Brendan McDermid / reuters
The protests against Activision Blizzard’s inaction on sexism and sexual harassment are getting louder and louder, and the current CEO Bobby Kotick, who has been verbally criticized, seems to be unable to sit still. According to the Wall Street Journal, in a meeting with Blizzard Entertainment’s senior leaders last week, Kotick stated that if he could not quickly resolve corporate culture issues, he would consider resigning. It is said that Kotick also admitted that some things that happened during his tenure made him feel very “ashamed.” After learning that some employees insisted that he step down to be satisfied, Kotick also apologized for failing to properly handle the current problems.
After a recent article in the Wall Street Journal exposed that Kotick had condoned a large number of misconduct within the company over the years, a petition from Blizzard employees asking Kotick to step down appeared on the Internet, and major partners such as Sony and Microsoft also expressed their concerns. However, Activision Blizzard’s board of directors did not seem to be moved. They stated on the same day that they “remain confident that Kotick can handle workplace problems.”
