Activision Blizzard, Inc Earnings Report - WoW's Predictions

[Sanguinerd]

Maybe you should read what he actually tweeted before storming off to make some pathetic new account to whine on.

Also, why the hell is Blizzard laying people off suddenly the worst thing to happen..

[Tiny Dancer]

I have read Chris's tweet and overall he is saying "Blizzard still has passionate teams developing for us", though "Business can sometimes create mixed feelings" I am sorry, but this is utter BS. How 1 person get 15mil bonus for joining Blizzard, but they are laying off 800 employees which hardly will catch up to the 15 mil? I know ye ye, capitalism etc etc, but the moves blizzard is making is just plain stupid.

Because that person is worth that much and the people they are letting go aren't even worth their normal salary.

[FelPlague]

https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/activisio...aking-the-job/

Could've just quickly googled it yourself.

To be fair he is doing 1. bassicly 4 jobs. 2. will not get that 15 mil unless he does a good job over the next 2 years and 3. its literally an insanely difficult and high rank job, but hey its nothing compared to koticks fucking shittery.

[letssee]

its only natural...
but he wrong

[FelPlague]

I have read Chris's tweet and overall he is saying "Blizzard still has passionate teams developing for us", though "Business can sometimes create mixed feelings" I am sorry, but this is utter BS. How 1 person get 15mil bonus for joining Blizzard, but they are laying off 800 employees which hardly will catch up to the 15 mil? I know ye ye, capitalism etc etc, but the moves blizzard is making is just plain stupid.

They are restructuring, why keep people around if you don't think you need them?
They are not firing those people cause they need money, but that they don't think they need them, and are going to hire developers.
also remember 800 people is not just blizzard, it includes activision and kings games.

[Topornic]

I have read Chris's tweet and overall he is saying "Blizzard still has passionate teams developing for us", though "Business can sometimes create mixed feelings" I am sorry, but this is utter BS. How 1 person get 15mil bonus for joining Blizzard, but they are laying off 800 employees which hardly will catch up to the 15 mil? I know ye ye, capitalism etc etc, but the moves blizzard is making is just plain stupid.

How about if in their perspective this one person is more valuable and will eventually bring more good to the company than these people that have been laid off? What if that person makes the company grow and employ 2000 people in the long run which would bring a net gain of 1200? Though about that?

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They are restructuring, why keep people around if you don't think you need them?
They are not firing those people cause they need money, but that they don't think they need them, and are going to hire developers.
also remember 800 people is not just blizzard, it includes activision and kings games.

Indeed. People just speak out their virtue signalling outrage without realising the reasons and possible outcomes in the futures and the goals they might want to achieve. I don't like Acti-Blizz as of last few years but I'm far from judging them based solely on those two facts.
Also the guy didn't get 15 mil in cash but most of it in shares/bonds.

[FelPlague]

How about if in their perspective this one person is more valuable and will eventually bring more good to the company than these people that have been laid off? What if that person makes the company grow and employ 2000 people in the long run which would bring a net gain of 1200? Though about that?

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Indeed. People just speak out their virtue signalling outrage without realising the reasons and possible outcomes in the futures and the goals they might want to achieve. I don't like Acti-Blizz as of last few years but I'm far from judging them based solely on those two facts.
Also the guy didn't get 15 mil in cash but most of it in shares/bonds.

I am mad abut who they chose to fire, and how it got leaked leaving everyone panicking, but they got 6 months to 1 year pay, so they will be fine for now.

but companies need to lay off people all the time.
would people rather these people have been deemed useless but eat up sub money anyways? WHile yes its bad they got fired, its better that they arnt just deemed pointless and given less and less work hours into part time.

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He is obviously defending his friends. But I wonder what he would've said if one of his own friends were among those 8%.

they were, he was friends with a fair few of those people fired.
but chris was a scape goat for many people, so he very much understands.
and again he is not saying "dont feel sorry for these 800%" he is saying "dont fucking attack people wtf people"

also again, that 8% was not all blizzard, it was blizz, activision, kings, and all the others under "actiblizz"



people seem to bhe freaking out about these "800 people within actiblizz" far more then the 600 BLIZZARD laid off in 2012.

[The Stormbringer]

@FelPlague They don't "need" to layoff people, they want to layoff people in order to keep profit margins high for their shareholders.

[McNeil]

I like the guy's passion he had with the company, but its obvious that Blizzard is not the same company we once knew. Now they prefer making more store mounts and mobile games over quality games. There's not a single current Blizzard IP in the foreseeable future that seems to be able to pick up the quality, with HotS marked as death by the company, Hearthstone gotten incredibly stale and expensive with way to many expansions, Overwatch vastly lacking updates and appeal, and ofcourse WoW which isn't growing at all (and while we don't see numbers I expect it to go down significally).

Its saddening for all the people who lost their job, but in no way I would approve defending Blizzards business practices.

[Eleccybubb]

Meh admire his passion but even he needs to realise that the company he used to work for is a former shell of what it used to be.

Blizzard stopped making games that were about enjoyment with this expansion imo. And quite frankly did with parts of Legion.

Now it's about what kind of profit they can get out of them and ways to keep people playing with timegated content and any other carrot on stick content they can pull out.

I mean if Blizzard want to make the game fun again then I'll prob come back from ESO which is my secondary MMO now alongside FF14. And quite frankly I urge others to try these two games. Because the devs actually give a damn, the experience is enjoyable and well the list could go on.

[Erous]

I just think they're never going admit they made poor business decisions. Like "Diablo Immortal." C'mon..when this fails, and their poor leadership direction for development continues to tank stock, they'll just blame it on the changing gamer dynamic, the times, or other games like Fortnite like other studios have done.

[Pooti]

I am not pro lay-offs, but I get it. This thread has already given several good positions, but I have a bit to add. A large company is generally run by a board. The board chooses the executives based on who they think will make the company successful. The board negotiates the executive salaries. If the board REALLY wants a certain executive, they may offer large incentives. Could the board get someone for cheaper? Sure! The board could go to an underprivileged area, and find a candidate there and pay them a lower salary that they would be thrilled with, and put the success of the company ( as well as the jobs of every employee in that company ) in the hands of that person. Would that be the best choice for the company and every employee? Probably not.

So we have these executives, making the previously agreed upon salaries. They have to answer to the board. The feedback is that customers are unhappy, and one area of discontent is communication. The executives decide that they need to improve communication, and expand the customer communication department, even though that department does not directly produce product. Time goes on. The customers still are unhappy for various reasons, maybe communication complaints are less but not gone. The company makes more money, but the net growth does not hit the mark. The board tells the executives that they need to be producing the expected amount of net growth. The executives reduce the department that does not produce product.

I think it is unfair to say the company does not care about the 8% of people that got laid off. If the company fails 100% of the people will be out of work. The job market can absorb 8% of the employees much more easily than it can absorb 100% of the employees. The unfortunate reality is that it is a good of the many situation.

[FelPlague]

@FelPlague They don't "need" to layoff people, they want to layoff people in order to keep profit margins high for their shareholders.

If you have a crank that needs 5 people to turn it, and a lever that needs 1.
and you have 8 people who know how to use the crank, and 0 people who know how to use the lever, should you just.... keep the crank people? no you replace the crank people, the 3 that you dont need, and hire a lever guy.

[Reachie]

Pooti - Blizzard just had its most profitable year EVER.

I am all for Capitalism, but shareholders are ruining it.

It's a race to the top; no matter the cost.

[Eleccybubb]

@FelPlague They don't "need" to layoff people, they want to layoff people in order to keep profit margins high for their shareholders.

Well said.

It's ironic because I said in another thread. Activision was made because Atari devs were annoyed at how they were being treated by higher ups. Hell the CEO even flat out insulted them and refused to give them royalties/any recognition for their work.

So they went and made Activision. Which also was the first ever third party game dev back then.

Now look at them. They are the exact same thing they originally wanted to get away from. Irony at it's finest.

[Puzzlin]

If you have a crank that needs 5 people to turn it, and a lever that needs 1.
and you have 8 people who know how to use the crank, and 0 people who know how to use the lever, should you just.... keep the crank people? no you replace the crank people, the 3 that you dont need, and hire a lever guy.

or you train one of the crank guys to become a lever guy....

[FelPlague]

or you train one of the crank guys to become a lever guy....

And training a crank guy to beomce a lever guy takes years, and maybe they dont want to be a lever guy? also you know, they could just hire a lever guy.


I dont think you realize Getting a cm and saying "hey your a developer now" is a fucking horrible idea.

its like going to a janitor in a hopsital and going "yeah we could fire you, how about we train you to be a doctor instead." not how it works.

you cant get an musician and then suddenly change them into an artist, or developer.
you cant get a developer and suddenly change them into an artist. just does not work.

[Big Thanks]

Pooti - Blizzard just had its most profitable year EVER.

No, not true.
Where did you read that?

You mean ACTIVISION- Blizzard?

Yes Activision-Blizzard made record revenue both yearly and quarterly.

[Reachie]

No, not true.
Where did you read that?

You mean ACTIVISION- Blizzard?

Yes Activision-Blizzard made record revenue both yearly and quarterly.

Yep!

/10char

[Big Thanks]

Yep!

/10char

Yes, but Blizzard-only made less money in 2018 than in 2017.
Which is insane, because a new expansion was launched in 2018.

Anyway...only made less 27 million dollars.

Pocket change for Blizzard i guess