After 800 Blizzard Employees Lose Their Jobs, Game Workers Unite Calls for Kotick Firing
Game Workers Unite, an organization seeking better working conditions for games industry employees, is calling for Activision-Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick to be fired. #FireBobbyKotick is the social media hashtag that emerged after Tuesday's ATVI investor call and the announcement that 800 Blizzard employees had lost their jobs. "Upending 800 workers' lives while raking in millions in bonuses for you and your C-suite buddies isn't leadership, it's theft," reads the manifesto.
"We, the workers of Activision and their friends have had enough. Join us in saying that it's time to #FireBobbyKotick."
The group further believes that Kotick's $30M annual salary "comes from the labor of his employees. [His] wealth is built from the stolen wages of his workers" and also objects to the $15M signing bonuses given to recently hired CFO Dennis Durkin.
"The cycle of layoffs continue to derail our industry because of the prioritization of shareholder profits over workers' lives and quality game development."
What do you think?
Upending 800 workers' lives while raking in millions in bonuses for you and your c-suite buddies isn't leadership, it's theft.
— Game Workers Unite ????????? GDC (@GameWorkers) February 13, 2019
We, the workers of Activision and their friends, have had enough. Join us in saying that it's time to #FireBobbyKotick. ?????????
