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Activision Blizzard has seen a drop in the value of their shares and they are no longer the most valuable gaming company in the US. According to Gamespot, a recent rise in the value of ROBLOX Corporation‘s shares have sent it straight to the top of the list, while consistent decreases in share values for Activision see it drop to second place. EA remains steadfast in third place.
While ROBLOX Corporation merely operates the ROBLOX platform on which other developers can make their games, it is still considered to be a gaming company in many valuation lists. The company only went public in March 2021 but was rated highly enough to be the third most valuable US gaming company behind EA and Activision. However, a successful company earning’s report released earlier this week saw its share values increase by 40% to give it a market cap of more than $62 billion.
On the other hand, Activision’s stock values have recently declined following the delay of Diablo IV and Overwatch 2 and the company’s market cap sits at $52 billion. This is in addition to the steady decline the company has suffered since June when allegations started to emerge regarding sexual harassment and discrimination in many of their studios. After years of investigations, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) saw fit to issue subpoenas for company executives, which included Chief Executive Officer Bobby Kotick, in the hope they would finally answer questions about how the company has handled these allegations.
Activision’s own conduct hasn’t helped the situation. They’ve been accused of destroying evidence related to the SEC investigation and have attempted to postpone the lawsuit, a move that was ultimately unsuccessful. They have made a number of public gestures to deflect some of the criticism, including recently firing 20 employees and reprimanding even more in response to the toxic work culture allegations. They’ve also renamed in-game characters like Overwatch‘s Jesse McCree, who is now known as Cole Cassidy after his former namesake was fired for misconduct following the filing of the lawsuit.
[Source: Gamespot]