Bobby Kotick will officially step down as CEO from Activision Blizzard on December 29th, according to Microsoft and first reported on The Verge. Their departure was first announced last October.
Kotick served as the CEO of Activision Blizzard for decades, the studio best known for Call of Duty. Bobby Kotick’s leadership has been a bit divisive among fans. But they do leave a big position for Microsoft to fill.
However, Microsoft has not confirmed a replacement just yet. Meanwhile, the rest of Activision Blizzard’s leadership team will mostly remain intact.
Thomas Tippl, Rob Kostich, Mike Ybarra, and Tjodolf Sommestad will be reporting to Matt Booty, the President of Game Content and Studios.
Phil Spencer also shared a dedicated memo about this massive shift. Spencer thanks Kotick for their “invaluable contributions to this industry”.
Notably, Spencer also confirmed that “no changes to the structure of how the studios and business units are run”. Further, any leadership changes are only intended to provide “clarity and accountability”.
So, this might reassure fans that are concerned about any major setbacks, as Microsoft moves forward without Bobby Kotick.
Hopefully, the process and standards that fans have come to expect from Activision Blizzard will actually improve with new leadership.
Spencer mentions there are plans for “an exciting 2024 lineup of games across Activision, Bethesda, Blizzard, King and Xbox Game Studios”. However, he did remain vague about when fans would hear more.
With such a large shakeup, there is now a major opportunity for Activision Blizzard to take a meaningful new direction.
The first thing fans will consider is the ongoing titles though, particularly Call of Duty. In a recent exclusive, we reported that Call of Duty 25 should be a semi-futuristic Black Ops 2 sequel.
For more of the latest gaming news, you can read about the ongoing plans for Ark 2 to release sometime in late 2024.
