Discussions about Activision taking over Blizzard

[RangerDaz]

I have seen many opinions lately about Activision's influence over Blizzard.

Many people are currently very unhappy related to the current state of Blizzard's games and direction (myself included), and people are considering that this shift in strategic diretion is exclusively related to Activision taking over Blizzard.


I have selected a few videos that kind of express some relevant issues about the current state of the company and of Blizzard's products, and that expose their concerns about the future of the company:



Bellular:




Systems Alliance:




HeelvsBabyface talking about BLIZZARD NORTH Co-Founder David Brevik:




What do you guys think? I guess we simply can't pretend nothing is going on, especially with the growing unhappy community related to the current state of Blizzard's games. And Mike Morhaime's exit from Blizzard last year actually boosts many of these concerns.

For a fan of Warcraft since Warcraft 1, i am actually worried.

[Dhrizzle]

Whilst these rumours have been circling for ages it's only recently that any substantiated reports have come out about it, and it doesn't seem to be Activision taking direct control, more like the culture of Activision seeping in.

It could also be because Blizzard is no longer part of a huge conglomerate. Since Acti-Blizz went independent from Vivendi their shareholders are going to be paying closer attention.

[BlueRemedy]

Whilst these rumours have been circling for ages it's only recently that any substantiated reports have come out about it, and it doesn't seem to be Activision taking direct control, more like the culture of Activision seeping in.

It could also be because Blizzard is no longer part of a huge conglomerate. Since Acti-Blizz went independent from Vivendi their shareholders are going to be paying closer attention.

Activision installed multiple employees within Blizzard last year including an outside CFO who has, from multiple employee accounts, began work to drastically change things.

The Blizzard you think you know is gone.

[Eanirae]

Said CFO went on to work for Square - not Square Enix, but another financial firm.

[iamthedevil]

I cancelled my sub yesterday for the first time in over 10 years. That's all I know.

[SoulSoBreezy]

I'm finding the climate on that side pretty cringey. I'm much happier keeping my comments and criticism focused on the games without bothering/trying to make a connection to the "real" truth.

[Dhrizzle]

Activision installed multiple employees within Blizzard last year including an outside CFO who has, from multiple employee accounts, began work to drastically change things.

The Blizzard you think you know is gone.

What actually happened is Blizzard hired a former Activision CFO and they started talking about cutting costs not related to development which is a dramatic change according to the employees that have talked to the press but no-one has said it's Activision forcing them. As I said it's either Blizz execs following Activision because they make money or greater shareholder scrutiny due to them no longer being a tiny part of a gigantic business. Either way it's part of Blizzards continuing evolution, you can't blame the big nad Activision for everything.

[Every Pwny]

When Brack replaced Mike, he only seemed to be the president of Blizzard rather than the president and CEO like Mike was. There doesn't seem to be a Blizzard CEO so it seems Kotick is their CEO now, unless that position is left open instead of phased out for Blizzard.

[Every Pwny]

Kotick is the CEO of ATVI and has been for a long long time.

You probably missed the part where Blizzard has no CEO right now after Mike left, so Kotick would be their current CEO.

[Pickynerd]

I'm finding the climate on that side pretty cringey. I'm much happier keeping my comments and criticism focused on the games without bothering/trying to make a connection to the "real" truth.

It's no worse than a guy talking to himself about how great the game is.

[Every Pwny]

Yeah, so what? Kotick is still the CEO of ATVI. Blizzard doesn't need a CEO, it's just a business unit, not a publicly traded company that has to legally answer to their shareholders.

Without their own CEO they lose a lot of power in their own decision making within Activision/Blizzard and become just a unit of activision. Mike did have to answer to shareholders as the CEO of the blizzard portion of Activision/Blizzard, now there is only the activision portion of the company making the decisions.

[Soon-TM]

Blizzard was always Kodick's piggy bank, so it had been left more or less alone... until things started to go south financially.

[Dylamoo]

It's quite sad too because not only is there a company squelch on the topic at blizzard, a lot of employee's have an NDA about speaking out about the take over. A lot of people are being fooled by an article that actually is an ad that says "Blizzard is to blame not activision" but the actual fact is, activision has been for years slowly creeping up on the takeover.

[MoanaLisa]

Blizzard Entertainment's management team after Morhaime is this:

We start with J. Allen Brack as President.

Brack has been with Blizzard for 12 years, and has led the World of Warcraft team for that duration. Alongside Brack, chief development officer Ray Gresko and Blizzard co-founder Allen Adham have also joined the studio’s executive leadership team.

There's no particular evidence that ATVI's position vis a vis Blizzard Entertainment has changed at all.

Morhaime is still around as a strategic adviser.

Two weeks ago everyone was predicting doom because of Blizzard's CFO. Now everyone is predicting doom because she has left to go work for the CEO of Twitter.

Calm down everyone.

[Dylamoo]

Or rather - everyone (including Blizzard) thought this was much better alternative than the other options (letting Vivendi have majority stake and bleed them dry through their special dividend). Forming of ATVI and especially buying off Vivendi stake was a planned move and everyone was in on it. This was the future they made together.

It's not mutually exclusive. It all happened you're suggesting for different reasons. But that's probably all Activisions long term goal of souless takeover.

[SoulSoBreezy]

It's no worse than a guy talking to himself about how great the game is.

Not sure which guy you're talking about, but at least he's talking about the game.

[Nargrom]

Blizzard Entertainment's management team after Morhaime is this:

We start with J. Allen Brack as President.


There's no particular evidence that ATVI's position vis a vis Blizzard Entertainment has changed at all.

Morhaime is still around as a strategic adviser.

Two weeks ago everyone was predicting doom because of Blizzard's CFO. Now everyone is predicting doom because she has left to go work for the CEO of Twitter.

Calm down everyone.

are you talking about the female CFO that was appointed to blizzard by activision and started this whole cutting costs things? or the CFO of ActiBlizz? If its the first case i would like to see an article or source mentioning this pls

[Pickynerd]

Not sure which guy you're talking about, but at least he's talking about the game.

Your videos dude.

I get it, WoW is your game and you provide content for it, but just because you drink the kool-aid, doesn't mean everyone else should too.

[MoanaLisa]

are you talking about the female CFO that was appointed to blizzard by activision and started this whole cutting costs things? or the CFO of ActiBlizz? If its the first case i would like to see an article or source mentioning this pls

The second. I'm very careful to split out the difference between ATVI and Blizzard Entertainment. "Blizzard's CFO" is exactly what I meant: the CFO of Blizzard Entertainment.

[Archmage Alodi]

With or without Activision influence, they are not doing well. I don't really care why, all i know is that they are not better than EA and Bethesda anymore.