Technologies

Microsoft promises to change toxic work culture at Activision Blizzard

The tech giant knows it is facing turmoil within its new acquisition.

Over the past couple years, employees’ public accounts of toxic work environments have led to reckonings around Silicon Valley and promises from management to be better. On Tuesday, Microsoft made a similar pledge, though not for itself. The tech giant pointed to the litany of abuse and harassment allegations at its latest acquisition target, game maker Activision Blizzard, and promised that behavior would no longer be tolerated.

Amid Microsoft’s announced plans to buy Activision Blizzard for the eye-popping amount of nearly $69 billion in cash, the tech giant’s leaders spoke the usual pomp about how important the deal was. Microsoft would be bolstering its already enormous Xbox video game division with the teams behind some of the most popular franchises in the world, including the online battle games Overwatch and Call of Duty, as well as the fantasy behemoth World of Warcraft and mobile mainstay Candy Crush.

But Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella also quickly pivoted to acknowledge that he isn’t just buying a company and its brands. Microsoft will also be taking over a sprawling organization under intense scrutiny over public claims of harassment, discrimination and more, all tolerated for years in an alleged «bro culture» atmosphere. On a conference call with investors shortly after announcing the purchase, Nadella discussed how he’s changed Microsoft’s cutthroat ways and how his lieutenant Phil Spencer would do the same with Activision Blizzard.

«The culture of our organization is my No. 1 priority,» Nadella said during his introductory remarks. «This means we must continuously improve the lived experience of our employees and create an environment that allows us to constantly drive everyday improvement in our culture.»

In doing so, he effectively promised to turn around a company that, while successful, is engulfed in scandal. «We are supportive of the goals and the work Activision Blizzard is doing and we also recognize that after the close, we will have significant work to do in order to continue to build a culture where everyone can do their best work,» he said in a thinly veiled criticism of past leadership. «It requires consistency, commitment, and leadership that not only talks the talk but walks the walk.»

It’s a tall order for Microsoft and Nadella to take on. But those who’ve watched his work say he and his lieutenants may be among the best suited to pull it off. And that’s in part because of how much Microsoft itself has changed.

Just a decade ago, Microsoft was seen largely as a monopolistic force in the computer world, reinforced through its toxic work culture. The company’s ruthlessness both inside and out were so widely documented over the years that a cartoonist once drew an organizational chart depicting Microsoft’s divisions as warring gangs pointing guns at one another. And when Google went public in 2004, it established a corporate ethos that became as much mantra as it was a referendum on Microsoft: «Don’t be evil.«

In 2014, shortly after Nadella was appointed as Microsoft’s third CEO, he set about for a fix. In his book Hit Refresh: The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft’s Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone, Nadella described how he’d inherited a senior leadership team that was «more like a group of individuals» operating in silos. He asked each to read Marshall Rosenberg’s Nonviolent Communication, a guide to building compassion in organizations. Over time, he said, executives grilled and sniped at each other less, and supported one another more.

Nadella still stumbled, famously giving an «inarticulate» answer in 2014 when asked for advice for women seeking a raise while he was being interviewed on stage at the Grace Hopper Celebration for women in tech. Four years later, when CNET Editor-in-Chief Connie Guglielmo asked him to try again, Nadella said people need to advocate for themselves and find allies who won’t accept the status quo. He also said it’s on leaders, like him, to listen to those advocates.

With Activision Blizzard, Nadella said he’ll rely on Spencer, head of Microsoft Gaming and the Xbox division. Nadella described Spencer as having «demonstrated leadership driving both gaming business success as well as cultural change.» Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, who was accused in a blockbuster Wall Street Journal investigation of having at times ignored, covered up and even participated in bad behavior at the company, told employees in a conference call published by the Washington Post Thursday that he will remain in his job until the deal closes in June 2023 and any longer Microsoft wishes him to stay.

The Activision Blizzard King Workers Alliance, which helped organize walkouts and protests over the past six months, tweeted a statement saying its efforts wouldn’t end with Microsoft’s acquisition.

«We remain committed to fighting for workplace improvements and the rights of our employees regardless of who is financially in control of the company,» the group tweeted Tuesday. «Whatever the leadership structure of the company, we will continue our push to #EndAbuseInGaming.»

Microsoft and Activision declined to make executives available for comment.

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Under pressure

In an odd way, Activision Blizzard’s cultural issues appear to have driven the company into Microsoft’s hands. Activision Blizzard’s stock was floating near all-time highs last year until July, when it was sued by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, which accused the gaming giant of discriminating against its female workforce and fomenting a toxic work culture. The suit quickly triggered public letters from employees that criticized the company’s leadership, followed by employee walkouts and online activism.

Kotick, according to the Journal’s reporting, was aware of many of the issues outlined in the suit but reportedly failed to inform the company’s board of directors of «everything he knew,» including a 2018 settlement with a former employee at one of Activision’s studios who was allegedly raped by a supervisor. Kotick at the time said the Journal’s article «paints an inaccurate and misleading view of our company, of me personally, and my leadership,» a sentiment repeated by the company’s spokespeople.

Still, investors were unconvinced, pushing the company’s stock down as much as 40% before Microsoft’s purchase was made public, for the same $95 per share that the stock was worth just a year ago.

Carolina Milanesi, an analyst at Creative Strategies who’s watched Microsoft’s moves closely over the years, noted how often Microsoft discussed culture throughout its announcements on Tuesday, both by Nadella and Spencer, the latter of whom said, «We believe firmly that the great teams at Activision Blizzard have their best work in front of them, and we’re looking forward to making sure they feel supported, safe and engaged in every aspect of their work going forward.»

The focus on culture was «spot on,» Milanesi said. «The problem was with management, not the employees,» she added. «You get rid of management and put the employees in a good environment.»

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Microsoft also published headshots of its gaming division’s leadership in connection with the announcement, and Milanesi noted that half the roles were filled by women and reflected racial diversity as well, an unusual sight in tech land. «I don’t think it would have been a possibility for them to keep the old management on» at Activision, she said. «Especially how employees responded, clearly it wasn’t good for the company.»

Though Kotick may not become a Microsoft employee, he will be paid a generous sum. His stock holdings alone will be worth nearly $400 million.

New game

Whether Microsoft can right Activision’s ship is still an open question, even if its executives so far have «talked the talk,» as Nadella noted. It may help that Microsoft has faced its own reckonings over the years, both in a 2015 class action discrimination suit and again in 2019 when employees protested its own «boys club» culture.

Microsoft’s HR head, Kathleen Hogan, wrote to employees following the 2019 revelations that she was «appalled and sad to hear» about their experiences and agreed that these problems must be resolved as a company. Microsoft shared the email publicly, in which Hogan said, «We must do better.»

So far, it appears Microsoft’s made headway. Nine out of 10 employees who left reviews on Glassdoor said they’d recommend working at Microsoft to a friend, and 97% approved of Nadella’s work as CEO.

«The deal and a renewed commitment to culture should enable Activision Blizzard to eventually move beyond the in-house issues that have surfaced,» Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter wrote in a message to investors after Microsoft’s announcement. «We think that Microsoft’s intolerance of workforce discrimination and harassment will overwhelm any issues that remain at Activision.»

One other thing that may help is Microsoft’s corporate mission. The tech giant’s taken clear stands on not just harassment but also human rights and other global and political issues that many game companies have either avoided or outright mishandled. Activision Blizzard itself was harshly criticized for its reaction against a competitive gamer who expressed support for democratic protests in Hong Kong in 2019.

«Many executives from the games industry have always been on the fringes and haven’t had to think much about these things,» said Joost van Dreunen, a professor at NYU Stern School of Business and author of the book One Up: Creativity, Competition, and the Global Business of Video Games. «Microsoft has these questions answered. They know their place, and they have it thought through.»

To him, Microsoft also appears to be walking the walk of its Xbox division’s «for everyone» mantra, from its efforts to take on harassment in the gaming community to initiatives like its Xbox Adaptive Controller for disabled players.

«You don’t see that as much at Activision,» he said. At least not yet.

Technologies

The Maker of the $20K Neo Robot Has a Deal for 10,000 of Its Humanoids

The goal is to get the robots working with actual humans in areas such as manufacturing, facility operations and health care.

Robot maker 1X made a splash back in October when it opened preorders for its Neo humanoid robot for home use, not least because of its $20,000 price tag. Now it’s making another splash with a deal for up to 10,000 of its humanoids to be deployed over the next five years.

Private equity firm EQT says it will facilitate getting thousands of 1X humanoids into its portfolio companies to work with humans in areas such as manufacturing, facility operations and health care. It’s unclear whether those robots will be from the Neo line itself or a variation. The press release for the EQT deal says that 1X will launch pilots in the US in 2026, which is the same time frame the company gave for getting the first Neo units to customers.

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1X, based in Palo Alto, California, has also worked on industrial robots before introducing Neo. Stockholm-based EQT is an investor in 1X.

Preorders for Neo require a $200 down payment. For those who prefer not to own, a $499-per-month leasing option is available.

Neo stands 5 feet 6 inches tall and can lift 154 pounds. 1X has demonstrated its ability to perform household tasks, such as folding laundry and carrying groceries. Notably, though, in a demo witnessed by a Wall Street Journal reporter, Neo was not autonomous — it required a remote human operator using a VR headset and controllers.

A 1X spokesperson told Bloomberg that the robots will operate autonomously.

Financial terms for the EQT deal weren’t disclosed. 1X and EQT said robots will be deployed to US partner companies first, for purchase or for leasing, and then to those in Europe and Asia.

A representative for 1X did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A robotic future?

In a release, EQT Ventures said the deal will be part of a wave of mass-market robot adoption and is meant to address issues including labor shortages.

«This isn’t about replacing people, it’s about giving them superpowers,» Ted Persson, lead partner at EQT Ventures, said in a statement. «By making 1X’s technology available to our portfolio companies, we help them tackle labor shortages, improve safety, and unlock new levels of productivity in the industries that keep the world running.»

1X is one of several companies aiming to mass-produce humanoid robots for business, household tasks and even boxing. Amazon is already using robots in its warehouses, and it’s anticipated that AI advances will help speed the rise of robotics across the world.

Unitree, Apptronik, Boston Dynamics and Tesla are among the companies working on human-style robots.

Tesla has been trolled for a recent robot fail: At a public demo in Miami, one of its Optimus robots apparently knocked over bottles it was trying to pick up, then lost its balance and fell.

Technologies

Microsoft Wishes Xbox Game Pass Subscribers a Bloody Christmas With Mortal Kombat 1

«Get over here!» and celebrate the holidays with Scorpion.

Just in time for the holidays, Microsoft has a new batch of games on Xbox Game Pass. Leading the pack is Mortal Kombat 1, the bloody reboot of the fighting game franchise. It’s the perfect time of the year to sing carols and decapitate some digital heads.

Xbox Game Pass offers hundreds of games you can play on your Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, Amazon Fire TV, smart TV and PC or mobile device, with prices starting at $10 a month. While all Game Pass tiers offer you a library of games, Game Pass Ultimate ($30 a month) gives you access to the most games, as well as Day 1 games, like Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, added monthly.

Here are all the games subscribers can play on Game Pass. You can also check out other games the company added to the service in November, including The Outer Worlds 2.

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Mortal Kombat 1

Available now for Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium and PC Game Pass subscribers.

The Mortal Kombat series has gone back to the beginning, sort of. Mortal Kombat 1 is a reboot of the franchise with some changes, such as series protagonist Liu Kang becoming the Fire God who created this new universe. Pick your favorite fighter from the mainstays, including Scorpion, Sub-Zero and Johnny Cage, or splurge a bit and purchase the downloadable characters, including the T-1000 from the Terminator series, Conan the Barbarian or DC Comics’ Peacemaker.

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage

Available now for Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium and PC Game Pass subscribers.

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage is a narrative adventure game from Don’t Nod, the studio behind Life Is Strange, and follows a group of friends as they uncover long-hidden secrets from a pivotal summer in 1995. Decades later, they reunite to confront the secrets they buried and the fallout that still haunts them.

Monster Train 2

Available now for Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium and PC Game Pass subscribers.

Monster Train 2 is the sequel to the deck-building roguelike from Shiny Shoe, bringing back strategic card combat with new factions and mechanics. Players once again battle through shifting hellscapes while defending their pyre from invading forces. The sequel expands on the original with deeper customization, more dynamic battles and fresh ways to build powerful decks.

Routine

Available now for Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers.

Routine is a first-person sci-fi horror game from Lunar Software, finally released after more than a decade in development. Set on an abandoned lunar base, it blends exploration with tense, survival-driven encounters against rogue machines. The game’s long road to launch has made its atmospheric world and polished retro-futuristic design a key part of its appeal.

The Crew Motorfest

Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers can start playing on Nov. 20.

The Crew Motorfest is a massive car culture festival spanning the Hawaiian islands, featuring races, stunts and open-world driving challenges. The game features more than 700 vehicles, including cars, bikes, boats and planes, letting you pick how you want to explore the islands. Now in its third year of free updates, Motorfest adds new locations, customization options, a race creator tool and NASCAR content.

Death Howl

Available now for Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers.

Death Howl is a genre‑blending soulslike deckbuilder where players craft tactical decks and face relentless spirits as Ro, a grieving mother on a mythic quest to bring her son back from the dead. You’ll be building decks, dodging deadly spirits and wondering if that creepy forest is watching you back.

Dome Keeper

Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium and PC Game Pass subscribers can start playing on Nov. 25.

Dome Keeper is a roguelike survival miner from indie studio Bippinbits, where players dig for resources and upgrade their defenses while protecting a glass dome from relentless alien attacks. You’ll still be digging for scraps and blasting alien hordes as you juggle mining for upgrades and zipping back to shore up your dome before it gets wrecked.

Games leaving Game Pass in December

While Microsoft is adding those games to Game Pass, it’s also removing five others from the service this month. So you still have some time to finish your campaign and any side quests before you have to buy these games separately.

On December 15:

On December 31:

For more on Xbox, discover other games available on Game Pass now and check out our hands-on review of the gaming service. You can also learn about recent changes to the Game Pass service.

Technologies

Exodus, the Upcoming Sci-Fi Game, Merges Mass Effect With the Drama of Interstellar

Ahead of The Game Awards, the developers of the action RPG talk about time dilation, romanceable companions and other hard sci-fi effects.

Exodus, the upcoming game made by former BioWare developers who worked on the Mass Effect series, has been a long-awaited follow-up to the venerable action RPG. Now, a new trailer shown off at The Game Awards 2025 on Thursday night introduces the game’s characters, teases the dramatic, star-spanning story, and gives sci-fi gamers what they want most: the news that the game will be released in 2027.

First introduced at The Game Awards two years ago, Exodus will be the debut game from studio Archetype Entertainment, operating under Wizards of the Coast. Early trailers laid the groundwork of the game’s universe, a hard science fiction adventure where travel across the stars can take moments for one person or decades for another. Now that the game is closer to its release, I sat down with Exodus’ developers to chat about what’s in store for their newly revealed hero, Jun. We also chatted about companions, big choices and Matthew McConaughey.

McConaughey, previously confirmed to be in the game, plays a mysterious character named C.C. Orlev, explained Chad Robertson, co-founder and general manager at Archetype. He’s a blend of teacher and voice of the people, meaning players will likely hear a lot from the famed actor during their playthrough as Jun.

«Jun doesn’t really fully understand the origins of how C.C. comes into his life, effectively. And C.C. still serves as a bit of a mentor and advisor to Jun,» Robertson said.

McConaughey’s role in the hard sci-fi film Interstellar thematically aligns with Exodus’ implementation of time dilation — the physics theory that as objects go faster (like a ship approaching the speed of light), time slows down for them. Since there are no wormholes or teleporters in the game’s universe, explained Drew Karpyshyn, narrative director of Exodus at Archetype, players will have to make some tough calls. If they head out on a mission that’s 10 years away and takes 10 years to come back, that’s 20 years passing on the planet they left.

«Everybody’s aged. The world has moved on. Things have changed, and that puts some really interesting opportunities and some really interesting conflicts and dilemmas for the players to deal with, the emotional impact of what happens to the people you leave behind — your friends, your companions, the people you care about,» Karpyshyn said.

Time dilation is just one of the mechanics that sets Exodus apart from other sci-fi games. In Exodus, humanity left an uninhabitable Earth thousands of years ago to find refuge in the Centauri system, but their colony ships staggered in their arrival. The latest humans to make it, like Jun, are met by civilizations that have evolved over the millennia into other humanoids alongside «Awakened animals,» explained Chris King, game director of Exodus at Archetype.

«I think there’s similarities to games we’ve worked on in the past, but there’s a ton of things we’re doing that are pretty different,» King said.

Archetype has leaned heavily on player decisions in Exodus, which isn’t a surprise since its developers were behind the choice-heavy BioWare games. Expect plenty of morally ambiguous choices in the game that won’t make everyone happy, King said. Players will just have to go on Exodus missions — the titular sojourns that leave family and friends behind for years at a time — and see how they play out.

«For us, it’s all about trying to give players as much agency as possible. We think of them as co-authors in the story and experience,» King said. «We’re basically trying to cram in as many choices and consequential gameplay so that they can customize the experience and compare notes with a friend who’s playing the same game. Their experience can be pretty drastically different.»

Unlike the pure good and evil choices of games like Knights of the Old Republic or Mass Effect, Exodus will veer away from a specific alignment system, Karpyshyn said. There will be mechanics in the game that honor and reflect choices, though the developers are trying to avoid the more artificial feel of picking options for, say, goodness points in favor of picking what’s best for their character. Gameplay choices, interactions and how players upgrade their hero will give them a reputation.

Companions also play a big part, and some of them will be romanceable, but not all. In the new trailer, we meet Salt, an Awakened octopus piloting a mech suit who simply isn’t interested in humans like Jun. These companion characters have their own stories and motivations that players can choose to explore, and they won’t always see eye-to-eye with each other.

While we’ll have to wait and see how Archetype incorporates all these sci-fi RPG elements, it’s clear that Mass Effect’s shadow looms large over Exodus. How much the new game resembles its spiritual predecessor will be clarified as more of it is revealed, but a clear divergence lies in inspiration. In addition to Interstellar, Archetype’s developers looked to another iconic sci-fi saga to pattern its new game after: Frank Herbert’s epic Dune novels, which were recently adapted to the screen by Denis Villeneuve.

Archetype took specific inspiration from «the scope and timelines of consequences, the idea of dynasties, family politics, rising up to become a leader and sort of savior of your people,» Karpyshynsaid.

At Archetype’s studio space in Austin, Texas, posters line the walls from films and media that also inspired the game, like Interstellar and Edge of Tomorrow. Other properties, like the Star Wars show The Mandalorian, evoke the desperate fights players will find themselves in in Exodus — outnumbered, outgunned and flanked by a couple of companions. The developers took a page out of Horizon Zero Dawn’s elemental combat, too.

For all that they’re working to step out from Mass Effect’s shadow, the developers acknowledge its impact on fans — and their desire that Exodus rise to a similar place in gamers’ esteem.

«Mass Effect gets brought up pretty frequently for us. We humbly aspire to deliver something that will resonate with fans at the scale of Mass Effect. We’re super excited and confident that what we’re building is going to put us in that direction, but we’ve got to earn that with fans and deliver something that they’re excited about,» Robertson said.