Activision has been the target of plenty of industry jokes and drama for years now, but one of the most egregious of which--outside of their handling of Blizzard--has been CEO Bobby Kotick's salary. As the boss of Activision, Kotick made $1.75 million dollars annually and further raked in bonuses totalling around $28.5 million in 2019, with his earnings being so sky-high that the CtW Investment Group noticed and took aim at Kotick, saying his earnings were excessive for what he does, and non-profit website As You Sow calling him one of the most overpaid CEOs in the world.

In what seems to be a form of response to said criticisms, Kotick is facing a paycut of 50% this year. His $1.75 million dollar salary is being reduced to $875,000, while his yearly bonus has been halved as well. The latter of which is an extra payout, dependant on how the company performs throughout the fiscal year. This decision also follows two major incidents of Activision Blizzard laying off staff, with 2019 seeing over 800 employees laid off, and "dozens" being booted as recently as March of this year.

However, despite the paycut, there are still two points to keep in mind. The first of which is the fact that the CtW has noted that Kotick will be earning a stock bonus this year, worth around $200 million, though the "exact" amount hasn't been fully confirmed by Activision itself. Also, Kotick can raise his pay 200% of the reduced amount, should Activision surpass certain milestones regarding its shareholders. A legal report filed by Activision Blizzard shows that this decision was done as a "result of shareholder feedback", and that because of this, the millions he's making now puts him in "the bottom quartile of the average base salary of CEOs of peer companies".

Source

 

[xdarkx]

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

 

[K3Nv2]

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.

 

[ZeroFX]

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

 

[hamohamo]

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

 

[RogueAntics]

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.

 

[smallissue]

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

 

[Xzi]

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.

 

[smallissue]

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

 

[Seliph]

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).

 

[smallissue]

dam, seliph is b a s e d

 

[Seliph]

dam, seliph is b a s e d

ty (▰˘◡˘▰)

I channeled my inner Jim Sterling for that one

 

[Costello]

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

 

[The Catboy]

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.

ty (▰˘◡˘▰)

I channeled my inner Jim Sterling for that one

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

 

[Joom]

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.

 

[Deleted member 546149]

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

No even worse, 4 lambos

 

[anhminh]

Bobby Kotick right now.

 

[HideoKojima]

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

 

[Julie_Pilgrim]

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).

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

 

[Budsixz]

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

 

[Kioku]

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"..