Activision Blizzard Q4 2018 Earnings Call and Layoffs

Message from J. Allen Brack
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker)
Blizzard Community…

Over the past few months, I’ve met with many people throughout Blizzard, talking about how we create our future. One thing that remains constant: we are committed to creating epic games and entertainment experiences.

Our development pipeline is strong, and we have the largest lineup of games that we’ve ever had. At the same time, Blizzard tries to have a level of craftsmanship and excellence in all that we do. Maintaining those standards as we continue expanding these worlds takes both time and talented developers.

With that in mind, we have plans to add to game development. We are dedicated to bringing you more content across existing game franchises and bringing our unannounced projects to life. Esports and the Overwatch League are also important priorities, and we will continue to produce great competitive content.

To better support these priorities, we need to reorganize some of our non-development teams. As a result, we will be reducing the number of non-development positions in North America and anticipate a related process in our regional offices over the coming months subject to local requirements. This was an extremely difficult decision, and we want to acknowledge the effort of everyone who has contributed to Blizzard. To assist with the transition, we are offering each impacted employee a severance package that includes additional pay, benefits continuation, and career and recruiting support to help them find their next opportunity. These people are members of the Blizzard family—they’ve cared deeply and contributed greatly to our work here and we are extremely grateful for all they’ve done.

As difficult as some of these organizational changes are, I am confident in Blizzard’s future and we will continue working hard to live up to not only our mission, but your expectations. We look forward to sharing everything with you when it’s ready.

J. Allen Brack
This article was originally published in forum thread: Message from J. Allen Brack started by chaud View original post
Comments 318 Comments
  1. DrMcNinja's Avatar
    Let's face it, we all knew that when J. Allen Brack got this position he'd just become a mouthpiece for the ones who have real control.
  1. Odintdk's Avatar
    Just let Blizzard peacefully die already. They've had a pretty good run. It's time.
  1. tehdef's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Odintdk View Post
    Just let Blizzard peacefully die already. They've had a pretty good run. It's time.
    How about we just let you die, because there are about 3,000 people employed by Blizzard.
  1. LordHanmint1788's Avatar
    fuck you jay
  1. Thage's Avatar
    Get stuffed Brack. This news leaked a week ago and we all know who called this one. Get back under your master's desk and lick his shoes.
  1. tehdef's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Bennett View Post
    I'm sure it was difficult for him to fire 800 people and rake in that $$$, what a champ. Get fucked Brack.
    He didn't lay of 800 people you schmuck. Activision BLizzard employs 9600 people GLOBALLY, and 8% of that is 750 people across all branches of the company, including Activision, King, and Blizzard.

    Don't be stupid, and shut your fucking mouth before you talk bad about people when you come from complete ignorance.

    I was laid off by Blizzard in 2012 after working there for 7 years. This is a shitty day for a lot of people, and you're not helping.

    Edit: I'm sure I'm going to get infracted, but this shit sucks, and you guys are all being shits.
  1. Video Games's Avatar
    Daily reminded iwata cut his pay so he didnt have to fire anybody.
  1. huldu's Avatar
    If Diablo Immortal is anything like BfA in quality it will be the biggest game ever made.
  1. KajiSagara's Avatar
    if you cant say any good thing about 800 layoff shut you goddam mouth jay
  1. Calfredd's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by tehdef View Post
    He didn't lay of 800 people you schmuck. Activision BLizzard employs 9600 people GLOBALLY, and 8% of that is 750 people across all branches of the company, including Activision, King, and Blizzard.

    Don't be stupid, and shut your fucking mouth before you talk bad about people when you come from complete ignorance.

    I was laid off by Blizzard in 2012 after working there for 7 years. This is a shitty day for a lot of people, and you're not helping.

    Edit: I'm sure I'm going to get infracted, but this shit sucks, and you guys are all being shits.
    so he was off by 50 and you're tearing into him over it? Also bolded is quite doubtful.
  1. Broken42's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by tehdef View Post
    He didn't lay of 800 people you schmuck. Activision BLizzard employs 9600 people GLOBALLY, and 8% of that is 750 people across all branches of the company, including Activision, King, and Blizzard.

    Don't be stupid, and shut your fucking mouth before you talk bad about people when you come from complete ignorance.

    I was laid off by Blizzard in 2012 after working there for 7 years. This is a shitty day for a lot of people, and you're not helping.

    Edit: I'm sure I'm going to get infracted, but this shit sucks, and you guys are all being shits.
    “While our financial results for 2018 were the best in our history, we didn’t realize our full potential."

    That is a direct quote from Bobby Kotick after today's announcement. For ActiBlizz it's not about making money, it's about making all the money people be damned.
  1. Sarugaul's Avatar
    Might make the ones that keep their jobs work harder - complacency is the one reason I can think of for the slow deterioration of WoW over the years (imo), could be a good thing.

    No-one should tweet the people that got sacked "Learn To Code" as it's obvious not even that will save you from rogue marketing departments that set you up to fail by demanding "engagement" over quality (for want of a better word).
  1. chaoslordmarduk's Avatar
    Bobby Kotick, Chief Executive Officer of Activision Blizzard said “While our financial results for 2018 were the best in our history, we didn’t realize our full potential. ...."
    When all the money is still not enough.
  1. Thage's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Video Games View Post
    Daily reminded iwata cut his pay so he didnt have to fire anybody.
    The FFXIV team fired the decision makers and apologized for fuckin' up. SE and Nintendo remember what responsibility means.
  1. Triggered Fridgekin's Avatar
    Bobby Kotick made over twenty-nine million dollars in 2017. Maybe they should cut from the top instead if they really want to save some money instead of turfing low-level desk jobs.
  1. RaoBurning's Avatar
    Vore the -illionaires until customer morale improves.
  1. Shinagami091's Avatar
    What I dont understand is on that earning call it seemed as though Blizzard was doing well except for faltering players for Overwatch and thats the main thing he made sure to mention was going to be kept going. Theres mention of the eSports improvements but they just canned HoTSs eSports division driving pro players and streamers away causing the game to really only be played by casuals. The game is sadly losing interest rapidly. They just released a highly desirable hero and he was met with a mild applause.

    At any rate, as I understood it, it was Activision that took the biggest hit with Destiny 2 jumping ship and Call of Duty failing to sell as well as they had hoped. Basically, Blizzard is being dragged down because of Activisions poor performance. Wonder if Blizz can somehow manage to cut ties with that anchor
  1. Onikaroshi's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Broken42 View Post
    “While our financial results for 2018 were the best in our history, we didn’t realize our full potential."

    That is a direct quote from Bobby Kotick after today's announcement. For ActiBlizz it's not about making money, it's about making all the money people be damned.
    You mean every company in North America. Investors don't want just profits, they want more profits then the year before, everything be damned.
  1. Coffeh's Avatar
    Mark Kern told the story about why he left Blizzard when he was asked to lay off a bunch of employees.

    I'm wondering if Mike Morhaime left because of a similar reason.
  1. Onikaroshi's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Shinagami091 View Post
    What I dont understand is on that earning call it seemed as though Blizzard was doing well except for faltering players for Overwatch and thats the main thing he made sure to mention was going to be kept going. Theres mention of the eSports improvements but they just canned HoTSs eSports division driving pro players and streamers away causing the game to really only be played by casuals. The game is sadly losing interest rapidly. They just released a highly desirable hero and he was met with a mild applause.

    At any rate, as I understood it, it was Activision that took the biggest hit with Destiny 2 jumping ship and Call of Duty failing to sell as well as they had hoped. Basically, Blizzard is being dragged down because of Activisions poor performance. Wonder if Blizz can somehow manage to cut ties with that anchor
    OWL is still making bank, they just signed on more teams at millions of dollars a team, this is why OW isn't going anywhere, even though the game itself is bleeding players like crazy.

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