// PC GAMER — GAMING
Bobby's back
The former Activision Blizzard CEO has joined the board of directors at Skydance, the company formed by Paramount's acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery.
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Former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, who left the company and the videogame industry at the end of 2023 following its acquisition by Microsoft, is back in the game. Skydance, the company formed by Paramount's acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, has added Kotick to its board, where he will serve as an independent director.
In a press release, Skydance credited Kotick for building Activision Blizzard "into one of those world's most successful videogame companies" during his 32 years as CEO.
"Bobby led a global entertainment company through three decades of sustained growth, and he brings real perspective on building enduring franchises and connecting with fans," Skydance CEO David Ellison said. "His record of pairing bold strategic moves with disciplined capital allocation is exactly the experience we need as we bring our businesses together."
Skydance now owns a frankly alarming number of media companies and brands, and yes, gaming is in the mix. While the announcement of the acquisition's closure on October 6 focused on film, streaming, television, and "a leading content portfolio that includes live sports, a deep programming library and expansive collection of iconic brands and franchises," it also includes Paramount Games—which was founded earlier in 2026, basically by mashing up Skydance Interactive and Skydance New Media—and the far more storied Warner Bros Games. A Variety report says those two operations will be merged into a single entity.
Today, we are Skydance. One team with a shared ambition to entertain, inspire, and inform the world through extraordinary storytelling. https://t.co/hdAJCYt0wm https://t.co/Uoc99Y9srGOctober 6, 2026
Thus, the obvious question: Is Kotick there to take the reins of the company's newly reconstituted gaming division?
It's possible: Skydance heaped praise on the former Activision boss for his leadership and business acumen. "He showed a rare ability to anticipate shifts in how consumers engage with entertainment, investing in new platforms, new business models and new ways of reaching fans while keeping creative excellence at the center of the enterprise," the company said, adding that "his experience scaling a franchise-driven business, managing the complexity of a global public company and steering major industry transitions will serve Skydance well as it navigates an evolving media and entertainment landscape."
But his tenure was also controversial. In 2021, the company faced allegations of "unlawful harassment, discrimination, and retaliation," and was the subject of a lawsuit filed by California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing. At the time, PC Gamer, interviewed three women who cooperated with that investigation, and who described an unprofessional workplace where bad behavior was excused.