“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, ”Brack said in a company statement.
The announcement also comes less than a week after employees went on strike outside the company’s Irvine, California office, against management’s poor response to the lawsuit that was filed on July 20.
The lawsuit alleges that Activision Blizzard has a “frat boy culture” that is a “breeding ground for harassment and discrimination against women,” a segment that represents 20% of the video game company’s workforce.
In an internal letter obtained by Bloomberg, Brack emailed staff addressing the allegations in the July lawsuit, calling it “extremely concerning” and “completely unacceptable.” He said he would meet with employees to discuss how the company “can move forward.”
Last week CEO Bobby Kotick said he hired a law firm to conduct a review of the company’s policies and procedures and apologized for the company’s initial response to the lawsuit.
In an internal letter obtained by The Washington Post, the company’s chief compliance officer, Frances Townsend, called the allegations “factually incorrect, old, and out of context.”