Jen Oneal Leaves Co-Leadership Position At Blizzard, Mike Ybarra Now Sole Leader

Activision Blizzard has been in extremely hot water lately. After numerous lawsuits and stories about the companies toxic work culture and mismanagement, the company appointed Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra as co-leads of Blizzard Entertainment in August. 

Jen Oneal Leaves Co-Leadership Position At Blizzard, Mike Ybarra Now Sole Leader 

Their focus was supposed to be on including better diversity and understanding for the companies employees, but after just a few short months, the company has announced Jen Oneal has departed from her leadership position and has exited the company altogether. 

In a letter to the Blizzard community Oneal states

“I am doing this not because I am without hope for Blizzard, quite the opposite–I’m inspired by the passion of everyone here, working towards meaningful, lasting change with their whole hearts. This energy has inspired me to step out and explore how I can do more to have games and diversity intersect, and hopefully make a broader industry impact that will benefit Blizzard (and other studios) as well. While I am not totally sure what form that will take, I am excited to embark on a new journey to find out.”

Mike Ybarra will now be the sole leader of Blizzard. This information comes during the Activision Blizzard quarterly earnings call. 

ABK is making a one-million-dollar grant to Women in Games International, where Oneal is a board member, to cultivate and advance equality and diversity in the global games space. 

Whether this works out or not remains to be seen as ABK is still going through multiple lawsuits and more.

Oneal will transition into a “new role working closely with Activision Blizzard and Women in Games International to determine the first steps around how the grant will be utilized.”

If you would like to read up on everything that has been going on with the Activision blizzard, you can read plenty of information about it with the links below. 

• Activision Blizzard Leadership Details Accountability Plans and Confirms 20 Terminations
• Activision Blizzard Employees to Hold Walkout Protest Tomorrow
• 800+ Activision Blizzard Employees Condemn Company Response in Open Letter