Wouldn't shock me if Activision had those folks. I can say, however, that at most companies, it's actually just an artist or UX person who is doing research on things like "how do I make this ceremony maximally impactful", not an actual psychologist, and the only people who actually see the overall system for what it is are at a production level. "I want opening a loot box to feel good" doesn't seem like the kind of exploitation it actually is from the ground level, because the individual implementer just sees it as a variation on, "This should look good!" Banality of evil, etc, etc.
Wouldn't shock me if Activision had those folks. I can say, however, that at most companies, it's actually just an artist or UX person who is doing research on things like "how do I make this ceremony maximally impactful", not an actual psychologist, and the only people who actually see the overall system for what it is are at a production level. "I want opening a loot box to feel good" doesn't seem like the kind of exploitation it actually is from the ground level, because the individual implementer just sees it as a variation on, "This should look good!" Banality of evil, etc, etc.