Activision Blizzard Q4 2018 Earnings Call and Layoffs

[Martymark]

He was one of my favorites. He obviously loved the game and community. Sad to see him go.

Meanwhile scumbags Lore and Ion probably got raises.

[Kathranis]

Honestly? At this point, I kind of hope they go under.

If you honestly think that's going to happen, you know less about companies than you think you do.

Blizzard is not anywhere near remotely close to being in danger of bankruptcy. They made billions of dollars last year.

[Walross]

You got a source that they didn't? I've seen plenty of articles from relatively reputable sources saying otherwise.

If I'm not mistaken, they still haven't payed him, and they're not gonna pay him in cash.

[Balawulf]

love to break this to you.

NO-ONE. FUCKING. CARES.

no one cares what a company is supposed to do, no one cares what the investors want, no one fucking gives a shit about the profits.

they want a game, preferably a good one, and if acti/bliz is out of the business of making them then they're quickly going to go out of business altogether.
because at the end of the day, it's not their choice that determines the profits, it's the customer's.
both Ea and acti should of learned that lesson this year, guess they'll only learn it when it's pounding into their head at the unemployment line or better yet, the court room.

We gotta love those megacorporate shills smh

[Acidz]

RIP wow. And 20% increase in development resources?? Like when they "doubled the team" a couple of years ago, and it still took them ages to come up with trash content

[Animaneth]

Just gonna point something out here: Blizzard didn't make the decision to make these layoffs did. ATVI did. In this one instance where Bobby Kotick and ATVI are clearly in the wrong for this decision, you're all...blaming Blizzard?

Having been through layoffs in my own career, I can tell you one thing - they GUT the people who have to decide who to cut, when orders come down from up high. I guarantee you there are people at Blizzard right now who feel like they're utter shit because they have to fire people.

BS Activision and Blizzard are the same entity. Blizzard leadership is as much responsible as Activision’s because basically they are the same. There needs to be a point where we all accept tha Blizzard is not a stand alone company as it hasn’t been for 10 years. But I agree with you on who is privilege prick, as Riccietello was in EA several years ago Kotick is nothing but a puppet of what is really wrong with the industry.

[RoKPaNda]

Yes, you are probably right. Maybe some part of the old Blizzard is there, somewhere. I feel sorry for those who gotta fire people, but most sorry for the people getting fired. Especially all the while knowing that the company is making record profit.

It just sucks that it all, in the end, is all about the money. Like Activison never can get enough of it. No amount is ever enough. No matter what. They will stomp and do whatever to generate more money. If that means ruining everything Blizzard once were while firing people, then so be it.

Blizzard is still Blizzard. There is no "old Blizzard" vs "new Blizzard." - Blizzard has been doing the same things and getting criticized for them since the 90s at least. Blame Blizzard. Don't give Blizzard a free pass by blaming Activision.

And quite frankly Blizzard NEEDS some oversight. They've wasted so much money on esports over the last few years.

[Oziriz]

So can we get an new Legionish expansion now? BFA needs to go away!

Have you played Legion? Apart from Sarumar Legion was a terrible expansion.

[Gadzooks]

Yes, you are probably right. Maybe some part of the old Blizzard is there, somewhere. I feel sorry for those who gotta fire people, but most sorry for the people getting fired. Especially all the while knowing that the company is making record profit.

It just sucks that it all, in the end, is all about the money. Like Activison never can get enough of it. No amount is ever enough. No matter what. They will stomp and do whatever to generate more money. If that means ruining everything Blizzard once were while firing people, then so be it.

It's the old scorpion and the frog story. Corporations will always act in their own best interest, and ATVI exists for one reason - to soak up profits from it's subsidiaries. ATVI makes nothing, sells nothing, all they do is own companies, to funnel the profits to it's investors, and the officers of ATVI.

So, why expect them to do anything that isn't in their very nature? It's been about the money from day one. Always was. They wouldn't have formed ATVI if there wasn't money involved. And, a LOT of money.

Blizzard seems to have been able to go their own way, as long as they sent fat checks up the pipe to ATVI. Well, the checks are a lot smaller, so...ATVI is doing what it was formed to do. Dance with the devil, and all that.

Not defending it, but it's how it is. It can work to everyone's advantage - good games, tons of profits, lots of jobs, or it doesn't.

And, from a business perspective, these moves are trying to get back to that point. Granted - they could get the same results by not paying out 15 million dollar signing bonuses, but that's a whole 'nother issue that's not unique to ATVI and it's subsidiaries.

[Th3Scourge]

rip Ythensis

[The Stormbringer]

@Gadzooks Shocking opinion: Companies that exist only to own other companies and produce nothing of their own deserve to be destroyed.

Seriously, fuck 'em all.

[Baine]

Can't wait for Kotick to die

If you really wish death to a CEO of a game developer, you have problems.

[Niwes]

they also said Activision Blizzard wants to de-prioritize games and initiatives that aren't meeting expectations. Will you say bfa met the expectation ? It bled subs like hell

hmm, i am not really sure about that.

first: i am not sure if they mean things more along the lines that the overall place in market hasnt met expectations. example here: HotS. Designed as the next big moba game, but years too late and not able to drive ppl away from Dota and LoL. maybe they do not mean shortterm stuff like an xpac was successful or not. maybe more the grand sheme of things and what played out well and what not.

second: i would be not that sure, profit wise, that BfA is not a success. all you see is tiny minority of wow players forming the BfA sucks picture. but do not confuse this with the reality. we have no data. and 78% of all player never set a foot in the official forums. you hear and see nothing from them. besides that, BfA has a high amount of good working cash grab systems, like token, Allied Races, services, etc. and maybe the profit, even with a million lost subs, is even higher via this systems. with no data i would especially in this case be very very careful.

[Volitar]

“While our financial results for 2018 were the best in our history"

Best financial results in history and you chose to lay of 8% of total employees. Kinda gross.

[420 NoScope]

https://twitter.com/hitstreak/status...56359594610689
https://twitter.com/YannickLeJacq/st...36205687107584
https://twitter.com/JoshWatchinTV/st...49564633456641

[Animaneth]

It's the old scorpion and the frog story. Corporations will always act in their own best interest, and ATVI exists for one reason - to soak up profits from it's subsidiaries. ATVI makes nothing, sells nothing, all they do is own companies, to funnel the profits to it's investors, and the officers of ATVI.

So, why expect them to do anything that isn't in their very nature? It's been about the money from day one. Always was. They wouldn't have formed ATVI if there wasn't money involved. And, a LOT of money.

Blizzard seems to have been able to go their own way, as long as they sent fat checks up the pipe to ATVI. Well, the checks are a lot smaller, so...ATVI is doing what it was formed to do. Dance with the devil, and all that.

Not defending it, but it's how it is. It can work to everyone's advantage - good games, tons of profits, lots of jobs, or it doesn't.

And, from a business perspective, these moves are trying to get back to that point. Granted - they could get the same results by not paying out 15 million dollar signing bonuses, but that's a whole 'nother issue that's not unique to ATVI and it's subsidiaries.

Wrong. Activision was formed as a game developer. Pitfall for Atari 2600. It later mutated to this

[Gadzooks]

BS Activision and Blizzard are the same entity. Blizzard leadership is as much responsible as Activision’s because basically they are the same. There needs to be a point where we all accept tha Blizzard is not a stand alone company as it hasn’t been for 10 years. But I agree with you on who is privilege prick, as Riccietello was in EA several years ago Kotick is nothing but a puppet of what is really wrong with the industry.

They are not the same entity, and I'm not going to get bogged down into that dumb argument again. Go learn what holding companies are, and subsidiaries.

You are right, that if Blizzard had done better, this wouldn't be happening, but it's not all directly because of Blizzard. Activision's blunders are just as much to blame, especially the Destiny issue. These layoffs are hitting several companies. Blizzard did not decide to lay off people at Activision Publishing. ATVI did.

Both companies, Activision Publishing, and Blizzard, screwed up. They're losing marketshare, facing extreme competition for what games they have (Apex), and have no games slated for release in 2019. Either Kotick allowed them to get that bogged down...or he's not as much of an influence on his subsidiaries as everyone thinks he is. Pick one. I'm going with the latter - and he's moving to get his companies back on track, because HIS job is to keep the shareholders happy, regardless of how you or anyone else feels about it. This is business, get a helmet.

[Stormspark]

I uninstalled everything Blizzard from all my systems back in November, and I never came back. Every time they do anything it validates my decision. They are on permanent boycott, along with Konami, EA, and Apple.

[Synros]

"Layoffs at Blizzard are limited to non-development teams,"

Well that means no resourcing impact on WoW, and the fact they are putting their focus back into internally owned (rather than franchised) IP is all good news for WoW.

Yah, it was only just 800 people who got completely fucked over because Activision can't get their goddamn shit together. Fuck em, right?............

[Sorshen]

Kotick's statement reads to me like they forced Mike Morhaime out.
Suits win every time.