Bobby Kotick joins Skydance board as merged Warner Bros.-Paramount combines games divisions

Bobby Kotick has a new boardroom seat. The former Activision chief has joined the board of directors at Skydance, the entertainment company formed by Warner Bros. merging into Paramount.

Skydance announced the appointments on 6 October 2026, according to its press statement. Kotick joins as an independent director, a board member with no day-to-day management role. He is 63 and will sit on the board's Nominating and Governance Committee, which handles board membership and oversight rules.

Kotick is a familiar name in games. He stepped down as chief executive of Activision Blizzard after Xbox completed its US$68.7 billion acquisition of the company in 2023, as reported by Eurogamer. That deal brought Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Candy Crush under Microsoft.

Skydance is now a heavyweight in its own right. Chief executive David Ellison led the Warner Bros. and Paramount combination. The company has a 13-person board.

Kotick is not the only new face. Philanthropist and investor Laurene Powell Jobs, founder of Emerson Collective, has joined as an independent director. Ynon Kreiz, co-chief executive of Skydance, was also added as a director. Former UK prime minister Tony Blair is joining in an advisor role.

The games piece matters here. Skydance has combined the Warner Bros. and Paramount video game divisions as part of the merger. The gaming division is led by Tony Driscoll, who previously launched the creator economy and ecosystem initiative for Fortnite, the online shooter where players can build and sell their own islands and modes, between 2021 and 2024.

For players, this means a direct link between two eras. The executive who ran Activision through its biggest franchise years now has a voice at a company that controls two major publishers' game catalogues and studios.