Mike Morhaime Announces Departure From Activision Blizzard In April
Activision Blizzard has been actively circulating in the news as of late and they’re not all pleasant news. In fact, depending on your perspective, it sounds like they’re undergoing a turbulent transformation. Formerly known as the founder and president of Blizzard and recently stepped stepped down to become a board special adviser, Mike Morhaime, will no longer have any part of the executive operations of the company. Announcing his departure from the studio, Mike Morhaime will be saying goodbye for good and it becomes official in just a few months.
Based on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing (via GameInformer), Morhaime will leave his post this coming April. Here’s what the document reads:
As previously disclosed, on October 3, 2018 Michael Morhaime entered into an agreement with Activision Blizzard, Inc. (the “Company”) pursuant to which he would provide strategic advice to the Company in an advisory capacity. Mr. Morhaime’s employment with the Company as a strategic advisor will conclude on April 7, 2019.”
While it’s not odd to see executives leave a company, the absence of several seats in recent months set an interesting theme for the video game industry in 2019. With the termination of former CFO (Chief Financial Office) Spencer Neumann only to join forces with Netflix, and Amrita Ahuja stepping down to link up with Square Inc., there’s some internal affairs that are transforming the company. There are too many missing pieces before jumping to conclusions. With that said, Mike Morhaime has stood by the Blizzard since 1991 since its conception as Silicon & Synapse and while he’s been an industry veteran for decades, he’s certainly not too mature to keep chugging along.
In addition, Bungie made the monumental announcement of their split from publisher Activision. Instead, the aforementioned company will “assume full publishing rights and responsibilities for the Destiny franchise.” Yes, that means they’re now independent. As for Activision, they’ll relay their efforts on personally owned intellectual properties.
What do you think about Mike Morhaime leaving Activision Blizzard? Does this leave you with theories or could he be leaving for personal reasons? Perhaps he’s done with the industry? Let us know what you think in the comments section below or start a conversation on DFTG Facebook page. To stay up to date on gaming news as it happens, follow us on Twitter! Here’s some of our latest to catch up on:
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Hoi is an elusive figure at DFTG, whose favorite past-times include chillin' in the Fade, reading manga, watching anime, collecting novelty items, and gaming.
