Bobby Kotick’s lawyers sent me a bad email (and later apologized)

Key Points:

• In January 2026, independent journalist received a legal threat from Clare Locke, law firm representing Bobby Kotick, demanding a correction to an article about a 2022 lawsuit involving Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard and Kotick’s pushback on allegations tied to workplace scandals.
• The journalist had already included the disputed paragraph from a 2023 California Civil Rights Department settlement in the article, which stated no court or investigation had substantiated claims of systemic sexual harassment or executive tolerance of such behavior at Activision Blizzard.
• Clare Locke later admitted to reviewing an incomplete version of the article and apologized for the confusion, but insisted on confidentiality in their letter, which the journalist rejected as they had not agreed to those terms.
• The journalist delayed publicly sharing this story to avoid interfering with another reporter’s investigation into similar legal pressures on media by Kotick’s lawyers; that investigation was eventually published by People Make Games in January 2026.
• The journalist emphasizes their commitment to transparency and standing by their reporting despite legal threats, citing a recent successful pushback against a bogus copyright claim related to their coverage of Take Two and GTA VI.