Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick to step down

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick will step down from his position as head of the online game firm on Dec. 29, based on an inner memo from Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer Wednesday.

The management change was anticipated after Microsoft closed its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard in October. The deal went via intensive regulatory scrutiny within the U.S., the U.Ok. and Europe.

 “I’d like to thank Bobby—for his invaluable contributions to this industry, his partnership in closing the Activision Blizzard acquisition and his collaboration following the close—and I wish him and his family the very best in his next chapter,” Spencer wrote within the memo, which was seen by CNBC.

The deal, the most important in Microsoft’s historical past, was first introduced in January 2022. The acquisition provides Microsoft a hefty portfolio of online game franchises, together with Name of Obligation, Crash Bandicoot, Diablo, Overwatch, StarCraft, Tony Hawk Professional Skater and Warcraft.

In a launch Wednesday, Kotick expressed “gratitude and appreciation” for his time at Activision Blizzard. He first joined the corporate as Director and CEO of Activision, Inc., in February 1991 earlier than serving as CEO of Activision Blizard starting in July of 2008.

“I cannot adequately express the pride I have in the people who continue to contribute to our success and all those who have helped throughout my 32 years leading this company,” Kotick wrote in a launch Wednesday. “We are now part of the world’s most admired company. That isn’t an accident.”

–CNBC’s Jordan Novet contributed to this report