“Bobby Kotick's decisions made our games worse,” says former Call of Duty developer.

“Bobby [Kotick]“Our decisions have made our games worse,” a former Call of Duty programmer said on social media on the same day Kotick completed his final day as CEO at Activision Blizzard.

“I've worked on it [Call of Duty] For two years as a programmer at Demonware. “Bobby's decisions made our games worse,” Christina Bullock said. “In my first month, it emerged that he had threatened to kill a staff member. All hands on deck [all staff meeting] After that, no one wanted to speak first. Therefore, I called for his dismissal in front of everyone.”

In a candid tweet on Twitter/X, Bullock said: “I realize that I am very loud and very annoying, and that with my seniority and ease of access to other opportunities, it gives me some protection and security to do things like this.

“But you all have to get on board this train,” they added. “We all have to revolt against people like this every time.”

“If I had been fired, I would have had many other companies hovering in the wings, but that's why it's on the senior people to do their best. Juniors won't feel safe doing that until their leaders do it first. Maybe we don't.” We have unions, but we have power if we work together.

“Ask the annoying question out loud. Keep it short, direct and to the point, leaving no room for panic in the response. Make it sharp and direct and do it clearly and without anger so they can't.” Attack your delivery.

“They won't answer, but everyone will see it.”

“The satanic program is protected,” Bullock asserted [them]” of retaliation but acknowledged that other studios may not, saying: “Write what you said. Keep notes in case HR contacts you. Record yourself saying it in the meeting if you can so you have proof of exactly what happened, because weak executives will take their exposed failure personally.

“If old people do not speak where young people cannot, then any young people deserve to be wasted at the first opportunity.” Another developer confirmed. “Management like this destroys the company's future workforce.”

Bullock isn't the only developer speaking out about Kotick's impact on the organization, either. As I spotted it PCGNCommunity Manager Andy Belford also spoke about how Kotick's decision-making process impacts morale.

“Breaking my silence to share a fun fact: When we planned to launch Overwatch 2 on Steam, my team warned (months ago) that we would be review bombed. We begged for more information, more details, and more resources to help us with the flow,” Belford said. As expected, all of this was categorically denied.”

“Steam moderation has been placed on the community team (not a community function at Blizzard), although I refuse to expose my team members to this level of toxic content/posts.” When asked about the decision I would have launched on Steam without additional help: “Bobby.

“This is just one example of the culture Kotick created at AB: bullshit flowed downstream, usually to the lowest paid, most overworked individuals. Management was so busy responding to wildly fluctuating directions and decisions that it had no effect.” meaning.

“At the end of it all, player/worker experience meant nothing to CSuite and executive leadership. It was all about this quarter's earnings call,” Belford added.

Microsoft announced its bid for Activision Blizzard in January 2022, following a turbulent period for the publisher after it was rocked by reports of employee misconduct and subsequent calls for Kotick to leave. Now, more than two years later, Activision Blizzard will start the new year entirely under new management.