# Activision CEO Bobby Kotick given a 50% salary paycut following criticisms of being overpaid



## Deleted User (Apr 30, 2021)

He already pocketed that 30 mil from one year so I think somehow he'll survive.


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## Julie_Pilgrim (Apr 30, 2021)

oh no, now he can only buy 5 lambos this month instead of his usual seven


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## Chary (Apr 30, 2021)

That's a lot of money for a guy who signed off on Diablo Immortal...


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## JonJaded (Apr 30, 2021)

Good. I bet for what he does, he's still overpayed but I guess it's a good first step.


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## templeofhylia (Apr 30, 2021)

still not enough, but it does warm my heart knowing that criticizing richies works....kinda. we need more of this energy.


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## BitMasterPlus (Apr 30, 2021)

Well, this is good and bad in my eyes. Good that jackasses get their pay cut for doing a shit job and/or being greedy, bad since this could also happen to others who genuinely work hard and deserve the pay. At least in this case it seemed he deserved getting a pay cut.


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## diggeloid (Apr 30, 2021)

I get it. Board members see the company is doing really good, and since they're not involved in operations they don't know what to attribute that success to, so they just assume Kotick is a gift from heaven and are giving him as much money as possible so he doesn't leave (especially since the video game industry is so volatile)

After a certain point though, it's got to seem ridiculous to anyone with half a brain. This man ain't worth that much money. I bet they could replace him with anyone else in the executive staff for 10% of that salary, and the company will continue to do as good as always.


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## Axido (Apr 30, 2021)

I would really like to know which actual work he has done to deserve even a cent more than the average developer, producer or staff member in general (as in the ones that produce the stuff that his company is selling). And if he did make some seriously impacting decisions, I'd like to know whether or not they are worth a dime or if anyone else could have made them (or better ones):

I know a lot about corporate governance and I still need to figure out what it is exactly that CEOs do that warrant a salary as high as this. And seeing his recent business decisions, I'm pretty sure, any dumbass could do the job better.


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## Seliph (Apr 30, 2021)

Now they just gotta cut that other 50%


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## AlanJohn (Apr 30, 2021)

I hope Bobby Kotick invests all his savings into a random crypto that goes down 100x in price overnight.


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## Jayro (Apr 30, 2021)

CEOs are a huge waste of company money, and should be a prime candidate to be replaced by a robot for efficiency.


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## Seliph (Apr 30, 2021)

Jayro said:


> CEOs are a huge waste of company money, and should be a prime candidate to be replaced by a robot for efficiency.


Why replace a useless "worker" with a useless robot?

Just abolish the position altogether and actually let the devs run their business for themselves.


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## the_randomizer (Apr 30, 2021)

Aww, that poor CEO, taking a paycut


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## Seliph (Apr 30, 2021)

Here's who I propose to be the new Activision CEO after the workers overthrow Bobby Kotick


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## Julie_Pilgrim (Apr 30, 2021)

JonJaded said:


> Good. I bet for what he does, he's still overpayed but I guess it's a good first step.





templeofhylia said:


> still not enough, but it does warm my heart knowing that criticizing richies works....kinda. we need more of this energy.





Seliph said:


> Now they just gotta cut that other 50%





AlanJohn said:


> I hope Bobby Kotick invests all his savings into a random crypto that goes down 100x in price overnight.


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## Volttekka (Apr 30, 2021)

Seliph said:


> Why replace a useless "worker" with a useless robot?
> 
> Just abolish the position altogether and actually let the devs run their business for themselves.



While I understand your sentiment, there is usually a good reason for having a CEO, especially one who isn't quite as enmeshed in the current projects. It's mostly to have someone who can see the bigger picture when the folks on the ground level are focusing their attention onto the minutia of the project, as well as to rein in the workers from going overboard. From my personal experience, having limits and constraints actually _improves_ the potential quality of the product, rather than detracting from it, with one good example being The Ren & Stimpy Show having a lot of restrictions set in place by Nickelodeon and Kricfalusi thriving on pushing the limits to their extremes, whereas for Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon" Kricfalusi was given a blank check by Spike TV to do whatever he wanted with it, and as a result the show was lacking the wit and subtlety of the original (among many other damning flaws)


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## nero99 (Apr 30, 2021)

Axido said:


> I would really like to know which actual work he has done to deserve even a cent more than the average developer, producer or staff member in general (as in the ones that produce the stuff that his company is selling). And if he did make some seriously impacting decisions, I'd like to know whether or not they are worth a dime or if anyone else could have made them (or better ones):
> 
> I know a lot about corporate governance and I still need to figure out what it is exactly that CEOs do that warrant a salary as high as this. And seeing his recent business decisions, I'm pretty sure, any dumbass could do the job better.


a chief executive officer, the highest-ranking person in a company or other institution, ultimately responsible for making managerial decisions. basically one step below the owner/president of a company who is in charge of making all the big decisions that the owner/president can't be bothered with.


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## Xzi (Apr 30, 2021)

The problem isn't his pay (though that is ludicrous), it's that he has any power or say over the company at all.  It's all about the financials for him, he doesn't have the first fucking clue when it comes to gaming or game development.  If anything I'd say he holds disdain for the industry.  In that regard, it's surprising that Kotick and Sweeney haven't fallen in love and gotten married yet.


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## LeyendaV (Apr 30, 2021)

He bought the overpayment DLC.


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## xdarkx (May 1, 2021)

So in short, the pay cut will be short lived.


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## K3N1 (May 1, 2021)

Reminds me of vince mcmahon when he lost $350mill and started crying over it, I'm not a huge wrestling fan but come on the dude is still worth 2.1 billion to this day. I can't speak on everyone's poverty or feel sorry for them taking pay cuts. We don't know everyone's back story if they came from poverty and earned their millions on their own. I just don't get why so many care about others bank accounts.


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## ZeroFX (May 1, 2021)

Next step is to boot the woke folks and hire some normal people with this money.


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## hamohamo (May 1, 2021)

Now he only gets 15mil annually. Definitely not overpaid anymore.


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## RogueAntics (May 1, 2021)

ZeroFX said:


> Next step is to boot the woke folks and hire some normal people with this money.


That will never happen, everything now is scrutinized intimately for any reason and excuse to accuse someone of something.
That's the reality we now live where saying "Deal with it" is not acceptable. In fact saying "Deal with it" would probably get you killed as it would be implied that your race/colour/sex had something to do with that answer.


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## smallissue (May 1, 2021)

RogueAntics said:


> That will never happen, everything now is scrutinized intimately for any reason and excuse to accuse someone of something.
> That's the reality we now live where saying "Deal with it" is not acceptable. In fact saying "Deal with it" would probably get you killed as it would be implied that your race/colour/sex had something to do with that answer.


Incoming Call
Based Department


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## Xzi (May 1, 2021)

RogueAntics said:


> That will never happen, everything now is scrutinized intimately for any reason and excuse to accuse someone of something.


Or maybe, just maybe, it's because discrimination is detrimental to any business' bottom line.  Wide appeal is the name of the game if you want everybody's money.  A little bit of conservative outrage is meaningless by comparison, and their boycotts are always a joke.


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## smallissue (May 1, 2021)

Xzi said:


> Or maybe, just maybe, it's because discrimination is detrimental to any business' bottom line.  Wide appeal is the name of the game if you want everybody's money.  A little bit of conservative outrage is meaningless by comparison, and their boycotts are always a joke.


actually wait
your 40x more based


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## Seliph (May 1, 2021)

Volttekka said:


> While I understand your sentiment, there is usually a good reason for having a CEO, especially one who isn't quite as enmeshed in the current projects. It's mostly to have someone who can see the bigger picture when the folks on the ground level are focusing their attention onto the minutia of the project, as well as to rein in the workers from going overboard. From my personal experience, having limits and constraints actually _improves_ the potential quality of the product, rather than detracting from it, with one good example being The Ren & Stimpy Show having a lot of restrictions set in place by Nickelodeon and Kricfalusi thriving on pushing the limits to their extremes, whereas for Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon" Kricfalusi was given a blank check by Spike TV to do whatever he wanted with it, and as a result the show was lacking the wit and subtlety of the original (among many other damning flaws)


Well instead of a CEO there could just be... a project leader or something. There's no reason for someone who is paid 100x your wage to oversee your project.

There are many game devs that make great games without the oversight of an unnecessary CEO, Night in the Woods, Dead Cells, Tonight We Riot, etc. All of these games have been made by cooperatives without the necessity of a CEO.
https://www.usgamer.net/articles/ga...d-more-share-why-the-co-op-studio-model-works

Like I understand the need for "someone to reign in the workers from going overboard", but it shouldn't be a CEO. It should just be another worker with organizational knowledge. CEOs prioritize profit over everything else, not actual game quality. We've seen this many times with many games such as Anthem where higher-ups completely ruin a game because they aren't actual game developers who understand how games work, they're people who are supposed to find out how to make the most profit and profitability =/= good game. CEOs more often than not stifle creativity and put workers through hell to finish games at no expense to themselves, again look at the crunch of Anthem or Cyberpunk 2077. The development of these games destroyed workers while CEOs took nary a scratch. CEOs and corporate bureaucracy are a massive liability to creativity and the corporatization of game development over the years has created hundreds of boring and lifeless AAA games at the expense of actual good, meaningful games that could be considered art. Just look at the gutting of Ratchet and Clank, or Jak and Daxter, or Banjo and Kazooie (really any rareware IPs), or (dare I say it) Pokemon. All franchises destroyed or left a shell of their former selves by bureaucracy created by CEOs who haven't spent a day in their lives working on a video game.

Games should be made because they're *good*, not because they make money (for CEOs).


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## smallissue (May 1, 2021)

dam, seliph is b a s e d


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## Seliph (May 1, 2021)

smallissue said:


> dam, seliph is b a s e d


ty (▰˘◡˘▰)

I channeled my inner Jim Sterling for that one


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## Costello (May 1, 2021)

symbolic measure - his salary is cut in half, and his bonus is tripled  but they will keep that last part quiet


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## The Catboy (May 1, 2021)

He’s still going to be grossly overpaid after this. They didn’t solve the problem, they just put a bandage over it hoping that would be enough. Which sadly it will be for too many people. Honestly, CEOs are the biggest waste of money and leaches on the working class. They aren’t necessary and could literally be replaced with nothing and no one would noice. Or at least replaced with someone who’s actually going to do more than just leach off the workers.


Seliph said:


> ty (▰˘◡˘▰)
> 
> I channeled my inner Jim Sterling for that one


Jim Sterling is the most based gender fluid individual  I love them!


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## Joom (May 1, 2021)

templeofhylia said:


> still not enough, but it does warm my heart knowing that criticizing richies works....kinda. we need more of this energy.


Just boycott their products. They listen to loss of sales a lot more than criticism. I also have a hunch that this is just a PR stunt what with the recent backlash from Act/Blizz canning 190 employees while this guy simultaneously gave himself a meaty bonus. The guy still gets to give himself exorbitant raises so long as he doesn't upset shareholders. It's disgusting.


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## WiiMiiSwitch (May 1, 2021)

Scott_pilgrim said:


> oh no, now he can only buy 5 lambos this month instead of his usual seven


No even worse, 4 lambos


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## anhminh (May 1, 2021)

Bobby Kotick right now.


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## HideoKojima (May 1, 2021)

Most probably his accountant found a way to reduce the salary while still gets it fully.


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## Julie_Pilgrim (May 1, 2021)

Seliph said:


> Well instead of a CEO there could just be... a project leader or something. There's no reason for someone who is paid 100x your wage to oversee your project.
> 
> There are many game devs that make great games without the oversight of an unnecessary CEO, Night in the Woods, Dead Cells, Tonight We Riot, etc. All of these games have been made by cooperatives without the necessity of a CEO.
> https://www.usgamer.net/articles/ga...d-more-share-why-the-co-op-studio-model-works
> ...


Holy shit i knew you were based but i didnt know you were this based


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## Budsixz (May 1, 2021)

I think they should pay him a lot more so that Activision goes bankrupt and is sold to some decent guys


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## Kioku_Dreams (May 2, 2021)

xdarkx said:


> So in short, the pay cut will be short lived.



They all usually are.. Not to mention, he won't miss the other $15 or so million he's allegedly "losing"..


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## Seliph (May 2, 2021)

My solution to stinky overpaid CEOs


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## Julie_Pilgrim (May 2, 2021)

Seliph said:


> My solution to stinky overpaid CEOs


Just when i think youve reached peak based you go even further


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## BitMasterPlus (May 2, 2021)

Scott_pilgrim said:


> Just when i think youve reached peak based you go even further


Always break your limits.


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## RemnantKnight56 (May 2, 2021)

CEOs are needed for overall guidance and leadership of a company and to see everything from a large scale--sort of like the producer in a movie. They handle the financial side of things and ultimately have the final say on the product, short of the owner if it's a private company. The problem arises when these people are focused on making money and nothing else. The product becomes generic and a mere tool to earn millions for the shareholders. I think that could _maybe_ work well in other industries, but in artistic ones, such as music, movies, and especially games, it ends up harming the product. The only CEO I remember being praised in the game industry was Satoru Iwata, and he wasn't someone that was called in from the economics side of the industry. He came in from the ground up and understood how a game was made, and also had an understanding of economics to go with it.

Kotick is not Iwata. Not in the slightest. I agree that CEOs shouldn't be as paid as much as they are, but it's wrong to say that the position should be eliminated entirely. The bigger problem is that they bring in CEOs only interested in the money, not the product. We need people passionate about their games at the top, not about reaching a certain sales quota.


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## Ishzark (May 2, 2021)

man I wish someone would overpay my work by that amount

I mean, serves him tho - his job is hard, sure thing but not that hard v:


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## Robika (May 3, 2021)

Still overpaid, Blizzard has gone to hell.


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## sonyabyrd (Jan 26, 2022)

Well, that's one way to do it, right? It's crazy that a company like Blizzard operates in that way. I'm not surprised they were bought by Microsoft, and I'm sure they'll have better management now.
I think that people I work with would freak out if they got a 50% paycheck cut on their paystubs. I work in accounting, and I know that people freak out with any paycheck cut they get. At the beginning of the year, I had to create paycheck stubs for my boss, and some people were not happy with their salaries. I felt like they hated me even though it was not my fault...


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