Bobby Kotick Slams John Riccitiello as 'Worst CEO in Gaming'

In a candid interview on the Grit podcast, former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick took a sharp swipe at ex-EA CEO John Riccitiello, labeling him "the worst CEO in video games." Sharing the stage with former EA chief creative officer Bing Gordon, who suggested Riccitiello's tenure accelerated his exit, Kotick acknowledged that EA's business model was in many ways superior to Activision's, yet he humorously remarked that they would have paid to keep Riccitiello as CEO indefinitely due to his perceived ineffectiveness.

"I'm not saying this because [Gordon] is sitting here," Kotick clarified. "Our fear was always that Bing was going to run [EA]. And we would have paid for Riccitiello to stay a CEO forever. We thought he was the worst CEO in video games."

Riccitiello's departure from EA in 2013 came on the heels of disappointing financial results and significant layoffs after serving as CEO since 2007. One of his more controversial proposals was suggesting to shareholders that Battlefield players might be willing to pay a dollar each time they needed to reload their guns. Following his time at EA, Riccitiello took the helm at Unity Technologies in late 2014, but left in 2023 amid a major backlash over planned install fees, which were eventually retracted. His tenure at Unity was also marked by contentious moments, including a public apology after referring to developers who did not embrace microtransactions as the "biggest f*cking idiots."

Interestingly, Kotick, who oversaw Activision Blizzard's monumental $68.7 billion acquisition by Microsoft in 2023, revealed that EA had repeatedly attempted to acquire Activision. "EA tried to buy us a bunch of times. We had merger conversations a bunch of times," Kotick stated. "We actually thought their business, in a lot of ways, was better than ours. More stable."

Despite Kotick's financial successes during his tenure, his leadership was not without controversy. Activision Blizzard faced numerous allegations of sexism and a toxic work environment, culminating in employee walkouts over claims that Kotick had not informed the company's board about serious misconduct allegations, including rape. Independent reviews, however, found these allegations to be unsubstantiated. In July 2021, California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing (now the Civil Rights Department) filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard, alleging a retaliatory "frat boy" culture. The issue was resolved in December 2023 with a $54 million settlement, which clarified that no systemic or widespread sexual harassment was found, nor was there any improper handling by the board, including Kotick, regarding workplace misconduct.

During the same interview, Kotick also expressed his disappointment with Universal's 2016 adaptation of Activision Blizzard's Warcraft, bluntly calling it "one of the worst movies I've ever seen."