Kotick: Overwatch, Diablo delays affected Activision Blizzard stock price more than abuse scandal

gamesindustry.biz:

James Batchelor

Editor-in-Chief

Thursday 20th January 2022

Activision Blizzard

Bobby Kotick has suggested the delays of Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4 had more of an impact on Activision Blizzard's share price than the ongoing allegations of abuse and harassment against the publisher.

In a rare interview, the CEO talked about the sale of his company to Microsoft for $68.7 billion with GamesBeat, with the site asking where the sexual harassment scandal was a factor given its perceived impact on the stock price.

"I think what affected the stock price more than that is pushing out Overwatch and Diablo," said Kotick. "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."

Both delays were announced during a post-earnings call in early November, and was followed by the sharpest drop in share price that Activision Blizzard saw in 2021: falling 14% from $77.67 per share to $66.75 in a single day.

However, the company's stock has been steadily declining from February, when it announced record full-year results. While it only fell 7% between February and the end of July, when the first lawsuit was filed by the DFEH, the price dropped 28% between then and the news that Microsoft would be acquiring the company.

The share price fell to $57.28 on December 1 -- the lowest point in 2021, and the lowest since March 2020 -- following multiple calls for Kotick to resign after The Wall Street Journal reported that, among other things, he was aware of harassment at the company, once threatened to have his assistant