The first piece of the board falls. Following the lawsuit made by the state of California against Activision Blizzard, a change of address has just occurred among its representatives. J. Allen Brack steps down as president at Blizzard “in search of new opportunities”, although everything indicates that it is one of the great consequences after the publication of cases of harassment and abuse in the company.
This has been announced by Activision itself in a statement on its website, where they indicate that from now on Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra to serve as Blizzard co-leaders. Both will share “the responsibility of the development and the operational responsibility of the company”. One of the points that stands out the most about the two is their commitment to making the company a more welcoming and safe place.
Both are leaders of great character and integrity and are deeply committed to ensuring that our workplace is the most inspiring and welcoming environment for creative excellence and to upholding our highest standards of game development.
Oneal is a veteran who has been in the industry for 18 years, having been director of Vicarious Visions. His latest work includes having supported the Diablo and Overwatch franchises. For his part, Ybarra has worked 20 years in the video game sector, seven of them as the main person in charge of Xbox. He has been Executive Vice President and General Manager of Battle.net.
A statement from the Blizzard website allows us to read the following message from J. Allen Brack himself, outgoing president:
“I am confident that Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra will provide the leadership Blizzard needs to realize its full potential and accelerate the pace of change. I anticipate that they will do so with passion and enthusiasm and that they can be trusted to lead with the highest levels of integrity and commitment to the components of our culture that make Blizzard so special. “