US-based gaming company Activision Blizzard appointed Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra as co-leaders of its studio Blizzard Entertainment. They replace J. Allen Brack who will be stepping down as the head of the studio. Brack's departure comes just two weeks after a US lawsuit accused the company of widespread sexual harassment and workplace discrimination.
Oneal joined Blizzard in January as EVP of development, where she’s been providing senior development leadership and support to the Diablo and Overwatch franchises. She is the former head of Vicarious Visions (which is now part of Blizzard Entertainment).
After many years at XBox, Ybarra joined the company in 2019 as the EVP and general manager of platform and technology, where he’s been overseeing the evolution of Battle.net and the company's development services organisation.
Oneal and Ybarra have more than three decades of gaming industry experience between them. Moving forward, they will share responsibilities over game development and company operations.
The changes follow the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing suing the company last month alleging it was paying female employees less than their male counterparts and providing them with fewer opportunities to advance. The lawsuit also alleged that complaints about harassment, discrimination and retaliation were made to human-resources personnel and executives including Brack, but the company failed to respond properly.
The company has since hired law firm WilmerHale to conduct a review of policies and procedures "to ensure that we have and maintain best practices to promote a respectful and inclusive workplace", CEO Bobby Kotick said. Immediate action will include removing some in appropriate in-game content, starting listening sessions with employees, increasing staff and resources to investigate complaints and issuing new compliance directives for hiring practices.
Activision Blizzard was formed by a merger of Activision and Blizzard Entertainment in 2008. Its most popular games are 'Call of Duty,' 'World of Warcraft,' 'Warcraft' and 'Starcraft'.
