Former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has taken a sharp jab at ex-EA CEO John Riccitiello, labeling him "the worst CEO in video games." This comment was made during a discussion on the podcast Grit with former EA chief creative officer Bing Gordon, who suggested that Riccitiello's leadership "hastened his departure" from EA. Despite acknowledging that EA's business was, in many ways, superior to Activision's, Kotick expressed a wish to keep Riccitiello at the helm of EA indefinitely.
"I'm not saying this because [Gordon] is sitting here," Kotick clarified. "Our fear was always that Bing was going to run [EA]. And we would have paid for Riccitiello to stay a CEO forever. We thought he was the worst CEO in video games."
Riccitiello left EA in 2013 after a period marked by poor financial performance and significant layoffs. He had served as CEO since 2007 and once proposed to shareholders the idea of charging Battlefield players a dollar each time they reloaded their weapons.
Subsequently, Riccitiello took the helm at Unity Technologies in late 2014, but his tenure ended in 2023 amidst controversy over the introduction and subsequent retraction of install fees. His time at Unity was fraught with contentious moments, including a public apology after referring to developers who rejected microtransactions as the "biggest f*cking idiots."
Kotick, who oversaw Activision Blizzard's acquisition by Microsoft for a record-breaking $68.7 billion in 2023, also revealed that EA had made multiple attempts to acquire Activision. "EA tried to buy us a bunch of times. We had merger conversations a bunch of times," Kotick stated. "We actually thought their business, in a lot of ways, was better than ours. More stable."
Kotick's leadership at Activision Blizzard was financially successful but not without its controversies. Employees raised concerns about sexism and a toxic work environment, leading to walkouts over allegations that Kotick failed to inform the company's board about serious misconduct, including rape. Activision Blizzard maintained that independent reviews found no substantiation for claims of systemic sexual harassment or improper handling by the board, including Kotick.
In July 2021, California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing (now the Civil Rights Department) filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard, citing a retaliatory "frat boy" culture. The lawsuit concluded in December 2023 with a $54 million settlement, affirming that no court or independent investigation had substantiated allegations of widespread sexual harassment or improper actions by the board, including Kotick.
During the same interview, Kotick critiqued Universal's 2016 adaptation of Activision Blizzard's Warcraft, describing it as "one of the worst movies I've ever seen."
