Blizzard president J. Allen Brack resigns, Jen Oneal & Mike Ybarra to co-lead
An American video game developer and publisher, Blizzard recently announced the appointment of Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra as co-leaders of the company. This is following J. Allen Brack, Blizzard's ex-president's dismissal due to labor lawsuit over sexual harassment and discrimination charges. Brack is leaving the company amid a cultural reckoning at parent Activision Blizzard Inc., which has led to the falling of his shares by 3.5%.
Former President, Brack was known to openly support 'frat boy' culture at the company, being completely conscious of the alleged ongoing misconducts against female employees. The allegations against Brack made him unfit to continue his position as the President at Blizzard, thus his laying off.
According to California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing, Blizzard Entertainment's parent company, Activision Blizzard is involved in sexual discrimination and harassment. There have also been allegations on discrimination during promotions and refusal to promote female employees. It has been further reported that, due to unbearable forms of sexual harassment, a female employee committed suicide.
In the wake of this, the appointments of Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra comes as a respite.
Jen Oneal, formerly worked at a game studio called Vicarious Visions as Head. Oneal joined Blizzard in January 2021 as executive Vice President of development, managing and handling senior development leadership to the Diablo and Overwatch franchises.
Mike Ybarra formerly worked at Microsoft Corp for more than 2 decades managing XBOX online services. Ybarra joined Blizzard in the year 2019 as Executive Vice President and General Manager of platform and technology. He also handles services concerning development and evolution of Battle.net.
Oneal and Ybarra will be co-leading Blizzard with the safest and a welcoming approach, making it a healthy workplace especially for women and people from sexually marginalized communities. They will further maintain and strengthen Blizzard's core ethics and with over decades of experience, the duo seems set to lead the company with great excellence.
Speaking on new leaderships, Brack called Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra to be exceptional leaders, who will lead the company with passion, enthusiasm and can be trusted with integrity as well as commitment to the components of Blizzard's culture.
Image Credits: Glassdoor