LogInAs I predicted back in late December, former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has indeed started making headlines more frequently in 2025, this time appearing in the news for filing a lawsuit against the media holding company G/O Media and two of its subsidiaries, Kotaku and Gizmodo, over claims of "defamation" in articles published by the outlets.
Activision
Filed in the Superior Court of Delaware, the defamation lawsuit is described as not being related to Kotick's infamous "profits-above-all-else" mentality as an Activision director, which has largely shaped his reputation within the gaming community. Instead, it concerns the sexual harassment and discrimination accusations that were once aimed at Activision Blizzard's entire management, including Kotick.
As reported by Courthouse News, the plaintiff's complaint argues that both outlets referenced these accusations in their coverage of Kotick's rumored plan to purchase TikTok, without clarifying that the allegations had been dismissed in order to further tarnish the ex-CEO's reputation. Although the articles were later amended and Gizmodo removed the term "disgraced" from its headline, Kotick remained unsatisfied, claiming that the articles still "mischaracterized" the situation.
"Neither article had anything to do with Activision," Kotick's complaint reads. "Both were about rumors that Kotick was interested in buying TikTok. Yet, Kotaku and Gizmodo went out of their way to include withdrawn, false allegations relating to workplace issues which G/O Media knew had been conclusively disproven by numerous investigations ... purely for the malicious purposes of causing further harm to Kotick."
At the moment of writing, G/O Media has not officially addressed the lawsuit. It will certainly be interesting to see how this situation unfolds, considering it's one of those cases where – for the larger gaming community – neither party inspires much sympathy, so stay tuned for updates.
Back in February, Kotick also got in the news by publicly declaring ex-Electronic Arts and Unity boss John Riccitiello the worst CEO the video game industry has ever seen, a judgment stemming most likely from EA's disappointing financial performance in the early 2010s – one of the main reasons Riccitiello resigned in the first place.
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