Rich George: Last News

Activision Blizzard illegally retaliated against unionising workers at Raven Software by withholding raises, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has found.Via The Washington Post, the labour board found that Activision Blizzard withheld raises from quality assurance (QA) testers at Raven Software, which it attributed to their union activities.Following these findings, Activision Blizzard and Raven Software QA testers will continue negotiations around a collective bargaining agreement. If the two parties cannot agree on terms, the NLRB could file a complaint.

Activision Blizzard‘s chief compliance officer.In a company email sent out on Thursday (September 29), CEO Bobby Kotick announced staff that Townsend would be stepping down from her position after less than two years at the Call Of Duty publisher (via The Wall Street Journal).“She [Frances Townsend] tirelessly and successfully navigated a challenging time for the Company with leadership, conviction, and grace,” wrote Kotick in the email. Despite leaving her position, Townsend will continue as an official advisor to Kotick and to Activision Blizzard’s board of directors.Activision Blizzard spokesperson Rich George went on to provide Kotaku with a copy of the company email, which further detailed Townsend’s departure and explained that the company is moving closer to completing the merger with Microsoft.Her role will be taken over by the current senior vice president of ethics and compliance, Jen Brewer, who will be promoted to chief ethics and compliance officer after being at the company for 10 years.Prior to joining Activision Blizzard as chief compliance officer, Townsend served as the assistant for homeland security and counterterrorism to President George W.