Natayla Tatarchuk named Activision CTO in first post-Kotick leadership change
Activision has appointed Natayla Tatarchuk as its new CTO. Prior to the Call of Duty publisher Tatarchuk worked at Unity, Bungie and AMD. …
Activision Publishing has named Natayla Tatarchuk as its new CTO. In her new role, Tatarchuk will oversee the company’s top-level technology goals across Activision’s portfolio, including Call of Duty.
Tatarchuk is new to Activision, but has extensive experience in the games industry. She has led teams working on cutting-edge developments in console and mobile development.
She resigned as the Chief Architect, VP, Wētā Tools at Unity in December 2023. Prior to that, she served as the VP of graphics role for Unity Editor and Engine. Before Unity, Tatarchuk also held positions at AMD and Bungie. Notably, her tenure at Bungie overlapped with the developer’s partnership with Activision to publish Destiny. However, she left Bungie before the deal ended in January 2019.
Activision’s previous CTO Michael Vance will continue in a new role at the publisher to lead more engineering work. Vance has worked for the publisher for 23 years.
“Those of you who know Michael know that he has been instrumental in driving innovation, fostering a culture of collaboration, and ensuring the success of numerous projects in his role as CTO,” said Dave Stohl, EVP of Call of Duty Development, in an email to employees.
This is the first major shakeup of Activision’s leadership following former CEO Bobby Kotick’s departure in December 2023. Microsoft already reorganized its Xbox division following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
Natayla Tatarchuk’s appointment aligns with Activision Blizzard’s broader DE&I goals in the wake of state and federal investigations into sex discrimination and sexual harassment. Shortly before this, the publisher settled an unequal pay and sex discrimination case with the state of California, which withdrew its allegations against Activision.
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