The chief compliance officer of Activision Blizzard, a central figure in the video game developer’s corporate culture scandal, stepped down from her position, according to multiple reports.
Frances Townsend vacated her role Friday but will continue to serve Activision Blizzard as an adviser to the board and Chief Executive Bobby Kotick, according to reports citing an email Kotick shared with staff. To fill the role, Jen Brewer will become the company’s chief ethics and compliance officer, and Luci Altman will be promoted to corporate secretary, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Activision Blizzard did not return a request for confirmation.
Townsend’s appointment as Activision Blizzard’s chief compliance officer in March 2021 raised eyebrows after she served as assistant for homeland security and counterterrorism from 2004-08 under President George W. Bush. After leaving government, she worked as a corporate partner with Baker Botts before joining MacAndrews & Forbes as its vice chairman, general counsel and chief administrative officer.
In July 2021, Activision Blizzard became embroiled in a sexual harassment scandal after a lawsuit was filed against the company by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing. The complaint alleged a “frat boy culture” at the business that subjected female employees to “constant” sexual harassment, unwanted physical touching, and jokes about rape.
Townsend came under fire when she responded to the lawsuit’s claims in an email to employees defending the company. The lawsuit painted “a distorted and untrue picture … including factually incorrect, old, and out of context stories—some from more than a decade ago,” she wrote.
Employees described Townsend’s response as “abhorrent and insulting” in a letter to the company’s leadership team.
Kotick followed Townsend’s message with an apology for the company’s tone-deaf response to the allegations. It was later reported—and confirmed by Activision Blizzard—Kotick originally drafted the email sent by Townsend to appear as if she wrote it.
Following her sending the email, Townsend stepped down as executive sponsor of the Activision Blizzard King Employee Women’s Network.
Activision Blizzard is set to be acquired by Microsoft in a deal initially valued at nearly $70 billion expected to close in fiscal year 2023.
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