During an Activision Blizzard earnings call, the new co-leads of the company sidestepped a question about employee morale in order to talk about the progress being made on a couple of heavily anticipated games. Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra had only been on duty in their new positions at Activision Blizzard for just a couple of hours when they were asked about how they intended to rekindle pride in the company. While Ybarra didn't respond at all, Oneal seemed to go out of her way not to answer.
Oneal and Ybarra were named the co-leads of Activision Blizzard earlier in the day after the former president, J. Allen Brack, announced he was stepping down. That afternoon, the pair had to face their first public questions about the controversy surrounding the company. One questioner wanted to know how Oneal and Ybarra planned to get the company back on track and how they planned to deal with the stories about former employees that are still coming out. Rather than answering the question directly, Oneal appeared to deflect.
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"First off, there's nothing more important to me than our people, and I know Mike Ybarra who is partnering with me to lead Blizzard feels exactly the same," she began. She then began talking about how closely she's worked with the developers for Overwatch 2 and Diablo Immortal. The new co-lead – who joined Activision Blizzard in December – then proclaimed that she was inspired by the talented workers and their vision for the games they are working on.
While Ybarra never spoke during the conference call, Oneal continued talking about the dedication of the employees she's worked with since coming on board. "When we come together, we make some of the best games in the industry," she said before adding that Blizzard employees are now dedicating their focus to improving the culture at the company. Oneal admitted there was quite a bit of work ahead without explaining what that work would entail, or what it was aimed at.
As IGN points out, it appeared that Oneal was offering updates on titles as a way to draw attention away from the lawsuit the company is involved in. Her comments were followed up by Blizzard co-founder and current senior VP Allen Adham who also spoke about how hard developers were working, rather than what execs are doing to make sure morale at the company is being addressed.
The questions about morale at Blizzard come after the State of California launched a lawsuit against the company. In that suit, allegations of sexual harassment by male employees were detailed that included members of the firm's higher-level execs staging what was referred to as a "Cosby Suite." The departure of Brack and the rise of Oneal and Ybarra is considered at least in part, a reaction to the continued controversy around Activision Blizzard.
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Source: IGN
