Message from J. Allen Brack

Shit company that makes shit games, nobody cares.

Originally Posted by ujx

Shit company that makes shit games, nobody cares.

Judging by all the comments of hate plenty of people care. Including yourself.

Not sure which is worse, the people using the layoffs as a convenient tool for their irrational hatred toward and obsession of Blizzard or the people callously saying "it's just business, get fucked".

Seems like actual empathy is in short supply when it comes to nerds (at least on certain fan sites). It was nice to see people on twitter compiling links to relevant job openings, at least.

One of my guildies, who knows several Blizzard employees and lives near Anaheim, said that not all the employees were getting severance packages. I've got not real way to confirm that, but I wouldn't put it past them.

Originally Posted by rhorle

Judging by all the comments of hate plenty of people care. Including yourself.

At one point in my life, Blizzard made great games and I was a fanboy. Then Cataclysm came out and everything went down hill from there. Watching a company that used to be a darling of all gamers, become despised as much as EA because of greed and lack of vision is comic gold.

Hey folks, don't be too hard on this company with annual revenue in the billions. If they hadn't laid off hundreds of administrative and customer-service workers, the shareholders might have seen a decrease in earnings on next quarter's report. Cuts had to be made. They didn't have a choice.

I don't care about any of this as long as I get good games to play. As a consumer that is all that matters.

Originally Posted by Kaeth

Hey folks, don't be too hard on this company with annual revenue in the billions. If they hadn't laid off hundreds of administrative and customer-service workers, the shareholders might have seen a decrease in earnings on next quarter's report. Cuts had to be made. They didn't have a choice.

RIP modern gaming.

Originally Posted by rhorle

What will a developer do to promote esports? They have more then one priority and developing more for their games as a whole is one of them. While it isn't 20% of the entire company it is still a large increase for an entire company to do. This isn't just doubling down on their cash cow but making a commitment to the entire portfolio. Redundant or bloated jobs should not be valued the same as in-demand ones.

While I misspoke with net increase it still isn't greed by any shot to fire someone people to hire others.

Firing 800 people to hire 50-100 when they could just not have executive bonuses and not fire anyone?

Meanwhile their new glorified accountant, the new CFO, banked $15mil just for starting the job.

How much of the laid off people's combined salaries are needed to make up a comparable number? Have there been any compensation reductions for the over glorified positions, or it is just lovely people engaging with the community like Ythisens whos salary is probably not enough to rent a proper apartment alone.

Blizzard got to blow everyone out of their shoes to regain fan trust and respect. Judging by last Blizzcon they are inept at doing so. I won't mind to be wrong.

P.s. yea I know what is a CFO and I know how such big companies work.

Suck my dick brack.

Originally Posted by Broken42

“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.

He really fits the negative stereotype well doesn’t he? Sad.

Originally Posted by korijenkins

Firing 800 people to hire 50-100 when they could just not have executive bonuses and not fire anyone?

Brack didn't fire 800 people. The 800 people is from all across Activision including their headquarters staff in Santa Monica and others. It would be great if people stopped repeating this because Blizzard Entertainment did not lay off 800 people. Be better.

I have seen so much false and outright wrong information today from people--even people I don't much have anything good to say to--that I thought were smarter than this.

Originally Posted by Trumpcat

Meanwhile their new glorified accountant, the new CFO, banked $15mil just for starting the job.

How much of the laid off people's combined salaries are needed to make up a comparable number? Have there been any compensation reductions for the over glorified positions, or it is just lovely people engaging with the community like Ythisens whos salary is probably not enough to rent a proper apartment alone.

Blizzard got to blow everyone out of their shoes to regain fan trust and respect. Judging by last Blizzcon they are inept at doing so. I won't mind to be wrong.

P.s. yea I know what is a CFO and I know how such big companies work.

To be fair he is taking bassicly 4 very hard and expensive jobs, and that 15 mil bonus iso nlyi f he does a good job for the next 2 years./

This myth that people have built up in their head of Blizzard what they are, or were, is pretty much just that. A myth. You're over-flagulating a company that made 3 or 4 really great games and supported those three or four games really well.

They pretty much made their bed, and now they're sleeping in it, but I really get so annoyed with people playing up it as either Blizzard being a victim, or Blizzard was radically changed. If you really look back at why you love them, you'll see it too. It's because of those handful of games, a handful over several decades, and probably half of WoW.

Blizzard wants to think of itself as a Walt Disney of games when it's self-indulgent to do so, and then pretend like it's an indie game company when it's convenient, and they've pretty much always have done this since around the late 90's/early 00's.

The company didn't even make a single new IP between 1998 and 2016.

Originally Posted by Deuse

"You think you want to keep your jobs, but you don't." - J. Allen Brack

You do realize he likely was forced to lay off people. Bobby and his board are the ones in charge.

Originally Posted by ujx

At one point in my life, Blizzard made great games and I was a fanboy. Then Cataclysm came out and everything went down hill from there. Watching a company that used to be a darling of all gamers, become despised as much as EA because of greed and lack of vision is comic gold.

But you still care enough to comment here. Even hatred shows that you care. Indifference is not caring.

Originally Posted by Otimus

This myth that people have built up in their head of Blizzard what they are, or were, is pretty much just that. A myth. You're over-flagulating a company that made 3 or 4 really great games and supported those three or four games really well.

They pretty much made their bed, and now they're sleeping in it, but I really get so annoyed with people playing up it as either Blizzard being a victim, or Blizzard was radically changed. If you really look back at why you love them, you'll see it too. It's because of those handful of games, a handful over several decades, and probably half of WoW.

Blizzard wants to think of itself as a Walt Disney of games when it's self-indulgent to do so, and then pretend like it's an indie game company when it's convenient, and they've pretty much always have done this since around the late 90's/early 00's.

The company didn't even make a single new IP between 1998 and 2016.

I agree to a point, but you cant pin this on Blizzard. It wasnt J Allens decision. It was his bosses decision.

Originally Posted by korijenkins

Firing 800 people to hire 50-100 when they could just not have executive bonuses and not fire anyone?

They would still fire people. This isn't about having the money to afford workers. It is about reorganizing a company and getting rid of positions that are not needed. It isn't that hard. I don't get why people feel the need to twist things just so they can hate.

Originally Posted by rhorle

They would still fire people. This isn't about having the money to afford workers. It is about reorganizing a company and getting rid of positions that are not needed. It isn't that hard. I don't get why people feel the need to twist things just so they can hate.

Because the positions aren't "not needed" and wouldn't be considered "not needed" by a company that cares about consumer relations.

A major reason Acti-Blizz shares tanked so hard on the market was a failure to understand the consumers. They were so out of touch they produced garbage nobody wanted, the obvious example being D:I. Instead of trying to do a better job, they simply purged all the departments that had anything to do with it. Instead of bad consumer relations, they have none now.

Reorganizing a company is just an excuse. There is no need whatsoever to fire these people. The company is more than profitable enough for everyone to be employed, but not profitable enough for the shareholders who want more money (ignoring that it was their own disastrous decisions that tanked the company value in the first place)