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Over 1.3k Activision Blizzard staff have called for Kotick's resignation

Over 1.3k Activision Blizzard staff have called for Kotick's resignation

More than 1,300 members of Activision Blizzard staff have signed a petition calling for the resignation of CEO Robert Kotick.

The petition – shared by the ABK Workers Alliance group – has been signed by 1,337 people at the time of writing. This isn't an anonymous affair either; people are leaving the name and job title alongside their signing.

That 1,337 figure represents roughly 14 per cent of the around 9,500 employees that Activision Blizzard has around the world as of December 31st, 2020.

"We, the undersigned, no longer have confidence in the leadership of Bobby Kotick as the CEO of Activision Blizzard," the petition reads.

"The information that has come to light about his behaviors and practices in the running of our companies runs counter to the culture and integrity we require of our leadership--and directly conflicts with the initiatives started by our peers. We ask that Bobby Kotick remove himself as CEO of Activision Blizzard, and that shareholders be allowed to select the new CEO without the input of Bobby, who we are aware owns a substantial portion of the voting rights of the shareholders."

Pressure is mounting on Activision Blizzard to fire Kotick in the wake of a damning expose by the Wall Street Journal into what the exec knew about misconduct and harassment at the firm, as well as allegations raised against him himself.

A coalition of shareholders is also demanding Kotick's resignation, as well as for two long-standing members of Activision Blizzard's board to step down.


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.