Blizzard has ousted its president after sexual harassment lawsuit

The now-former president, J. Allen Brack, has been replaced by Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra who have been appointed co-leaders at Blizzard.

After being one of the few employees to be named and shamed during the ongoing sexual harassment lawsuit filed by California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing, J. Allen Brack has stepped down from the company, Activision Blizzard president and COO Daniel Allegre revealed in a letter to staff. 

With Brack having left the company to “pursue new opportunities,” according to the letter, the responsibility of improving Blizzard’s alleged “frat boy” culture now falls to Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra who’ve taken up the mantle of co-leaders effective immediately. 

Having worked at Microsoft for 20 years before joining Blizzard in 2019 as the companies vice president and general manager, Mike Ybarra has plenty of experience both inside and out of the company which will hopefully allow him, and the company, to thrive. 

Jen Oneal, who’s sharing the leadership role with Ybarra, has 18 years of experience within Blizzard, rising to become the executive vice president of development, before this latest promotion. In her past roles, Oneal has overseen the development of both the Overwatch and Diablo franchises. 

While this change in leadership is undoubtedly a step in the right direction, Blizzard still has a lot of work to do in order to improve the environment described within the ongoing lawsuit which was allegedly “akin to working in a frat house.” 

Thankfully, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has made promising statements within the company’s recent earnings call, as he said that they “will not permit discrimination, harassment, or unequal treatment. We will be the company that sets the example for this in our industry.”