Blizzard’s Jen Oneal stepping down to join women-in-games nonprofit

Activision Blizzard has announced that Jen Oneal, the person who assumed leadership of Blizzard Entertainment in August with Mike Ybarra, will be stepping down. Ybarra will continue alone as Blizzard’s top executive, effective immediately.

Oneal wrote to Blizzard employees, fans and supporters of the games that she was taking over a new position with Women in Games International (WIGI). She started with an Activision Blizzard grant of $1 million. Oneal stated that she will be retiring from Activision Blizzard at the end of this year.

Oneal and Ybarra took over Blizzard’s leadership after former president J. Allen Brack stepped down in early August. Brack’s resignation followed the state of California filing a lawsuit, alleging sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation, against Activision Blizzard in late July.

It also came after a large employee demonstration against a toxic “frat boy” workplace alleged to permeate the company, Blizzard Entertainment in particular, and an apology from Activision chief executive Bobby Kotick.

“As I’ve listened to the stories from people all over Blizzard and been inspired by their courage and conviction, I’ve been thinking about the potential of what I can do as an individual to create the most meaningful change,” Oneal said in the statement. She stated that the grant would be used to fund WIGI’s mentorship and skill-building programs.

“I am doing this not because I am without hope for Blizzard, quite the opposite,” Oneal said. “I’m inspired by the passion of everyone here, working towards meaningful, lasting changes with their whole hearts.”

Oneal is already a board member of WIGI, an organization “that cultivates and advances equality and diversity in the global games industry,” she said. Oneal added that her new role is not yet entirely clear, but that she will “explore how I can do more to have games and diversity intersect.”

Oneal served as the former studio head of Vicarious Visions. It was eventually merged with Blizzard on January 1. After the announcement she became Blizzard’s executive vice-president of development. Vicarious Visions, a New York company based in Albany was transferred to Blizzard support. Activision owned the studio since 2005. (Activision merged with Blizzard in 2008). Last week, Vicarious Visions employees were told the studio would lose its name, which dates to 1991 merge fully with Blizzard, and it will be renamed as one of Blizzard’s satellite studios.

Also on Thursday, Activision Blizzard’s executive leadership told investors that development on Blizzard’s Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4 is delayed. Neither game had an announced launch date or window, and investors weren’t told what the new timeframe for their delivery is, either.

“These are two of the most eagerly anticipated titles in the industry, and our teams have made great strides towards completion in recent quarters,” the company said. “But we believe giving the teams some extra time to complete production and continue growing their creative resources to support the titles after launch will ensure that these releases delight and engage their communities for many years into the future.”