Activision Blizzard staff and players are petitioning for Bobby Kotick’s resignation

A significant number of Activision Blizzard employees and players are petitioning for the company’s CEO Bobby Kotick to step down following recent misconduct allegations.

A staff petition calling for Kotick’s resignation launched on Thursday and had been signed by over 1,300 Activision Blizzard employees at the time of publication.

It states: “We, the undersigned, no longer have confidence in the leadership of Bobby Kotick as the CEO of Activision Blizzard.

“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.”

As well as the internal petition, a public online petition is also being shared by employee group ABK Workers Alliance.

“We have had several people reaching out and asking what they can do to be an active supporter of ABK Worker’s Alliance,” the group tweeted.

“As employees move to sign a petition calling for the removal of Bobby Kotick, we call for our supporters to sign a petition of their own.”

At the time of writing, the petition has more than 11,000 verified signatures.

The launch of the petitions follow a Wall Street Journal report published on Tuesday which alleged that Kotick was aware of multiple sexual misconduct allegations at Activision Blizzard, and also accused him of personally mistreating several female employees.

Activision Blizzard is currently facing multiple regulatory investigations over alleged sexual assaults and harassment of female employees, much of which has centred around World of Warcraft developer Blizzard.

However, the new Wall Street Journal report claims that instances of sexual assault and mistreatment have been widespread at the company, including at Call of Duty development studios Treyarch and Sledgehammer Games.

While Kotick reportedly told company directors and other executives that he was unaware of many of the allegations, the WSJ said it had received evidence to the contrary from various sources including interviews with former employees and internal Activision documents.

Kotick has also been accused of mistreating several female employees, including leaving a voicemail in 2006 in which he threatened to have an assistant killed.

Despite the report, Activision Blizzard reportedly told employees it had no evidence to support the claims, meaning its newly launched zero-tolerance policy on harassment can’t be applied to the company’s leader.

Activision Blizzard, its CEO and its board have faced a barrage of criticism in response to the WSJ report, including renewed calls for Kotick’s resignation.

On Wednesday it was claimed that Sony Interactive Entertainment boss Jim Ryan told PlayStation employees he was “disheartened and frankly stunned to read” that Activision “has not done enough to address a deep-seated culture of discrimination and harassment.”

“We outreached to Activision immediately after the article was published to express our deep concern and to ask how they plan to address the claims made in the article,” he wrote in an email to staff (via Bloomberg). “We do not believe their statements of response properly address the situation.”

Further reading

Activision reportedly says ‘no evidence’ means zero-tolerance policy can’t be applied to CEO Bobby Kotick

Company is said to have doubled down on defence of its CEO during an all-hands meeting

This was followed by confirmation from Xbox boss Phil Spencer that he’s “evaluating” its relationship with Activision Blizzard following the company’s response to the allegations.

In an email sent to Xbox staff and seen by Bloomberg, Spencer stated that he and the leadership team were “disturbed and deeply troubled by the horrific events and actions” at Activision Blizzard.

Spencer stated in his email that “this type of behaviour has no place in our industry”, and that he was “evaluating all aspects of [Xbox’s] relationship with Activision Blizzard and making ongoing proactive adjustments”.