Jen Oneal steps down as Blizzard co-leader

Three months was all the time needed for Jen Oneal to abandon her position as co-head of Blizzard. A lawsuit filed by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing after an investigation that revealed stories of multiple women suffering harassment and abuse while working at Activision Blizzard led to a scandal that ended with J.Allen Brack stepping down as President of the company. Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra were appointed the new heads of the company in an attempt to appease a community of players that was both upset and disappointed with the company's lukewarm reactions to the lawsuit. Blizzard then started a facelift campaign that involved removing in-game pictures that could be considered sexually offensive in World of Warcraft, removing the names of employees involved in the lawsuit that were present in some games, like Jesse McCree in Overwatch, and some other small changes. Meanwhile, everyone is waiting for some impactful measures that do not seem to be on the way.

After three months, Jen Oneal steps down as Blizzard's co-president, and this paves the way for more speculation about the current situation of the company and the future of its games. It's a very delicate matter, especially now that one of Blizzard's flagships is not in its sweetest moments. Players have been leaving World of Warcraft for other games and a recent announcement made by Game Director Ion Hazzikostas about focusing on making old content more relevant did not sit well among the fans, especially those that are disappointed with the recent addition to the game of revamped content from the Legion expansion, which is six years old.

What are the repercussions?

Blizzard seems to be a mess now. That's why it's not very surprising that in the Q3 2021 financial report from the company, it's been revealed that the release of Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4 is delayed.

"As we have worked with new leadership in Blizzard and within the franchises themselves, particularly in certain key creative roles, it has become apparent that some of the Blizzard content planned for next year will benefit from more development time to reach its full potential."

It's hard to figure out what kind of direct impact the resignation of Jen Oneal will have on the future of the company, but it's pretty evident that it's another destabilizing element that makes things even harder for Blizzard.