The Activision-Blizzard scandal continues to escalate as several big developments have taken place over the past few days that have resulted in big changes for the company.
Firstly one of the main sponsors for several of the company’s big E-sports events such as the Overwatch League and the Call of Duty League, T-Mobile, has backed out and removed all their branding from the respective games which is sure to result in a huge financial loss for Activision-Blizzard and may affect the multiplayer scene as a whole. Secondly while an independent law firm has been recruited to look into the workplace changes that could be made within the corporation many employees have stated that the firm in particular, WilmerHale, has been known to suppress and discourage worker rights and actions to unionise and alongside the personal relations that CEO Bobby Kotick has previously had with the firm they feel as though this will simply push things under the rug without any meaningful changes actually happening.
The biggest thing to change however is the fact that president of Blizzard, J. Allen Brack, has been removed from his position and instead the company will be co-run by Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra which is of particular note as Jen is the first woman to be in a leading position in the company since it’s inception. Is this a sign of the changes to come? Maybe, but something that should be noted is that this may very well just be a knee-jerk reaction to appease employees rather than making a big change internally but I suppose the only way to truly see is look at how this plays out over the coming months and years.
That’s all for now, and as always. It’s not just a game, It’s a Life.