Jessica Conditt
·Senior Editor
Tue, November 2, 2021
Jen Oneal has stepped down from her role as co-leader of Blizzard, leaving Mike Ybarra as the head of the studio known for making Overwatch, World of Warcraft and Diablo. Oneal will temporarily transition to a new position, but will leave Activision Blizzard (fine, and King) at the end of the year.
Activision Blizzard is facing a handful of lawsuits and investigations into reports of sexual harassment, gropings, and systemic gender discrimination at the studio, stemming from the leadership down. Oneal and Ybarra took over as co-leaders of Blizzard in August after president J. Allen Brack was named in the original California lawsuit, leading to his dismissal. Oneal was the first woman in a president role since Activision's founding in 1979.
Oneal published an open letter to the Blizzard community, reading in part as follows:
I have made the decision to step away from co-leading Blizzard Entertainment and will transition to a new position before departing ABK at the end of the year. Effective immediately, Mike Ybarra will lead Blizzard. I am doing this not because I am without hope for Blizzard, quite the opposite — I’m inspired by the passion of everyone here, working towards meaningful, lasting change with their whole hearts. This energy has inspired me to step out and explore how I can do more to have games and diversity intersect, and hopefully make a broader industry impact that will benefit Blizzard (and other studios) as well. While I am not totally sure what form that will take, I am excited to embark on a new journey to find out.
After months of pressure from employees, shareholders and government agencies, Activision Blizzard ended its policy of forced arbitration in cases of sexual harassment and discrimination, and implemented a zero-tolerance approach to harassment at the studio. The original California lawsuit is ongoing.
Blizzard announced two big delays alongside news of Oneal's departure: Overwatch 2 and Diablo IV, neither of which was given a release window
Activision loses Blizzard
co-leader, delays launch of 'Overwatch', 'Diablo'
(Reuters) - Activision Blizzard Inc co-leader Jen Oneal on Tuesday decided to step down from her role, giving full control to Mike Ybarra and the videogame publisher put off the launch of two much-awaited titles, sending its shares down 10%.
Ybarra said the delay in the rollout of "Overwatch 2" and "Diablo IV" was due to the leadership change, but did not give a new timeline for their launch, while the company forecast an underwhelming adjusted sales in the holiday quarter.
Oneal and Ybarra took the helm three months ago after Allen Brack stepped down as president, a week after the company was sued for workplace harassment and pay discrimination.
Following this, the company last month fired more than 20 employees, with 20 more facing other forms of disciplinary action.
The owner of "Call of Duty" and "Candy Crush" franchises also created an $18 million fund to compensate and make amends to eligible claimants, while Chief Executive Bobby Kotick said he would take a large paycut.
In a letter to the company's gaming community, Oneal said she will leave at the end of the year to focus more on diversity in the gaming industry, which will "hopefully make a broader industry impact that will benefit Blizzard" and other studios.
With her exit, the company now has three female executives in the 13-member leadership team.
Meanwhile, as pandemic-related curbs eased, Activision's total monthly active users in the third quarter remained unchanged at 390 million from a year earlier, indicating signs of slowing demand for games.
The company, which faces competition from rivals Electronic Arts Inc and Take-Two, said in-game net bookings were same as the third quarter of 2020.
Its adjusted sales for the third quarter was $1.88 billion, in line with Wall Street expectations.
The company said it expects fourth-quarter adjusted sales to be $2.78 billion. Analysts were expecting it to be $2.93 billion, according to Refinitiv data.
(Reporting by Tiyashi Datta and Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
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