Overwatch 2 executive producer leaving Blizzard amid lawsuit

By Otto Kratky September 22, 2021

As publishing giant Activision Blizzard faces legal woes on all fronts, the company is beginning to bleed leadership. Blizzard’s president, J. Allen Brack, stepped down from his post in August, and according to a report from Bloomberg, he’s being followed by the executive producer of one of the company’s biggest franchises.

The report claims that Chacko Sonny, the current executive producer of Overwatch, will be leaving the company this Friday, September 24. His departure was confirmed to Bloomberg by a spokesman for Activision Blizzard. Sonny’s role at the studio was nearly essential, tasking him with overseeing the entire Overwatch franchise as well as the development of Overwatch 2, a job that became much more important since Jeff Kaplan, former director of Overwatch, left Blizzard in April. Multiple anonymous sources told Bloomberg that Sonny was seen as a “stabilizing force on the Overwatch team.”

Sonny’s departure comes the same week that legal pressure against Activision Blizzard is ratcheted up by an investigation from the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This investigation, propped up by a lawsuit filed by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, specifically looks into Activision Blizzard’s handling of sexual misconduct and abuse allegations. To that end, the government oversight agency has filed subpoenas against multiple high-ranking Activision Blizzard executives, including CEO Bobby Kotick.

Activision Blizzard’s legal woes began in July with the lawsuit filed by the State of California, which alleged that the company had developed a “frat boy” culture in which sexual harassment, abuse, and pay discrimination were commonplace.

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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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Since January 2022, Xbox parent company Microsoft has been trying to acquire Activision Blizzard, the video game publisher behind franchises like Call of Duty, Diablo, Warcraft, and Overwatch. The companies have run into lots of regulatory hurdles, though, especially from the CMA and FTC, the latter of which is currently suing Microsoft. While it seemed like the CMA was inching towards approving the deal, the U.K. regulator ultimately decided to block it due to its potential impact on the fledgling cloud gaming market.

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Microsoft's statement from Vice Chair and President Brad Smith is a bit more measured, saying that Microsoft is "fully committed to this acquisition and will appeal." Citing the deals the company has already made to bring Call of Duty to more platforms, Smith says that the decision shows "a flawed understanding of this market and the way the relevant cloud technology actually works."
https://twitter.com/BradSmi/status/1651182266406584320
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