1,600 Activision Blizzard employees sign petition demanding Bobby Kotick's removal

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The employees say they no longer have confidence in Kotick's leadership.

Bobby Kotick
(Image credit: Scott Olson (Getty))

Update: 24 hours after it went live, the ABK Workers Alliance petition calling for Bobby Kotick to step down as Activision Blizzard CEO has reached 1,600 signatures. A separate petition open to members of the public at Change.org is also attracting considerable attention, and is now approaching 16,000 signatures.

The petition comes two days after more than 150 Activision Blizzard employees staged a walkout demanding Kotick's removal, and one day after a shareholder group issued its own call for his resignation, along with that of the company's chair of the board and lead independent director. The demands were made in the wake of a bombshell Wall Street Journal report alleging that Kotick was aware of incidents of sexual harassment and abuse at the company, and actually threatened to have an assistant killed in 2006.

"We, the undersigned, no longer have confidence in the leadership of Bobby Kotick as the CEO of Activision Blizzard," the petition states. "The information that has come to light about his behaviors and practices in the running of our companies runs counter to the culture and integrity we require of our leadership—and directly conflicts with the initiatives started by our peers." 

"We ask that Bobby Kotick remove himself as CEO of Activision Blizzard, and that shareholders be allowed to select the new CEO without the input of Bobby, who we are aware owns a substantial portion of the voting rights of the shareholders."

Despite the pressure, Kotick is holding firm for now. Earlier this week he issued a statement saying that the WSJ story was "inaccurate and misleading," and the company's board of directors has also expressed confidence in his leadership. Activision's share price has taken a beating since the revelations of widespread discrimination and abuse at the company, however, and support for Kotick could fade quickly if the company's stock continues to fall. 

Andy Chalk
Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.