Activision Blizzard’s Solution to the Bobby Kotick Problem? Other Committees

In case you’re wondering how determined Activision Blizzard is to keep Bobby Kotick despite all the accusations and even though stocks are up, their latest move could be the indicator you’re looking for. Last night… quite late last night… Activision Blizzard drop a new press release on Activision announced a new “Workplace Accountability Committee”.

This committee, chaired by Dawn Ostroff, is intended to “monitor [Activision Blizzard’s] progress in successfully implementing new policies, procedures and commitments to improve workplace culture and eliminate all forms of harassment and discrimination”. To do this, the committee will receive reports from the company’s key executives including CEO Bobby Kotick along with the Chief Human Resources Officer and Chief Compliance Officer. The committee will then forward this to the board in regular summaries. Basically, there will be a lot of meetings going on and Kotick will be the center of it.

As for the committee itself, as mentioned, it will be chaired by Dawn Ostroff, the company’s independent director since last year. Also on the committee will be Reveta Bowers, who has been an independent director since 2018, so my guess is at least a few women on it. The press release also says that the company plans to add a “new, diversified director to the Board of Directors.” Obviously, “diversity” is open to interpretation.

That aside, the whole thing has a bit of “Oroboros” going on as the people reporting to the committee are on the board the committee reports on. It’s hard to believe that reporting things you have to do with yourself through an additional party will actually have any impact on your own behaviour. Perhaps the commission’s ability to attract “external consultants or advisors, including independent legal counsel” will have some impact. Somehow, though, it doesn’t seem like the move will go far enough to reassure employees that the company is really trying to fix things and actually do what thousands of them love. request: remove Kotick. Even barring that move, it seems extremely unwise that anyone currently charged not only knew about the sexual harassment that was taking place at Activision, but helped cover it up for years. directly involved in this process. This is clearly how you fix things”with speed“.

Outside of the company, the whole affair is continuing to draw opinions from other big-name developers. In fact, at this point, all three major console manufacturers have weighed in on the matter with Nintendo’s Doug Bowser sending an email to a Nintendo of America employee stating:

“Along with all of you, I am following the latest developments with Activision Blizzard and the ongoing reports of sexual and malicious harassment at the company. I find these accounts sad and unsettling. They go against my values ​​and Nintendo’s beliefs, values, and policies. ” According to Fanbyte, who received confirmation from Nintendo’s PR department that the email was genuine, Bowser also went on to claim that the company has “contacted Activision, has taken action, and is evaluating others”.

It’s possible that these statements from console companies have led to Activision’s latest move, in an attempt to appease business partners they really don’t want to lose.