Recently, Microsoft announced the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, GamesBeat interviewed Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, he talked about the motivation of selling Activision Blizzard to Microsoft.
Bobby Kotick claims sexual harassment lawsuits and government agency investigations weighed on Activision Blizzard’s share price, but delays in Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4 had a bigger impact, while this year’s Mission Summoning didn’t perform well either. Combined, these factors sent Activision Blizzard’s stock down. Bobby believes the $95 per share deal is a good deal for all shareholders.
Bobby’s remarks angered Activision Blizzard employees and some players, who said he had serious problems with Bobby himself, and that he was trying to pass the buck to the development team. Others angrily accused Bobby of being a lousy person who would only put the blame on the workers without realizing his mistake.
Overwatch 2 development team member Tracy Kennedy said that Bobby always let the development team do stupid projects that would only be canceled, and Overwatch 2 wasted months of development time, almost the entire team quit.