A long descent into hell for the Call of Duty franchise? A former developer talks about the state of the license and the reason for certain failures.
Over the years, several Activision Blizzard licenses, which were nevertheless cult, have seen their reputation tarnished. The latest example is none other than Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 which was burned from all sides. The players and the press did not appreciate the ride and this had consequences on the scores awarded. The launch of Overwatch 2 was also catastrophic and the expectations of fans of the first opus were not met. No matter the franchise or even the game, according to employees of the publisher, there is one thing in common among the various failures.
Bobby Kotick and the damage caused to Call of Duty, Overwatch 2…
You are probably aware that Xbox has bought Activision Blizzard and that this could change a lot of things. Since December 29, 2023, Bobby Kotick, the former boss of the house of Call of Duty, is no longer there. As agreed with Microsoft management, he stayed for a while to begin the transition, and was released into the wild with a comfortable golden parachute estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars. This day was awaited by many people and some made it known on X.
Christine Pollock, a programmer who worked for two years on Call of Duty, has very bad memories of Bobby Kotick. “Bobby Kotic’s decisions have deteriorated the quality of our games”. Andy Belford told him about his bitter experience on Overwatch 2. “I break the silence to share an anecdote. When planning the launch of Overwatch 2 on Steam, my team warned well in advance that there was going to be an onslaught of criticism. We begged for more information and resources to help us deal with this. But it was categorically refused to us”.
What sticks in his throat is also that the moderation of Steam comments has been entrusted to the community team. He argues that it was not his role and that he wanted to protect his teams in the face of sometimes virulent feedback, but he had never been heard.
The behaviors of the former CEO of Activision
But these two people who worked on Call of Duty and Overwatch 2 also denounce other already known behaviors. “A month after the release of my Call of Duty game, we learned that he had threatened to have an employee killed. At the subsequent meeting with all staff, no one wanted to speak first. I demanded his dismissal in front of everyone” continues Christine Pollock. For Andy Belford, Bobby Kotick never stopped establishing a toxic culture and systematically attacking the same people. To the employees who were the lowest paid and who were already drowning in work. And decisions “that made no sense” were added to all this.
Bobby Kotick was persona non grata for some Activision Blizzard games like Call of Duty, but there have been worse. A few months ago, an investigation into harassment, sexism and even sexual assault was launched. The former boss pretended to know nothing, but according to The Wall Street Journal, it was quite the opposite. He would have known of serious facts long before the affairs were made public, but would have tried to cover everything up with discreet arrangements.