Activision Blizzard Inc shares fell 10% on Tuesday after Blizzard co-lead Jen Oneal decided to step down just after three months in the role and the company forecast underwhelming quarterly adjusted sales.

Oneal, who was appointed alongside Mike Ybarra, said she is leaving at the end of the year to focus more on diversity in the gaming industry.

Activision is grappling with claims over sexual harassment and discrimination at its workplace. Last month, Chief Executive Bobby Kotick had asked the company's board to reduce his total compensation until its gender-related goals.

Meanwhile, as the pandemic-related curbs eased, Activision's total monthly active users in the third quarter remained unchanged at 390 million compared to a year earlier, indicating signs of slowing demand for games.

The company, which faces a stiff competition from rivals Electronic Arts Inc and Take-Two, also said in-game net bookings were consistent with the third quarter of 2020.

Activision, which is all set to launch its new "Call of Duty" title and has a strong pipeline that includes titles like "Overwatch 2" and "Diablo Immortal", said it expects fourth-quarter adjusted sales to be $2.78 billion.

Analysts were expecting it to be $2.93 billion, according to Refinitiv data.

The Santa Monica, California-based company's adjusted sales for the third quarter was $1.88 billion, in line with Wall Street's expectations.

  - Reuters