Bobby Kotick Claims Activision Blizzard Stock Drop is Due to Delays not Lawsuits
Activision CEO Bobby Kotick, whose future role with the company has come into question, sat with GamesBeat and answers questions fresh off the announcement that Microsoft is set to acquire the company he helped set up and grow for $68.7 billion. Amongst questions lobbed to him by Dean Takahashi, there was a peculiar answer that perked up the ears of readers and garnered more reactions on social media.
When asked about the effect of the sexual harassment suits and government agency investigations on the Activision stock price, Kotick claimed that the delays to Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4 played more of a role in the stock's dive. The bold claim has not been received well among fans and is being perceived as more "passing the buck" by the embattled CEO.
RELATED: Microsoft Boss "Grateful" for Kotick's Leadership
While the delays to Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4 certainly did drop the ATVI stock price, it pales in comparison to the stock's drop on the days when the company faced another round of bad headlines. The day that the Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4 delays were announced, the ATVI stock price fell 14%.
I think what affected the stock price more than that is pushing out Overwatch and Diablo. And then I think people started to see that this year’s Call of Duty wasn’t performing as well. So I think certainly the [California Department of Fair Employment and Housing] filing and the Wall Street Journal article contributed to that, but stocks go up and down for a variety of reasons.
However, stock price comparisons to dates related to misconduct allegations seems to paint a different picture. July 27th, the day the first DFEH lawsuit was made public, September 20th, the day the SEC launched its own investigation into Activision
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