Bobby Kotick's departure from Activision Blizzard is a foregone conclusion, and now it's December 29. However, as the boss of Activision Blizzard, the company naturally "must have a Lich King". For Microsoft, which has now become the parent company of Activision Blizzard, it may have begun to tighten its grip on the company that it took a lot of money to take over.
Among Activision Blizzard's top executives, Blizzard President Mike Ybarra, Activision Blizzard Publishing President Rob Kostich, and Activision Blizzard Vice Chairman Thomas Tippl will all report to Matt Booty, President of Microsoft's Game Content & Studios. Brian Bulatao, Chief Administrative Officer, will report to Dave McCarthy, Chief Operating Officer, Microsoft Games, Julie Hodges, Chief People Officer, Grant Dixton, Chief Legal Officer, and Armin Zerza, Chief Financial Officer, will continue to report to Tim Stuart, Microsoft's Vice President of Finance. With Bobby Kotick leaving are Activision Blizzard's chief communications officer, Lulu Meservey, and Blizzard's vice chairman with King, Humam Sakhnini.
Microsoft's previous reshuffling of the leadership of the Xbox division, elevating Matter Booty to the level of Microsoft's Game Content & Studios, who will oversee ZeniMax and Bethesda, and now Activision Blizzard's top management will report to it, it is clear that Microsoft no longer wants to continue to be a "hands-off boss", and works such as "Starfield" and "Redfall Island" have undoubtedly raised some doubts about Microsoft's confidence in Bethesda.