Activision Blizzard’s Huge CFO Payday To Dennis Durkin Has Fans Up In Arms

The publishing team at Activision Blizzard has seen better days. Just a few days ago, they parted ways with Bungie, giving the developer the rights to the Destiny franchise and leaving an investigation in their wake. And their stock took quite a wallop as well, leaving some concern over how 2019's gaming season will go, even with Call of Duty 2019 and Crash Team Racing: Nitro Fueled on the way.

Despite all this, the company apparently has enough free cash left over to provide Dennis Durkin a hefty bonus for his new CFO position. This report from Bloomberg indicates that he'll receive $15 million worth of rewards, to go alongside his annual $900,000 salary and $1.35 million target bonus.

This is apparently made up of a $3.75 million signing bonus, as well as "$11.3 million of restricted stock tied to operating income and earnings-per-share targets."

While Durkin could no doubt provide the expertise to guide Activision Blizzard back into the positive, a lot of fans are notably upset about the huge payout, especially considering that some projects have recently cut funding, including fan favorite Heroes of the Storm.

You can see some of the more noteworthy comments below:

So microtransactions and loot boxes are “necessary” for games because they cost too much to make. Blizzard has to cut resources and reduce its budget for game development...

Then Activision hands $15 million to its new executive like it’s nothing. //t.co/1tqsY0pvlH

— Jim Sterling (@JimSterling) January 14, 2019

I wonder how the people at Blizzard who are worrying about layoffs and getting told to slash their budgets feel about this? //t.co/9SgsxVZmpX

— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) January 14, 2019

'BuT dEvELoPeRs nEEd miCrOTraNsacTionS BeCauSE tHE cOSt oF GaMe DEVelOPment Is RiSinG'//t.co/9PFGpMmwnC

— Skill Up reviewing #AceCombat7 (@SkillUpYT) January 14, 2019

In the case of Dennis Durkin, he was asked to step back into a CFO role he vacated. I suspect when $ATVI asked him to do this in an emergency situation (the previous CFO's unexpected departure as the Bungie split was brewing), he said, "Ok. But you have to make it worth it."

— Mike Futter (@Futterish) January 14, 2019

Needless to say, there's a lot of questioning about the payout, but Durkin was reportedly hesitant to step back into the role, so it might've been offered to provide him some comfort. Still, you can bet that fans will be talking about this for a good while.

Do you believe the payout is deserved? Or is the money better spent elsewhere? Let me know on Twitter at @TheDCD!