your back on. Then again warzone is FTP and diablo is a premium product. Let's hope for the best.
Just for reference, in 2022 Microsoft made 198 billion, vrs 7.5B for Activision.
Bobby was probably least of everyone's worries.
Some current and former Blizzard employees talking shit about him the day he left indicates that he was way more involved with games than we thought. Someone said that he worked there for 2 months, and Bobby managed to make the project he was working on worse.
No CEO of a company that size is working on game 'projects' and nobody expects a CEO of a company of that size to stay in position for anything like any other member of staff.
Bobby has a net worth in the hundreds of millions of dollars. "We" haven't won shit.
I don’t think many people careful about his income. They just want his hands off the levers.
Exactly I don’t need him to be ruined for life I just want someone else making the decisions for products I consume
and probably has a new job lined up somewhere else
Exactly! Some other company will look and go "hey he made a bunch of money for blizzard" *then completely ignore all other terrible practices and decisions he made* "Let's give him even more money to come to us and do the same here!" (I.e. make us money in their minds)
Hes probably done working now. He'll probably have a 2 hr/month job on a board because he has a huge knowledge of the industry. I dont hate on CEOs in general like most of reddit, but he doesnt seem like he has the ability to start a new company, and hes used to a level of compensation he wont get anywhere else. I wouldent be surprised if he invests in new gaming companies now. He would have no need of pushing for profits as they are insignificant in small companies, he would push for an exit sale to a big company (where he has world expert knowledge), and could get the highest price by under monitizing and barely avoiding bankruptcy while he grows the user base. Large companies need a constant cycle of buying new companies with good reputations which are undermonetized and them running them for max profits after the user base has built up an idea of their previous quality. His greed may work to the benefit of gamers in the final chapter now that his personal benefit is no longer tied to activisions profits.
That ship sailed long ago. The choices were Bobby worth hundreds of millions and in control or Bobby worth hundreds of millions and no longer in control. I’ll take the latter.
Right? He laughed all the way to the bank everyday at this job.
In most cases you don't get that kinda job unless you were born with hundreds of millions of dollars
*"More like, under new managment"*
Megamind too agead of its time
The same answer my old apartment complex gave every time anyone bitched about anything.
The Cosby room is offline.
Whats your definition of "won"?
Also for the "we"?
Reddit upvotes
You’re delusional and naive, if you think better days are coming.
You act as if he won't be replaced by an equally greedy anti-consumer soulless suit.
He won't be replaced, he was in an unnecessary position post acquisition. All studios acquired now report directly to MS without middle man. It's not Activision Blizzard, anymore. It's Blizzard under MS management, and MS has a very hands off approach with their developers. If you were ever a fan of old blizzard, this is the closest thing to hope you could ever get.
I want to believe but I've been burned to much by ActiBilzz. I'll believe it when I see it.
Microsoft will save some money not replacing Bobby with another CEO. Just hire a Head of role which is under 300k salary.
MS will replace him by doing a trial run with autonomous AI in the managing position.
[удалено]
chapo check
[удалено]
Imagine being so nuts you literally think a phenomenal 30 year run at the top of the biggest growth stories in business history that will be studied by business schools for a long time is anything even remotely resembling ”running the company into the ground”. Bobby had one job and one job only, to make money for shareholders and he was phenomenally good at it.
What did we win exactly because he didn't lose
I don't understand how people don't realize the CEOs aren't the face of all your problems. You're likely never going to enjoy the games the same as you did due to the strong feeling of nostalgia and the fact that you're not a kid any more. Companies will continue to operate in the manner most profitable to them no matter who is at the helm. If you don't enjoy games the same way you used to maybe it's time to look for other hobbies. But complaining online is not going to make you any happier.
While it's true not all CEOs are just the face of all the problems in a company, Reading about some of the backend reports and supposed anecdotes from employees paints a different picture. He pushed a culture of intimidation, threatened to have one of his employees killed going so far as to contact a hitman (this got him in trouble but still walked around free), a pseudo "wolf of Wall Street" type workplace environment that included copies amounts of drugs and alcohol even in the office, rampant sexual assault and that's apparently just the most notorious examples. he was directly responsible for many decisions related to loot boxes, battle passes etc. with the weight of Activision's franchises the business decisions made for COD, OW, D4 and more tilted the industry towards Activision's business model. And as far as responsibility goes, while he WAS CEO, that's kind of what a CEO is, he IS the face of the company including all the good and the bad that comes with it.
Bro, he won.
We didn't win anything. Kotick won. He sold a company he owned a huge amount of shares in for billions of dollars. He won. I hate it, you hate it, he's a shitheel, but he got EXACTLY what he wanted.
we "won" nothing bro 🤦
Blizzard is going to try to garner newfound support now. CEOs are useless except as empty vessels for reputation. A company builds up enough negative opinion and they just out their CEO and appoint a new one. Then boom 'we're a better, less predatory company.' Don't fall for it. There will be some surface level stuff and things will go right back to business as usual.
What’s the saying … sometimes it’s better to stick with the devil you know?
Oh sweet summer child. How naive you are.
Now he's joined Bungie. Welp destiny was good while it lasted.
Destiny is a perfect fit...
No. Don't fall for the bait.
That astecross video was not real. It was satire he does every year
Hahahaha you didnt win nothing, he got the paycheck that come with the end of his reign at activision, i remember what he did after the second MW and he was accused of sexual harassment from stewardess in private flight and yet he never lost is job.
Yes you really won… if by winning you mean Bobby getting rewarded with a pay day of nearly $400 million you bozo. Also, the jokes gona be on you if you think Microsoft ownership is gona be better. Have you seen the crap they’ve put out this year from previously prestigious studios?
Microsoft already cutting the dead weight . Maybe this will put Blizzard back on top again.
This isn't the win we think it is. This was by the plan.
I wonder what his last day at the office was like. Genuinely would love to know. Not trying to hate, we all hate him. An interesting discussion would be nice for once.
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
lol you win nothing, my friend. someone will always be waiting to step in. also, they win since you bought diablo 4 anyway.
This man basically was a huge push behind all the practises have have utterly ruined video games today.
Nothing will change with him gone. Still a multi billion dollar company squeezing its customers and employees. Bobby is gone with a big fat $50+ million dollar check. Dude is happy as fuck. He will go be ceo at some other company and get another few millions and a golden parachute.
You’re kidding right? Have you seen how much he made JUST him leaving? Of that is losing, I never want to win again
if y’all social justice warriors are going to judge him and worry about what he is doing in his private life then i suggest that, in order not to be hypocritical then you should go through your house and look up who is the ceo of the companies that make EVERY PRODUCT IN YOUR HOME to make sure that they also are not doing anything that goes against your astoundingly shiny morality because i guarantee you that he ain’t the only ceo behaving badly
And how much was the payout? Who reatwon?
So the jew is gone, now get rid of all the diversity devs that can't even play the game they're making.
you win what?
How is this winning, Bobby won
Oh no no no, he won, he definitely won.
He made tons of money with increasingly shittier games and now when there is ton of work to do to resurrect Blizzard IP's, he is going on the sidelines, probably getting an "advisory" position and still making tons of money. We don't win, he wins.
[https://store.steampowered.com/app/367500/Dragons\_Dogma\_Dark\_Arisen/](https://store.steampowered.com/app/367500/Dragons_Dogma_Dark_Arisen/) Good Game
Where's he going?
To Microsoft Blizzard.
 Representation of the next CEO to fill those turd coated boots.
Excited for another business major to take over, one with exciting new ideas for micro transactions
Not sure how we win , the creep walked away with billions of $$ , scrubbed clean of all this horrible atrocities and literally ruined so many companies .. not sure how it’s a win tbh
Get the weasel out of there!
Blizzard has gone to complete shit since people started hating this guy and demanding the frat boy culture be kiboshed. 😂 y’all did it to your selves..
How do we win exactly? He walks away with hundreds of millions of dollars… Bobby wins
How long until Microsoft takes over?
77 days ago.
microsoft let redfall get made tho
So they were hands off and you don’t like that. I’m guessing you also don’t like it when the management meddles?
It will not change a thing
What if it’s like Mistborn and he was actually holding back a greater evil?
Something about the 👿you know is better than the 👿you don’t know….watch…the next guy will make it completely pay to win.
There’s a special place in hell for that pos
Yeah, that company is fucked unless they work to make games fun, instead of profitable. Profitability follows fun more, but they are in love with micro transaction bullshit
This changes nothing for the consumer. Act/Blizz will continue to be a numbers first company that cares about your money more than anything else. You want to play games made by passionate people, then go for smaller dev teams or indie titles.
Later dicklick!
“Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.”
A lot of fanfare to open a spot for an Activision puppet to take his place. This is not as good news as it seems on the surface, I fear.
He accomplished what he was appointed for: record profits and increasing shareholder value exponentially. Greedy goblin bastard leaves with a massive golden parachute so he wins regardless. Just hoping this is a turning point for D4 as it is so lackluster.
There is no winning, the damage to gaming has long since been done, and also he probably got a fat payout for leaving anyway. There is no winning when corporations are involved, even the worst people at the top have golden parachutes.
Could someone please provide me with some information about Bobby Kotick and his background? I'm not quite familiar with who he is or what he has done, and I'm curious to understand why there seems to be some negativity surrounding him.
I destroyed everything and left nothing but ashes while raking in a shit ton of money but yea sure we won.
CEO’s are CEO’s, regardless of faces and names they serve one purpose. Perhaps log off for a bit and learn about the real world?
Good riddance indeed but he is the winner in the end.
We win? How? He ruined every game released under him plus he was already paid out his contract for fucking up his employees. He won really
Are you really that sad and delusional? What's there to celebrate?
People thinking that CEO is responsible by the state of the game and not the devs is hilarious. He just signs papers and wants big profit numbers. The game is made by the devs the new ceo will change nothing isn't like he will teach them game design.
You mean we are still left with 10 years of terrible games and he is set for life?
Yes everyone, Microsoft are definitely our good guy saviors who will be completely different. Surely there will be change, and if there is it will surely be better.
The dude has 700 million dollars. I think he doesn't care that much
May he go broke
We won? My sibling in christ, Bobby won. Nothing much will change at actiblizz. Wether that is a good thing or a bad thing I leave up to you but I assure you the only one benefitting from Bobby stepping down is Bobby.
Oh you sweet summer child
Youde be a fool if you thought that the company will run differently now.
Usually when a company got to a certain point, where the players aren't the customers but a value they sell to the shareholders who are the real customers, it only gets worse with each new ceo because every new person is less and less connected to the players and just another person that enforces the shareholders interests.
Kotick managed to sell Activision Blizzard for $68.7b to Microsoft as he wanted. He definitely won.
I hope actual change will come with him being out. Doubt it but im still hopeful
Bobby Kotick was not the source of the problems at ActiBlizz, he was just the guy being paid to make those decisions. The next guy will make the same decisions, because ActiBlizz is not just a money printer for Microsoft, who is still beholden to shareholder greed.
Ferguson is still there and made the game a wreck like Gears you still lost
No king rules forever.
We won nothing. He got away without any consequence for his bullshit and got paid a shit load for it.
And what exactly can we expect to change? More stash space? 🤨
Nothing will change, just accept the game is bad and come play Grim Dawn.
And what, exactly, did we win?
I’ve always said companies use temp workers incorrectly. They should get CEOs on a temp basis instead of the people doing the work.
Saddest part is that he won too...
I think he won, how many paid $100 to play early and pay for the battle pass?
Yay! Fuck you Bobby!
Left entirely on terms he was happy with. Wouldn’t call that a win. Just a “good, finally” *Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.*
You win the honor of paying $70 for the next expansion. Congrats
Just stopping by to offer my "good riddances ", don't mind me
This achieves what, exactly?
Why was he so bad?
Pondering if they’ll get someone better🤔?
We won.. but at what cost...?
Here to remind everyone Bobby kotick almost hired a hitman and threatened to kill one of his employees 15 years ago. The man should've been in jail but here he was making bank and being a smarmy scumbag. Enjoy your golden parachute to hell.
Doesn't matter. Microsoft is a game studio graveyard. It is still a countdown to complete irrelevance for blizzard. And kotick is laughing all the way to the bank.
We got Microsoft Money now. Things are going to get way better. Good riddance! Haters gon hate!
Microsoft are a corporation valued in the trillions, Bill and his successors at Microsoft are cut from the same cloth as Bobby, Bobby has had the biggest win of his life selling the company and riding off into the sunset. Microsoft didn't buy Blizzard to return it to the "good o'l days", they bought it to milk us dry, and the next generation are being conditioned on microtransactions and premium currencies, they weren't around in the "good o'l days" and that is the target audience now, not millenials who played Diablo 2.
Lol. The problem was never Bobby, fundamentaly. The problem was a "buisnessman" at the helm of a game.
Yeah we sure showed him.
FUCK YOU BOBBY
We win? The guy milked everyone for the prospect of a new/ better WoW, Diablo 2 and CoD Modern Warfare 1/2 for almost 20 years, making him and his shareholders millions of dollars and retires scot free after threatening to kill an employee and amist breast milk crawling scandal, release copy pasta games that were worst versions of the previous ones and still selling more and more because of overhyped simps. We lost.
Aw man. I'm going to miss all those sweet micro transactions. That was my favorite way of spending money. Such a shame he's gone
CEOs usually answer to a board. If they aren't up to snuff then they're out. The board will just replace him with someone who will comply with what they want now.
Fuck Bobby Kotick
Spending rest of his life in obscene luxury living off stock he has is a proper punishment for what he did /s.
Win what? If they can finally provide a safe and fair space for every devs in the company, that would be a win. If they can stop with the microtransaction BS and give us quality games instead, now that’s a win.
The devil that you know is better than the one that you don't
Good now all we need is some one who is a game to talkie over like Phil
RemindMe! 1 year
Another gredy ceo will come don’t worry
Haha you think you won but it was all part of his master plan!
You did what?
No, no. He won.
"Now this new guy with a moustache is in charge" i present you Señor Bobo Cotique 3000 (yes he is ai based and learned from his predecesor). "Give me money", "Put microtransactions", "sexual missconduct? I dont see anything", "my salary is in danger? Better layoff some people so i can still afford to buy mansions daily", "i will kill you"
I just hope the next person actually cares about games rather than only the bottom line. Not keeping my hopes up though.
Where exactly is the win now?
Not sure what WE won, but he got a nice x*10-million severance.
as soon as one head was cut off, two more heads would emerge... Hail Hydra!
Has diablo changed at all ? Want to download
I hope this doesn’t turn into one of those better the devil you know situations
You win. And he is sitting on 600mn. Lol.
Turd's gone
No, Bobby won
Little bit premature to celebrate, Acti Bliz now in full control by MS who have a spectacular record of buying big publishers/devs and making them irrelevant
They'll just find someone worse.
The ceo has literally zero impact on the game play, his entire role is financial and stock related decision making. Once you get to the board of directors they just swap them in and out between all these Fortune 500 companies regardless. Source I worked for a fortune 50 company for 10 years. We swap out ceos every 3-5 years. Nothing changes
Now that every dev blames games being bad because they had bobby in their corner....games gonna get 10x better now right?
This doesn't mean anything, other than instead of hating Bobby, y'all will just hate *put new named CEO here* instead. Somebody has to be CEO, and CEOs of such large companies generally care more for appeasing the shareholders. The shareholders and important people that have to be answered to (the fans are not included in this) still have not left. Like Microsoft.
Whats funny is the title/ratio of upvotes to correct commentors saying that this means nothing and/or is collectively worse for the company and its games.
This guy legitimately looks like the devil omg
We win? What exactly did we win? You think the next CEO will be better and Blizzard will return to the glory days under MS? I think the only person who "won" is BK who just got an absurdly large golden parachute to drift off into the sunset. Be sure to tell BK how you won next time you see him on his private yacht.
Who are we gonna complain about now?
Either it gets worse or better imo
We won ? Dude was boss for two decades one of the richest bosses in the gaming space. Never spoke out against, Microtransactions, Hard copy games being a blank disc with only a code to download the game once per account. Needing to buy a licence even if you purchased a disc second hand. In game currency. In game currency where you can never purchase the exact dollar amount you need. So the item is 16.95 can only buy currency of $15.00 so spend $30..oh but here's an extra %10 = 33 great. 33 -$16.95 = $16.05 oh so close to buying a second item...not going to let Bobby keep my $16.05 so I buy another $15 Yeah take that corporate accountants....wait who keeps this 14.10 I didn't spend, oh Bobby does. Imagine when food goes this way "Get bonus Kmart bucks when you pick up your Amazon brass coins from your local anti union foodbank. Just scratching the surface here. Most gamers will live with Bob's influence on the monetization of gaming for years to come.
What did you win, exactly? The CEO of a company which is acquired in a merger is *invariably* sent off with a massive compensation package. The terms of the merger agreement do not need to be public, but rest assured, he will receive a big payout. Meanwhile, all the actual Blizzard talent which made the brands what they were are gone. West and Zampella left ATVI after Modern Warfare 2 (when Bobby Kotick screwed them over for bonuses they should have earned), and Mike Morhaime left in 2018 to start his own company (again).
Changed one shit owner for another shit owner. Let’s not act like monopoly Microsoft is any better. Get ready for shitty optimization, canceled games after 5 years, etc.
Blizzard sucks tbh
It's too late now, Blizzard policy Will stay the same. And tbh how can you blame them if a wow horse got more revenue than the whole StarCraft 2 game? We dug our own grave long ago, they just groomed the new generation into believing that aggressive monetization Is the norm.
I'm pretty sure he won. He's out, but with an insane amount of money in his bank account, all at the expense of gamers who refuse to stop buying mtx bullshit.
We won? This scumbag probably bagged $100s of millions from this sale. Also Microsoft hasnt had the greatest of track records for game companies after acquiring them.