A petition has been launched on Change.org calling for the resignation of Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick.
The call for Kotick’s resignation comes on the heels of actions that some see as torpedoing the relationship between Activision Blizzard Inc. and NetEase Inc, Blizzard’s partner in the world’s largest gaming market, China.
After NetEase announced its Q3 2022 financial results, CEO Bobby Kotick asked NetEase for an increased financial contribution in the partnership deal between Blizzard and NetEase. However, supporters of NetEase point to a declining share of value being brought to the partnership by Blizzard.
While Blizzard has a long history of releasing games in China, their recent game performance has been declining. Some reviewers have given poor ratings to new game versions including World of Warcraft: Dragonflight and World of Warcraft Classic (first launched in China 17 years ago). Common criticisms include the interval between the two courses being too short, and in the case of Overwatch 2 the game has been released in China, despite unfinished player vs. environment (PVE) portions.
Currently Chinese users of World of Warcraft and other Blizzard games released through NetEase pay 20% lower than the rest of the world.
In addition, Blizzard has commissioned NetEase to develop other Blizzard-IP mobile games for the global market such as Diablo: Immortal Model – but has announced that they will not share profits earned globally. Blizzard also demanded a hefty completion guarantee deposit from NetEase, with penalties for non-completion.
In Kotick’s final 6 months as CEO, he has demonstrated a one-sided attitude to the partnership, seeking to maximize short term revenue without bringing commensurate value to the table. It is unclear whether Kotick intends to keep the CEO seat after Blizzard’s planned acquisition by Microsoft, but his recent actions relating to NetEase betray a short-term self-interest, to the detriment of shareholders, employees and, most of all, players.