Blizzard President J. Allen Brack Leaves Company

Content Warning: Please note that the following article and related sources touch on topics including discrimination, sexual assault and harassment, and suicide.

---

July 21 Bloomberg Law reported that Activision Blizzard, the multi-billion dollar company behind Diablo, Overwatch and World of warcraft – was the subject of a lawsuit brought by the California Department of Housing and Fair Employment, regarding the company’s “frat boy culture” and widespread reports of sexual harassment and discrimination.

Less than two weeks later, Blizzard President J. Allen Brack who was specifically named in the lawsuit, has announced his resignation, effective immediately.

Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra will replace him as Blizzard co-leaders.

Oneal was previously the boss of Vicarious Visions, which was included in Blizzard earlier this year; Oneal was promoted to Blizzard’s Executive Vice President of Development as part of the initiative. Ybarra was previously corporate vice president of Xbox Live and Game Pass, moving to Blizzard in 2019 to become its executive vice president and general manager of platform and technology.

Blizzard posted a statement on its website., who spoke directly about his values ​​in the future:

“Both leaders are deeply committed to all of our employees – to the work ahead to ensure that Blizzard is the safest and most welcoming workplace possible for women and people of any gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation or background; to advocate and reinforce our values ​​and to rebuild your trust.

With their many years of industry experience and deep commitment to integrity and inclusion, Jen and Mike will lead Blizzard with care, compassion and dedication to excellence. You’ll find out more about Jen and Mike soon. “

Brack also issued a statement of his own:

“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 anticipate that they will do so with passion and enthusiasm and that they can be trusted to lead with the highest levels of integrity and commitment to the components of our culture that make Blizzard so special. “

In Independent Activision Blizzard Investor Website, they affirmed that Brack left the company “to look for new opportunities”, focusing in the appointment of two new executives and not in the exit of Brack.

J. Allen Brack’s departure from Blizzard comes a week after more than 2,000 Activision Blizzard employees signed a petition criticizing the company’s response to the recent state demand, as reported by CNN. Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision issued a statement in exchange, calling the initial response of the company “deaf”, but the employees responded again noting that Kotick’s statement did not “address the critical elements at the heart of employee concerns,” and organized a massive strike on July 28.

Due to the sensitive nature of this topic, we have made the decision to close comments on this article.