Blizzard Chief Legal Officer leaves amid SEC’s Activision-Blizzard investigation

With legal action ramping up against Activision-Blizzard, including an SEC investigation, Blizzard’s Chief Legal Officer, Claire Hart, has announced her resignation.

The first of Activision-Blizzard’s major allegations came back in July 2021, when it was revealed that the industry-leading gaming company was being sued by the Californian government over sexual discrimination. 

In the months since, the company has been implicated in a number of other situations — including a lawsuit by shareholders over “misleading” communication and a federal labor complaint by employees over “intimidation concerns.”

Now, amidst subpoenas by the US federal government’s Securities and Exchange commission, Blizzard’s CLO has resigned. It is entirely unclear if there is any relation to the ongoing legal activity, but social media users have raised eyebrows at the timing.

As brought up by CharlieINTEL, Hart announced on September 20 that she was relieving her post and had officially left Blizzard, after three-plus years, on the preceding Friday.

• Read more: US government calls CEO Bobby Kotick to court over Activision-Blizzard allegations

In her LinkedIn post, the CLO kept the announcement relatively short and sweet: “The past three years have been full of unexpected twists and turns, but I feel honored to have worked with and met so many great people at Blizzard and across the Activision Blizzard businesses.”

While Hart’s resignation has come with zero mentions of the ongoign legal situation, social media users were quick to tie the two together. One joked about her ‘bailing’ on the trouble while others speculated about potential impact on the company’s stock.

• Read more: Overwatch 2 devs shuffle as Executive Producer leaves ahead of 2022 launch

For now, it remains unclear who will be filling Hart’s shoes as Blizzard’s CLO or where she will land next. For concerned investors and gaming enthusiasts, we will continue monitoring the various cases and keep people up to date as the investigations progress or as Activision-Blizzard respond.