The thorny case of California v Activision Blizzard reaps its first major executive victim.
In a note also shared by CharlieIntel on Twitter, the president of Blizzard Entertainment, J. Allen Brackhas officially resigned his resignation from the company.
The role is assigned, at least momentarily, to Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra.
Activision Blizzard, as you may have already read on our pages in the past few days, ended up at the center of a media cyclone after the state of California sued the company for toxic work environment and sexual harassment casesamong which was also reported the suicide of an employee who was no longer able to tolerate the behavior of her superior.
The response from Activision’s CEO, Bobby Kotickwhich promised to improve the working environment, however, did not succeed in appeasing the protests of the employees, who signed a long letter addressed to the managers in which they complained about the lightness with which these accusations were taken into consideration, and then carried out a march in front of Blizzard studios in Irvine.
J. Allen Brackpresident of Blizzard since 2018, had expressed concern in recent days over the allegations made against the studio, but the situation must have precipitated after the total media silence of the American giant for entire days.
In a note released by Blizzard, which you can see below, the company announces that Allen Brack was relieved of the post of CEO of Blizzard Entertainment effective immediately, a position that will now be held by Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra.
To all members of the Blizzard community,
We wanted to let you know of a major change in Blizzard Entertainment’s leadership.
Starting today, J. Allen Brack will no longer be the studio leader, and Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra will co-lead Blizzard into the future.
Breaking: Blizzard Entertainment President J. Allen Brack has resigned. pic.twitter.com/BC35jbA55H
– CharlieIntel – Call of Duty News (@charlieINTEL) August 3, 2021
As you have been able to read, the Blizzard note does not offer any details on the reasons behind the choice of J. Allen Brack.
Meanwhile, the two new co-leaders of Blizzard begin to plan the future of a company that is coming out with broken bones from the media cyclone of the last few weeks. If nothing else, these are prestigious names in the gaming world with a great past behind them, so the Blizzard franchises are in good hands.
Jen Oneal joined Blizzard last January, becoming executive vice president of development and overseeing the Overwatch and Diablo franchises.
Mike YbarraInstead, after a long career on Xbox, he joined the Californian company in 2019, and under his supervision the Battle.net service was enhanced.
