{"id":292697,"date":"2021-11-02T16:18:27","date_gmt":"2021-11-02T21:18:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jbsgame.com\/?p=292697"},"modified":"2021-11-02T16:32:53","modified_gmt":"2021-11-02T21:32:53","slug":"blizzard-co-leader-jen-oneal-departs-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jbsgame.com\/blizzard-co-leader-jen-oneal-departs-company\/","title":{"rendered":"Blizzard co-leader Jen Oneal is leaving the company"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mike Ybarra will be taking over sole leadership of Blizzard<\/h2>

One of Blizzard’s leaders has announced they’re stepping away from the company. Today, Jen Oneal announced she’ll be leaving the company at the end of the year, with her co-leader Mike Ybarra taking over Oneal’s responsibilities.<\/p>

Oneal and Ybarra were announced as the new co-leaders of Blizzard Entertainment following the departure of J. Allen Brack<\/a>, which came after the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing sued Activision Blizzard over reports of discrimination and a toxic workplace culture<\/a>.<\/p>

Oneal’s career ran back over 20 years across Activision, Vicarious Visions, and then Blizzard. According to an Activision Blizzard statement<\/a>, she will be taking time to find new opportunities that bring her two passions closer together: game development and diversity, equity, and inclusion.<\/p>

“I am doing this not because I am without hope for Blizzard, quite the opposite\u2014I’m inspired by the passion of everyone here, working towards meaningful, lasting change with their whole hearts,” Oneal wrote in a goodbye letter (via GamesBeat<\/a>). “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.”<\/p>

<\/iframe><\/p>

Activision Blizzard has also said it will be making a $1 million grant to Women in Games International in her honor. Oneal will leave at the end of the year, spending her remaining time transitioning into a new role building up programs that could be funded by the grant. Ybarra, meanwhile, will assume Oneal’s current responsibilities at Blizzard.<\/p>

Activision Blizzard recently outlined changes coming to the company in response to the investigations, including an end to required arbitration<\/a>. The ABK Workers Alliance characterized it as a “huge win<\/a>,” but also said there’s more to be done. Employees had previously signed letters and organized a walkout<\/a>, calling for change at the company.<\/p>

As part of today’s Activision Blizzard earnings update, the company also confirmed that\u00a0Diablo IV\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Overwatch 2\u00a0<\/em>would be coming later than expected<\/a>. This follows after both the\u00a0Diablo<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Overwatch<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>teams saw turnover at the top.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":808,"featured_media":266259,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"article_type":"","gamurs_wordpress_blocks_hide_tags":false,"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[19503,19504,597,19882,599],"internal-label":[],"invoiceable_action":[],"article_type":[],"coauthors":[{"id":808,"display_name":"Eric 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