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Spencer says Xbox "evaluating" relationship with Activision Blizzard

Spencer says Xbox "evaluating" relationship with Activision Blizzard

The head of Xbox Phil Spencer (pictured) says that the company is "evaluating" its relationship with Activision Blizzard.

That's according to an email seen by Bloomberg, in which the exec told staff that he is “evaluating all aspects of our relationship with Activision Blizzard and making ongoing proactive adjustments" following a damning expose about the company's CEO Robert Kotick.

Spencer went on to say that he and the rest of the Xbox leadership team are “disturbed and deeply troubled by the horrific events and actions."

The Xbox boss has since confirmed that this reporting is correct to IGN.

"I personally have strong values for a welcoming and inclusive environment for all of our employees at Xbox," Spencer said.

"This is not a destination but a journey that we will always be on. The leadership at Xbox and Microsoft stand by our teams and support them in building a safer environment for all."

In a statement to IGN, Activision Blizzard said: "We respect all feedback from our valued partners and are engaging with them further. We have detailed important changes we have implemented in recent weeks, and we will continue to do so. We are committed to the work of ensuring our culture and workplace are safe, diverse, and inclusive. We know it will take time, but we will not stop until we have the best workplace for our team."

This comes in the wake of a report from the Wall Street Journal which said that Kotick not only knew about sexual harassment and misconduct at Activision Blizzard but also withheld this information from the board. That's on top of he himself having been accused of such behaviour.


PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.