Activision Blizzard shareholders join calls for CEO Bobby Kotick to quit

Raven Software employees will stage a walkout in protest of recent QA layoffs at the studio.Last week (December 4), Raven Software – a studio working under Activision Blizzard – laid off more than a third of its QA testers. The studio announced a restructuring of the quality assurance department, where contracted testers would either be promoted to full-time or laid off.The company began contacting workers affected from December 3 and will continue until December 8.

Raven Software who developed Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Call Of Duty: Warzone will fire more than a third of its QA testers.As reported by The Washington Post, the studio announced a restructuring of the quality assurance department, where contracted testers would either be promoted to full-time or laid off. The company began contacting those affected from December 3 and will continue until December 8.

Warzone’s new map, Caldera, have been revealed ahead of its release date.The new map, which is set to launch on December 8 for owners of Call of Duty: Vanguard and the following day on December 9 for Warzone players, will take combatants to the Pacific island of Caldera, a sprawling map set to replace the eastern European Verdansk, which has served as Warzone‘s main location since 2020.

Activision Blizzard board of directors has formed the “Workplace Responsibility Committee”, which aims to “eliminate harassment and discrimination in the workplace.”A press release was published by the board last night (November 22), but doesn’t mention  how the company and the board will interact with its thousands of employees, just that the board is “committed to ensuring a healthy workplace in which all employees feel valued, safe, and respected.”“The Committee is empowered to retain outside

Nintendo of America email has surfaced addressing the ongoing situation at Activision Blizzard and the reports surrounding its CEO Bobby Kotick. As reported by Fanbyte, an email penned by Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser went out to all levels of the company, including internal developers like Retro Studios.“Along with all of you,” starts Bowser, “I’ve been following the latest developments with Activision Blizzard and the ongoing reports of sexual harassment and toxicity at the

Warzone player has used a spectator cam bug to preview what looks like Caldera, the next map to come to the battle royale.Taking to Twitter (thanks, VGC), Call Of Duty content creator Jgod shared a clip of him using a spectator cam bug – which allows players to take the camera well outside the bounds of a map and explore the surrounding area.

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has reportedly told senior managers that he will “consider leaving” if he cannot quickly fix ongoing issues surrounding sexual misconduct within the company.According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, Kotick said on Friday (November 19) that he would keep the possibility of resignation open if he could not fix issues within Activision Blizzard “with speed”.These “issues” refer to ongoing allegations of a “frat boy culture” and sexual misconduct, which

Call Of Duty: Vanguard season one and Call Of Duty: Warzone‘s Pacific map have been hit with one-week delays.Amid the protests at Activision Blizzard and calls for CEO Bobby Kotick’s resignation, it has been announced that both Vanguard’s season one and Warzone’s Pacific Caldera map will launch on December 8, the same day as the launch of the Halo Infinite campaign.Call Of Duty: Vanguard players will get 24-hour exclusive access to play the Warzone Caldera map on December 8, as open access

Activision Blizzard following new allegations.In a Medium post, the charity announced its decision to end the partnership.

Activision Blizzard employees, demanding that CEO Bobby Kotick resigns.As spotted by Kotaku, a petition by the ABK Workers Alliance – which is made up of Activision Blizzard employees – has gathered signatures from 1300 fellow workers.

Xbox head Phil Spencer has reportedly sent out a staff-wide email stating that Microsoft will be “evaluating all aspects” of its relationship with Activision Blizzard, in the wake of major sexual misconduct allegations.According to a report by Bloomberg, Spencer has sent an email stating that he is “evaluating all aspects” of Microsoft’s relationship with Activision Blizzard, and has clarified that the company is already “making ongoing proactive adjustments”.Spencer added that he is “disturbed

Activision Blizzard shares are on track for a 19-month low following allegations that CEO Bobby Kotick knew about sexual misconduct claims.A new report alleges that Kotick, who has been CEO of Activision Blizzard since its inauguration in 2008, knew about sexual misconduct claims at the company for years.These allegations have already affected Activision Blizzard’s share prices, with J.P.

Activision Blizzard leadership has reportedly told employees that the company’s “zero-tolerance policy” will not be applied to CEO Bobby Kotick because it has “no evidence” to prove recent claims made against him.In a company-wide meeting, Game Developer (thanks, VGC) reports that leadership within Activision Blizzard answered several pre-screened questions from employees.One of these questions asked if Activision Blizzard’s recently-announced zero tolerance policy would be applied to Bobby

Blizzard co-lead, Jennifer Oneal, reportedly only received an equal pay offer alongside fellow co-lead Mike Ybarra after handing in her resignation letter.The news comes amidst a flurry of negative and worrying reports about activities within Activision Blizzard.

Call of Duty: Vanguard patch has added Shipment to the multiplayer map roster, as well as fixed an issue preventing some PlayStation 5 owners from playing the game.The new map, Shipment, promises to be a small and hectic arena that features empty shipping containers. It has previously featured in other Call of Duty games, including as one of Call of Duty 4‘s launch maps 14 years ago.This time around, the placement of its containers have been changed around.

Activision Blizzard employees have staged a walkout, with the Activision Blizzard Workers Alliance calling for CEO Bobby Kotick to be replaced.As reported by Eurogamer, roughly 150 employees at Activision Blizzard have staged a physical in-person walkout, in the wake of a damning report that alleges CEO Bobby Kotick has known of sexual misconduct claims since 2018.According to Valentine Powell – a senior UI engineer at Blizzard Entertainment – “over 150 people” attended the protest in person,

Content warning: This story contains description of alleged sexual assault.A new report alleges that not only has Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick been aware of sexual misconduct claims within the company since 2018, he reportedly told his assistant that he would “have her killed” in a voicemail left in 2006.A report by the Wall Street Journal alleges that in 2018, Kotick was informed via email that a female employee had been raped in 2016 and, in 2017, pressured by a male supervisor to

Call Of Duty pro players have criticised the series’ latest entry, Vanguard, for its addition of weapon bloom, where bullets ‘spray’ away from exactly where players aim.Call Of Duty: Vanguard launched on November 5 and introduced a brand-new campaign, multiplayer, and a big roster of Operators.

Call Of Duty: Vanguard‘s launch sales are down 40 per cent in the UK compared to the opening week of its predecessor, Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.The news, originally spotted by Gamesindustry.biz, comes courtesy of the GSD top ten for the week ending November 6 2021. It found that physical retail sales were down by 26 per cent.

Blizzard has announced Eternity’s End, the final major content update for World of Warcraft: Shadowlands.According to Senior Games Designer, Steve Danuser, “The Shadowlands Story pulls together threads that started in Warcraft 3 and wove their way through many of our expansions.”“We approached it like a drama in three acts,” he continued.