Activision boss Kotick holds meeting after Xbox takeover, worries employees in 16 minutes

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick actually wanted to calm things down with a company meeting after the employees had only found out about the takeover by Microsoft and Xbox through the press. However, things did not go as the employees had been promised and as they had expected.

What was that meeting? According to the reports, employees were told that the meeting would last 30 minutes. Also, since there was no live chat feature, they had to email their questions. These questions should then be answered in the meeting. But that didn’t go as planned.

• Bobby Kotick was initially 7 minutes late for the meeting.
• He hardly answered any questions, mainly talking about the chances of the deal and that Microsoft is obliged to take on as many employees as possible.
• He also talked about his future again. He wants to stay until the takeover is complete. If necessary, even longer.
• Then he ended the meeting after just 16 minutes. Even if you subtract the 7 minutes that he was late, there would still have been more minutes left.

That and the statements made during the meeting did not exactly calm the minds of many employees. While some are unimpressed, some are now more concerned than before. This is from a report by Washington Post out.

Employees fear revenge and that Kotick will stay

This is how the meeting went: Kotick spoke about the future of the company while Chief People Officer Julie Hodges read him questions from employees’ emails.

To allay fears of layoffs, Kotick said that “the transition will be smooth because [Microsoft] committed to keeping as many employees as possible”.

After many employees recently called for Kotick’s resignation and there have already been layoffs at Activision, some now even fear possible revenge terminations by Activision after this comment.

All the fear and anger that you feel is still tied to Bobby Kotick and the damage he will do until the torch is passed to Microsoft,” the Blizzard employee said. “He compared Activision to his kids and I have a feeling he’s not going to let them go. Without mention of the strike, the litigation, or any of the ongoing issues, there might as well have been no Q&A at all. We could have read a press release and slept 15 minutes longer.

via Washington Post

Hodges and Kotick also addressed emailed questions about job security, salary changes and Microsoft’s gaming strategy. They jokingly assured employees that they would not switch to Microsoft Teams.

During the meeting, Kotick made it clear that he would not leave until the transition was complete and he felt the timing was right. This also did not make the employees jump for joy, as can be seen from an anonymous statement.

Accordingly, some employees are more likely to put their hopes in a quick takeover by Microsoft and a departure from Bobby Kotick. According to the statements, however, he does not seem particularly willing to give up his company quickly.

It remains to be seen whether he will actually leave Activision Blizzard completely. We won’t find out before 2023 anyway, because the deal is not expected to be completed until the end of the 2023 financial year.

Why is this such a big topic? Activision Blizzard has been regularly involved in sexism scandals for months, and it is even being investigated. CEO Bobby Kotick is even implicated himself and allegations have been made against him personally.

That is why his resignation is being demanded by employees and investors and speculation was already being made when the deal became known. It is currently assumed that he will at least no longer be CEO once the deal is completed.

Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard rocks the gaming world

What exactly is going on there? This is the situation:

There are now answers to some of these questions. For example, we know that the Call of Duty shooter series will apparently continue to appear on PlayStation. Xbox boss Phil Spencer revealed this in an interview.