After eight years on the job, Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg has announced that he will leave the company in March. His coming depature was first revealed internally, according to VentureBeat, and then later confirmed by Activision.
Activision Publishing is a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, which is still helmed by Bobby Kotick. It was formed, as related by this SEC filing (via Wikipedia), as a result of the creation of Activision Holdings in 2000, after which Activision itself became a direct, whole-owned subsidiary of the holding company. Following that, Activision Holdings changed its name to Activision, Inc., while Activision became Activision Publishing.
“Serving as Activision’s CEO has been an honor and a thrill,” Hirshberg said in a statement. “This is an amazing company. One which routinely delivers epic experiences for our fans on a scale that no one else can. I have nothing but admiration for the incredible team I have had the privilege to lead. And I have nothing but appreciation for Bobby for giving me this transformational opportunity, and also for having the vision and conviction to champion a creative person for a leadership role on this scale.”
“During Eric’s tenure we’ve had historic performance and great successes,” Kotick said. “He is an inspiring leader, and we will all miss his creativity and tenacity very much. He is leaving the team, the franchises and the business in a great place, and he goes with my full support and appreciation.”
Hirshberg is going out on top: Call of Duty: WWII and Destiny 2 were the top-selling games in 2017, and the Call of Duty series overall has been the number-one revenue-generating game franchise in North America for the past nine years straight.