Robert Kotick is the CEO, president, and board member for Activision /Blizzard, a position he assumed after the Activision Blizzard merger in July 2008. Prior to that Kotick had been the CEO of Activision since February 1991.

Kotick is a businessman first and a an admitted non-gamer second (if at all) , and he has earned a notorious reputation (that he works to enhance) as being focused exclusively on the bottom line, with a desire to bring standard bean-counting business practices to the free-wheeling, fun-infused game development industry. There were concerns in the gaming community when Activision bought/merged with Blizzard, since Kotick's oft-stated business philosophies seemed to be in direct contradiction to Blizzard's slow, careful, quality-first design practices.

Blizzard's heads assured fans that there would be no management changes at Blizzard and no influence or interference from Activision leadership, and so far there's been no obvious evidence that this is not trueof Activision interference. Fans remain concerned though, since for all the grumbling heard about Blizzard's slow development pace and frequent delays, the prospect of them rushing games and sacrificing quality to meet corporate timelines is a much scarier proposition.

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Kotick has been covered extensively in the press. The articles vary greatly in their focus and approval, ranging from fluffing praise from Forbes[http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2009/0202/052.html], to demonic-hatred from Ars Technica[http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/01/activisions-bobby-kotick-brings-cash-but-not-heart.ars]of his actions and philosophies.