Game Workers Unite wants Activision Blizzard to fire its CEO

[EkyuGames]

It feels like a bit of a reckoning is at hand. I'm not sure. Doing what's right or doing what is by law okay. By law, they did nothing illegal. By ethical fiber, it's hard to describe anything these people bring useful to society.

[Trend]

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/...174215488.html

What's your guys opinion on this?

Personally...
I really hate Activision Blizzard and what they did with WoW and all my favorite games.

Layoffs suck and I know they happen especially in the video game industry but I will definetly remember this next time they release a game.
Ive already begun my boycott with Blizz and unsub'd 2 months ago from a recurring sub since 2005.
I know I dont effect much but it makes me feel better that I'm not supporting this shit company anymore that is known to take advantage of it employees with their "dream job"...

I guess with these layoffs their stocks increased with investors and as sad as it is... this whole thing probably wont effect them but I do hope and pray that they lose everything.

Good luck with this, but I don't see this making a ripple in anything. The whole reason that capitalism generally works is because people are greedy bastards and they are more motivated by personal gain than anything else. The whole reason socialism generally fails is that it does not account for this reality and instead pretends that people are basically good. Then you end up with bureaucrats deciding who wins and loses and it's an even worse situation than having shitty companies.

Ultimately, companies that don't treat their employees well are either in an industry like banking, where people really are just replaceable parts, or they are going to have a tough time in the market because they will have a harder time hiring and retaining talent. In this situation, I don't think the general mood at Blizzard is that employees aren't treated well, but it is understandable why the people laid off would feel that way. Now if this type of thing keeps happening, that would change. People definitely feel down about the coworkers getting let go and it's not something you can do too often.

There is something in regards to executive compensation that people just don't get. No matter what, that money isn't going to people at the bottom of the ladder. That's not how it works. The rank and file will get paid according to supply and demand. No company is going to go crazy above and beyond. Good companies will go a bit above the mark because it's worth paying for the ability to attract and keep the best people. I really like my company and I get paid very well, but it's not because they're just so nice, it's because I can update my LinkedIn and have 3 competitive offers within the next week and they know that. The bad thing with working for Blizzard is that for some reason a lot of people will take less pay to be in that industry. I could do engineering for Blizzard and I would probably be making 30-50% less than I am now after taking stock incentives into account. And of course that's not just engineering, that is all sorts of jobs at the company. It's supply and demand and the video game industry isn't the only one that has this problem.

Personally, I think there are times when layoffs can't be anticipated (horrible nature disasters, etc.) but usually, such as in this case, it is a sign of management problems. I don't have a problem with a turn-around specialist coming into a tough situation, doing layoffs and then getting a big comp package. But when you've been there, and you've overseen hiring in the last years and now you're turning around and laying off people, that's a red flag to me. I don't and won't invest in ATVI. If others feel similarly, the stock will continue to fall and that's when the pressure will be on the C-suite. It's not perfect but it's the best we've got IMO.

[Zantos]

I have to agree with them. I am all for cutting costs, but giving yourself several million dollars in bonuses while aslo making cuts? It's bs.

[rhorle]

This. This is why we are pissed off. If it happened to be layoffs but the CEOs were taking a hit as well, I can understand. When you do layoffs AND you give your CEOs bonuses? You're basically saying "Hey, if we fire these people we can give ourselves even MORE obscene amounts of money!" That isn't cool and is why we hate them with a passion. Iwata is what every CEO should aspire to be, morality wise. Then again, it is also a cultural thing because the Japanese actually take responsibility for their actions and will apologize if even a minute goes by that they didn't forsee closing down or being late on.

Executives have left with new ones hired. Executives have been shuffled around. And yet you are still pissed off. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...nal-presidents They are not firing 800 people because of money. They are firing them because they reorganized the company and their jobs are not longer present. No amount of pay cut would justify keeping people on the payroll when their position no longer exists.

[smityx]

Im still trying to figure out why Blizzard ever joined with Activision anyway. They had no problem self publishing their games. They didnt get any developers from Activision. They dont get a share of Activision's profits and likely pay Activiaion some of theirs. All they got was a nanny telling them what to do

I believe Vivindi was the publisher before activision. I may be wrong but Vivindi was involved somehow back in the day

[Trumpcat]

Nothing will change, but I support this.

[rhorle]

I believe Vivindi was the publisher before activision. I may be wrong but Vivindi was involved somehow back in the day

Vivendi has been the parent company of Blizzard since 1998. Vivendi merged their games department with Activision in 2008. Activision-Blizzard bought out Vivendi's controlling stake in 2013. Vivendi had about 12% of the company after 2013.

[siskokid21]

If we divided Kotick’s obscene annual pay (one the highest paid CEOs in the world), it alone could pay full salaries for all 800 laid off workers.

If he worked for free, his 30 million salary divided by 800 would be $37,500 for each employee before taxes. This seems somewhat low for a California job, and not to mention it assumes he works for free as CEO. There's no way he could split up his entire salary and pay for all 800 people, this article is just blowing figures out of proportion to get people to react without thinking.

There's also the fact that they're firing people in non-developmental positions, so they can focus more on hiring developmental jobs in the future. (as happened in 2012)

[Softbottom]

It is more about why it happened. Since they posted profits beyond the highest ever to that point, its seen as a mindfuck ala ancient Roman decimation. Layoff/kill 10% of your people so the remaining work 2x as hard hoping to not get canned/killed next. From a company like Activision known for all sorts of psychology shenanigans its just tough to swallow.

I feel like this is standard practice with a lot of companies. This isn't new.

[Gadzooks]

I can't figure out why the other members on the B of D aren't held accountable by the "community", but Kotick is the antichrist of Acti-blizz.

Board members have no accountability to "the community". They have a fiduciary responsibility towards their investors. The board is all non-game industry people, they are ex-movie studio execs and casino owners.

https://www.activisionblizzard.com/board-of-directors

The Board is not what you think it is, going by your comments, and I don't think you understand what Boards do, and what their responsibilities are.

[buddhapunch09]

Good luck with this, but I don't see this making a ripple in anything. The whole reason that capitalism generally works is because people are greedy bastards and they are more motivated by personal gain than anything else. The whole reason socialism generally fails is that it does not account for this reality and instead pretends that people are basically good. Then you end up with bureaucrats deciding who wins and loses and it's an even worse situation than having shitty companies.

Ultimately, companies that don't treat their employees well are either in an industry like banking, where people really are just replaceable parts, or they are going to have a tough time in the market because they will have a harder time hiring and retaining talent. In this situation, I don't think the general mood at Blizzard is that employees aren't treated well, but it is understandable why the people laid off would feel that way. Now if this type of thing keeps happening, that would change. People definitely feel down about the coworkers getting let go and it's not something you can do too often.

There is something in regards to executive compensation that people just don't get. No matter what, that money isn't going to people at the bottom of the ladder. That's not how it works. The rank and file will get paid according to supply and demand. No company is going to go crazy above and beyond. Good companies will go a bit above the mark because it's worth paying for the ability to attract and keep the best people. I really like my company and I get paid very well, but it's not because they're just so nice, it's because I can update my LinkedIn and have 3 competitive offers within the next week and they know that. The bad thing with working for Blizzard is that for some reason a lot of people will take less pay to be in that industry. I could do engineering for Blizzard and I would probably be making 30-50% less than I am now after taking stock incentives into account. And of course that's not just engineering, that is all sorts of jobs at the company. It's supply and demand and the video game industry isn't the only one that has this problem.

Personally, I think there are times when layoffs can't be anticipated (horrible nature disasters, etc.) but usually, such as in this case, it is a sign of management problems. I don't have a problem with a turn-around specialist coming into a tough situation, doing layoffs and then getting a big comp package. But when you've been there, and you've overseen hiring in the last years and now you're turning around and laying off people, that's a red flag to me. I don't and won't invest in ATVI. If others feel similarly, the stock will continue to fall and that's when the pressure will be on the C-suite. It's not perfect but it's the best we've got IMO.

Great post!
Idk I'm just hoping the consumers will see how they are operating and how these changes are effecting their products. We're already seeing mediocre results. I'm hoping people will see whats happening and will stop giving them money but each to their own I guess...

[RangerDaz]

I dont like unions, but i dont like kotick either.

If the company has finantial problems, the ceo should be the first to give an example and reduce his profit. I guess this is too much to ask a guy like kotick.

He really sounds like the (horrible) person described in those 10 year old articles.

[Gadzooks]

Vivendi bought Activision and merged it into Vivendi games. Blizzard was a division of Vivendi games. They took the Blizzard name because of the brand power of the name and it was the only one not rolled into Activsion (or closed). Blizzard has always been owned by a parent company. They have always had that proverbial "nanny".

Yeah. No.

Vivendi games merged with Activision.

A NEW company was formed, called "Activision Blizzard", as a holding company.

That holding company owns Activision Publishing, the game publisher, and Blizzard Inc, a game publisher.

"Blizzard" is not a brand. Blizzard Inc. is an LLC corporation with it's own management team, HR, payroll, and legal status as a unique company. Games published by Blizzard have "Blizzard" on the box, not Activision or ATVI.

Same for Activision Publishing.

If you work for Blizzard, your paycheck says "Blizzard Inc.". Not "ATVI".

If you don't understand any of this, and why it's important, you shouldn't be talking about it.

[rhorle]

If you don't understand any of this, and why it's important, you shouldn't be talking about it.

Everything you said is exactly what I said but with different words. So don't bring up not understand if you are going to be the prime example.

Nothing I said is wrong. All of the Vivendi games studios were shut down or merged into Activision. Blizzard was the only one to be kept separate. They used the name Blizzard in the title of the new company because of the brand power that Blizzard has in the PC market. There is a reason why they kept Blizzard in the name and it isn't because they kept them as a separate entity.

For example when Kmart bought Sears out around 2003 they took the name Sears Holding because they felt that the Sears name had a better brand power at the time. Names have power. If you don't understand that you shouldn't comment about it. But rules don't seem to apply to people when they need to ignorantly attack.

[Super Kami Dende]

Im still trying to figure out why Blizzard ever joined with Activision anyway. They had no problem self publishing their games. They didnt get any developers from Activision. They dont get a share of Activision's profits and likely pay Activiaion some of theirs. All they got was a nanny telling them what to do

Investors are usually the main driving force of Mergers like this, since if they have stakes in both they risk stocks of one doing poorly, so if they merge them they can pool the collective benefits of both companies and keep it as 1 stock to trade instead of 2. It also allows them some leeway if one side starts struggling as the other can prop them up for a while whilst they sort things out.

I doubt outside of the very top financial guys at Blizzard that any of them truly wanted a merger.

[Gambit5555]

It is more about why it happened. Since they posted profits beyond the highest ever to that point, its seen as a mindfuck ala ancient Roman decimation. Layoff/kill 10% of your people so the remaining work 2x as hard hoping to not get canned/killed next. From a company like Activision known for all sorts of psychology shenanigans its just tough to swallow.

Brack covered why it was happening in his letter. They are downsizing and focusing in on specific. Games. Destiny 2 is gone. Heroes of the Storm is being cutback, and I didn't even see StarCraft on the list of games they and devoting their resources to. Basically they have more employees than they need to cover the work they have.

[RuneDK]

So these people want to fire kotick and give his salary to all 800 employees that were laid off....they realize that his salary divided by the amount of employees laid off is about 35k a year...that will get you nowhere in california.

[MoanaLisa]

I believe Vivindi was the publisher before activision. I may be wrong but Vivindi was involved somehow back in the day

Vivendi owned both Activision and Blizzard separately. Vivendi wanted to reduce its debt load and proposed that they take Activision and Blizzard's cash reserves to do that leaving both companies in debt. At that point Vivendi could have sold off the names and IP's of two companies who would together be in substantial debt and not worth much. The chances are good that both corporations would have been driven out of business and IP's sold to groups like EA.

Instead Kotick put together a deal to buy Activision and Blizzard out from under Vivendi before Vivendi could conduct their raid on Activision and Blizzard's cash reserves.

Recently, however, Vivendi has been struggling to reduce its debt, reported to be in the region of $17bn. The conglomerate is also in talks to sell off its shares in African phone operator Maroc Telecom to Etisalat for $5.5bn.

Activision has now released itself from Vivendi's problems, but this could well bring new financial challenges.

"It is a substantial and gutsy move by Activision but also an eminently sensible one given the alternatives Activision faced," said Nick Gibson, an analyst with Games Investor Consulting. "Vivendi's majority stake combined with its own balance sheet difficulties could have resulted in raids on Activision's cash reserves – by forcing Activision to pay out large-scale special dividends – or other actions that might have jeopardised Activision's ability to operate.

"This move frees Activision from such threats but in doing so also radically weakens its balance sheet as the company goes from being largely debt free and hugely cash rich to having net debt of $1.4bn thanks to the use of $4.6bn in debt financing for the transaction. Needless to say, this presents its own set of problems although the Activision management clearly feel this is the more manageable and acceptable problem to have."

https://www.theguardian.com/technolo...splits-vivendi (source)

As always this shit is more complicated and Kotick's role is something more than evil greedy capitalist than anyone here wants to know about. If anyone wonders why Kotick is CEO he's been CEO there since the days of Atari consoles.

On topic: I think this press release is a waste of everyone's time. ATVI investors are largely institutional in nature (pension funds, etc.). Institutions in total own 88% of Activision's shares. Whatever moves are being made is to keep them happy, not some individual shareholder that doesn't care for Azerite armor or the game's direction. Blizzard Entertainment is only a piece of ATVI in any case.

https://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/atvi/i...ional-holdings (source for institutional holdings).

[Ishayu]

I'm all in favour of capitalism, but Bobby Kotick definitely deserves to be fired out of a cannon.

[Biomega]

I'm not sure people understand how business works.

These layoffs weren't a matter of "we don't have enough money to keep these people", it was a matter of "we don't need these people anymore, get rid of them".

Why on earth would a company keep people around they no longer need, even if they have all the money in the world to afford to do so? You could cut the executive bonuses to $0 and that still wouldn't make those jobs less redundant.

WoW has been shrinking for years. To think that you somehow need the same amount of community managers, game masters, and whatever other service and support staff as you needed 10 years ago when WoW was at its peak is delusional.

What do you want them to do, keep around people they don't need out of the goodness of their heart? What kind of a way is that to run a business?

And before someone asks: no, I'm not in favor of paying out multi-million bonuses to executives either. But the two aren't simply connected. They didn't cut 800 jobs so Big Bob could buy himself a new yacht. They cut the jobs because they're people that the company thinks it no longer needs in the current marketplace. These are two separate issues. I'm against coddling executives with disproportionate rewards. I am for lean operations that only employ who you actually need.