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PlayStation, Xbox bosses criticize Activision following Kotick report

By Otto Kratky November 18, 2021

Following a report claiming that Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick knew of sexual misconduct at the company and withheld information on sexual misconduct from the company’s board, the heads of both PlayStation and Xbox are internally reviewing their relationship with the gaming giant.

According to Bloomberg, PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan sent to his employees a link to the Wall Street Journal report, which alleges that Kotick had threatened to have an assistant killed in 2006 — a matter that was settled out of court and for which an Activision spokeswoman said Kotick had apologized for. Ryan would go on to say that Activision “has not done enough to address a deep-seated culture of discrimination and harassment.”

PlayStation has also reached out to Activision Blizzard in hopes of learning what steps the company is taking in response to the Wall Street Journal report.

Xbox executive Phil Spencer has also internally said that the company is “evaluating” its relationship with Activision Blizzard. An email obtained by Bloomberg today from Spencer says that Xbox is “evaluating all aspects of our relationship with Activision Blizzard and making ongoing proactive adjustments.”

For Activision Blizzard’s board of directors, the pushback coming from two of the largest companies in gaming only makes it harder to keep Bobby Kotick on board as CEO. The company’s board of directors, from whom he allegedly withheld information regarding sexual misconduct at the company, fell in behind him shortly after the Wall Street Journal report, saying that it “remains confident” in him.

Pressure to oust Kotick is also coming from inside Activision Blizzard, where hundreds of developers have walked out, refusing to return to work until Kotick resigns or is terminated. It is the second time developers at the company have walked out in the past six months.

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Otto Kratky is a freelance writer with many homes. You can find his work at Digital Trends, GameSpot, and Gamepur. If he's…

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PlayStation and Xbox are betting big on mobile, and for good reason

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Sony surprised PlayStation fans August 29 when it acquired Savage Game Studios, a mobile game developer. As part of this announcement, Head of PlayStation Studios Hermen Hulst unveiled the company's new PlayStation Studios Mobile Division that "will operate independently from our console development and focus on innovative, on-the-go experiences based on new and existing PlayStation IP." The news comes in the wake of the Backbone One -- PlayStation Edition's launch and Microsoft's Activision Blizzard acquisition that will also bring Candy Crush developer King and Blizzard mobile games into Xbox Game Studios. It's clear that the big console players are investing more than ever in mobile.
That might sound like a shocking development, especially for hardcore console and PC players who aren't fans of mobile games for various reasons, including predatory monetization practices. But when you take a step back and look at the reality of mobile gaming, it's entirely clear why two of the biggest names in console gaming want to spread their reach to an even more global and lucrative market -- especially as overseas markets further embrace mobile as a gaming platform of choice.
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Focusing on console and PC gaming makes it easy to forget just how big mobile gaming is. After Microsoft's announcement of the Activision Blizzard acquisition, Omdia Principal Analyst George Jijiashvili told Digital Trends that while consumer spending on PC and console gaming is predicted to reach $62 billion this year, mobile game players will spend $111 billion overall in 2022. "If we look at our forecast for 2025, we expect the spend on console and PC games to remain relatively flat," Jijiashvili said. "However, mobile gaming is set to grow considerably." Jijiashvili's estimations also don't even consider cloud gaming, which is prevalent on mobile and is expected to grow in the coming years.

Jijiashvili highlighted that console gaming would stay healthy but somewhat stagnant as players from previous generations upgrade to PS5 and Xbox Series X. Meanwhile, he says PC gaming is falling out of favor in Asia, highlighting that a game like PUBG sees most resources assigned to the mobile game before they come over to the PC and console versions. Before the Activision Blizzard acquisition, Jijiashvili believed Xbox "desperately lacked" a strong foothold in the mobile gaming market, and it's easy for us to see that the same currently applies to PlayStation prior to the Savage Game Studios acquisition. For how important PlayStation and Xbox were to console players, companies like King and Zynga meant much more to mobile gamers for a long time.
On top of that, mobile gaming also expands these game companies' reach to an even bigger audience. Yes, over 20 million PS5 and 117 million PS4 consoles are out there, but especially in Asian markets, mobile games will give PlayStation and Xbox much more exposure. Of course, Jijiashvili points out that just having mobile studios doesn't immediately guarantee success, as Asian mobile players favor "more hardcore games from the battle royale and MOBA genres, which have achieved great popularity and deliver strong performance." Still, Xbox and PlayStation will soon have a stronger foothold than ever on platforms and in regions where gamers playing on PC or console isn't as prevalent.
It's worth noting that both Xbox and PlayStation do have some history on mobile -- just not very successful ones. Microsoft had Windows Phones, tried to shove SmartGlass features into early Xbox One exclusives, and is currently making great strides in console gaming via the cloud on mobile. Meanwhile, PlayStation franchises like Uncharted, LittleBigPlanet, and even Knack (Knack's Quest, ladies and gentlemen) got mobile games under the "PlayStation Mobile" banner in the 2010s. These acquisitions showed renewed interest in developing games exclusively made for mobile. While we can't predict Microsoft's long-term plans for King as the Activision Blizzard deal still isn't finished, Hulst made Savage Game Studios' position within PlayStation Studios very clear.

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Activision Blizzard board votes to reelect Bobby Kotick as CEO

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During a shareholder meeting, the board at Activision Blizzard voted to reelect Bobby Kotick as CEO.

As detailed in the official filing for the annual meeting of stockholders, one of the proposals voted on was on which directors would be elected to serve another term, including Bobby Kotick in the role of CEO. Despite the controversies and ongoing litigation concerning workplace harassment centered around him, Kotick received over 533,000,000 votes in favor of reelection with less than 63,000,000 voting against him.

Gaming

New York City sues Activision Blizzard over Microsoft deal

Activision Blizzard is now in even more legal trouble than before. New York City has sued the Call of Duty and World of Warcraft publisher over the acquisition deal it made with Microsoft in January.

According to Axios, which broke the news, the lawsuit was filed in Delaware by the New York City Employees' Retirement System (a pension fund for the city's firefighters, police officers and teachers) on April 26, and the public version of the complaint was shared on May 2.