Bobby Kotick is “stepping down”. (ie. Microsoft kicking him out)
Wall Street Journal
“Activision/Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick is expected to leave the videogame heavyweight that has been roiled by claims of workplace misconduct.”
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Okay. This is really good news.
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every other outcome would just have been very strange, there´s really no need for Microsoft to keep Kotick, it´s not like he´s some kind of genius that led the company to unseen heights. All things considered this is still a tiny fish compared to MS themselves.
And they really need to make sure the message of a new culture is believable if they want to keep the new IPs strong for the times to come (and say what you want about MS, at least they are one of the few companies that do care more about the long term than shortsighted quarterly numbers)
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About. Freaking. Time. Maybe the next CEO allows more design feedom.
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as low as my opinion is on Kotick, i really don´t think he had terribly much to do with the game design.
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This fellow kotick seems very much disliked by the community at large. So does that iksar person.
Is there a reason kotick is so overwhelmingly disliked?
I would google it, I wouldn’t want to put that here on this forum in writing (it’s pretty dark)
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Not before he gets a super hefty golden parachute package when the deal finalizes in 2023 though.
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Yikes. A predator and a practitioner of shady business dealings. Good riddance. Can’t say I’m surprised. Most CEOs behave that way.
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Wsj also shared this
The transaction may be seen as a victory for Bobby Kotick, Activision’s longtime chief executive, whom some critics had sought to force out over the controversy. Mr. Kotick negotiated a big premium for investors — Microsoft is paying $95 a share, roughly 45 percent above his company’s stock price before the announcement, though only slightly more than the trading price before the scandal broke.
Mr. Kotick will stay in his role until the deal is complete. Then the expectation is that he will step down as chief executive, though he could move into an advisory role, according to two people with knowledge of his plans, who would speak only anonymously because the talks were private.
Activision’s gaming efforts are facing headwinds. Players panned the most recent Call of Duty release, and releases of titles like Diablo and Overwatch have been delayed. Still, Activision remains quite profitable, reporting $639 million in profit in its most recent quarter.
Mr. Kotick characterized the deal as a calculation that Activision did not have the tools to keep up with big tech companies like Google, Apple, Amazon and Tencent in the rapidly evolving gaming landscape.
“We realized it was going to be an increasingly competitive world with resources that we just didn’t have,” he said.
There’s some more on the controversy of certain… Major details, but I’m playing it safe for meme posting ability. Full article at https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/18/business/microsoft-activision-blizzard.html
Ctrl f "The controversy at " if you want to read it.
So it sounds like the deal was a tactical choice for Microsoft to acquire a strategic acquisition of King for mobile gaming, CoD for consoles, and for Activision blizzard to hopefully gain more reach and resources.
Although Activision blizzard seems deeply troubled in recent times, it seems like a profitable acquisition and the recent drama may have made the prices low for a buyout.
Kotick remaining seems weird, but he may be lapsed out or held on long enough to transition then go into some “advising” role(?)
Either way while I’ve had my share of skepticism, being a video game bought out by Microsoft usually goes better than cash quick schemes.
Like the Chinese companies that bought runescape and maplestory at their 100-300k active player 2008-2010 peaks, and almost decimated the community 250k to 16k active players within two years.
Microsoft Minecraft is going strong and aside from Banjo Kazookie, they do bring strong coding know how, resources, and a (hopefully) better fresh corporate overlord culture.
But it seems better than a Ea Activision “free packs now require 2.99$ pack opening pass to open” monetization scheme though.
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You are correct. T5 being under so much external pressure essentially influences what is release. Bobby just sits back on his yacht while earning incredible amounts of money. Remember, every single addition or change to this game has become instead the best way to profit.
My opinion is this. If a company (like Blizzard) and its developers were allowed some freedom to create GOOD games, we’d b in heaven. Very sadly, these devs’s hands are tied tightly.
People are immensely naive to protest T5 when they’re actually doing the best they can, under the higher up and shareholders.
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He’ll take his golden parachute and won’t be hurting… say what you will about Kotick but under his leadership Activision made huge amounts of money in the time he was there so from that angle he did his job but Microsoft has no real reason to keep him around
Nice to see him leaving
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MS has a pretty good record with creative freedom from when they bought Mojang. Minecraft is still going stronger than ever, so it might bode well for Blizzard and all IPs.
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Forgive my ignorance here, but, what does MS mean? I know it should be obvious. Although, I often miss the obvious. 
I wonder if the games will start getting better as well?
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“Oh frabjous day!” --The Shudderwock 
With the amount of his golden parachute, he’ll be able to buy/build a yacht made entirely out of coke.
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Good riddance dog. Worst thing to happen to this franchise
We agree. I support this statement 1000%
Not sure I am replying to a joke or not but MS = Microsoft.
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