Video game stocks soared in 2015. And none did better than Activision Blizzard -- the maker of popular Call of Duty and Destiny franchises.
Activision shares nearly doubled and the company is worth almost $30 billion -- about $10 billion more than rival Electronic Arts (EA).
But Activision (ATVI) CEO Bobby Kotick, who's been the head of the company since 1991, is not a household name among CEOs. He should be.
Kotick has steered Activision through numerous changes in the industry. There was no PlayStation or Xbox in 1991. People were still blowing the dust out of cartridges for their 16-bit Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis consoles.
Related: Activision buying the company behind Candy Crush
Now, smartphone games are all the rage. And Kotick made the bold move in 2015 to buy mobile game publisher King Digital -- best known for its Candy Crush Saga games -- for nearly $6 billion.
The gaming business is constantly evolving, and Kotick has stayed on top of it for almost 25 years -- an impressive feat.
