Blizzard is hiring for WoW - A bit late for Shadowlands, no?

[Nikkej]

Source

https://careers.blizzard.com/en-us/o...raft/all/all/1

They are hiring in several KEYPOSITIONS right now and It made me quite qurious whats going on.


Is there a merge for Classic and Retail upcoming? Is the timetraveling in Shadowlands opening up later on in patches and we will see a full merge and zone picking like we will have 1-50?

Brand new type of game?

[Kiwijello]

I am more curious if these people all quit or were fired.

[TickerDS]

I think this is just normal game development staffing. A few positions for classic, there are a few parts of their release cycle still to go... A few positions for development of shadowlands launch....a few position for post-launch of shadowlands for maintenance and post-release patches/content....and a few positions for what comes after shadowlands (if you are to believe what blizz says about being years in the process for each expansion)

It may not be anything beyond the normal hiring cycle for an expansion, but if what we saw at Blizzcon is a guide and the alpha coming out later than normal, if blizzard wants to meet a Oct/Nov launch window, they do need to staff up some as well.

Hell, Activision-Blizzard did say the intent was to staff up on the development side to get content out faster.

I guess all I can say with somewhat certainty is that this is not for some surprise left turn developing of something new.

[Chickat]

20 positions on a team of 300 is not that significant.

[Zentail]

Why would hiring mean it's "late for Shadowlands"? Are companies not allowed to hire employees anymore after announcing a product?

What makes you think these positions are "key" positions? How do you define "key"?

What makes you think they don't already have several employees in each of these positions already?

How small of a company do you think Blizzard is, to not almost always be hiring for positions like these (which you would know if you checked their Careers page more regularly)?

And lastly, why assume every little thing that is completely unrelated to anything is supposed to imply something?

[Biomega]

They are already working on the next expansion after SL.

Their team is extensive, and not everyone is doing the same thing. Some will no doubt be polishing SL, and work on Alpha/Beta feedback up until release. Some will be working on SL content patches. And some will be working on the expansion after SL. Also, a large staff turnover is very typical for this industry - for good and for ill.

None of those positions are leadership. These are not "key positions", they're regular staff working on regular things. These job openings literally tell you ZERO about the state of the game, or its future.

[Teflon]

Why would hiring mean it's "late for Shadowlands"? Are companies not allowed to hire employees anymore after announcing a product?

Pretty harsh, just asking a bunch of pointed questions. I'll answer just one to illuminate you - Blizzard has repeatedly said that they make expansions years ahead of their launch, hence, if Shadowlands launches in October, it is late for Shadowlands, if you consider that they have been working on the game for a year or two. But it is nice to see that you just trying to attack, instead of trying to contribute to a discussion. But of course, attacking is easier

[Yoshingo]

You realize that the vast majority of the Shadowlands work is either already done or largely complete, right?

They work on more than 1 expansion at a time my dude.

[Th3Scourge]

Lol OP is getting panned. The development cycle doesn't end when the expansion is released..

[Neuroticaine]

Large development teams are always hiring for new people. If you look at Blizzards other two big IPs, Overwatch and Diablo, you'll find a similar number of positions to be filled for similar job titles.

[Marrilaife]

I am more curious if these people all quit or were fired.

The play is to hire new people for lower salary then make previous employees that had higher salary "redundant".

[Relapses]

Let's spin this as negatively as possible: So Blizzard is hiring new people to put pressure on the outgoing team who have been instructed that if Shadowlands fails on the same level as BfA that they will be shitcanned. Activision is forcing all developers to work 80 hour weeks and if anybody dares complain they simply get an e-mail from Bobby Kotick with a link to the posting for their current position with a vaguely optimistic message reminding the employee that compliance is not optional, it's mandatory.

[Hobbidaggy]

They are already working on the next expansion after SL.

Their team is extensive, and not everyone is doing the same thing. Some will no doubt be polishing SL, and work on Alpha/Beta feedback up until release. Some will be working on SL content patches. And some will be working on the expansion after SL. Also, a large staff turnover is very typical for this industry - for good and for ill.

None of those positions are leadership. These are not "key positions", they're regular staff working on regular things. These job openings literally tell you ZERO about the state of the game, or its future.

This. They have the next 2-3 expansions planned out already. They have been doing this for years now. When one is released they are starting the ground work on the expansion 2 away and the devs are already building the next one at the same time.
Expansion 1 release - Developing Expansion 2 - paperwork and design/story boarding expansion 3 and 4 is beginning

The game isn’t made overnight and every patch Is being created well in advance.

[SirCowdog]

They are hiring in several KEYPOSITIONS right now and It made me quite qurious whats going on.

There are still roughly 7-9 months before the launch of Shadowlands(depending on your opinions of launch date). Even if they were bringing in completely new people right now, that's still plenty of time to train and assign them to roles, depending on the job.

And as other people have mentioned, the WoW team is significant. A small number of jobs being swapped out isn't going to make much of an impact.

[Seranthor]

Source

https://careers.blizzard.com/en-us/o...raft/all/all/1

They are hiring in several KEYPOSITIONS right now and It made me quite qurious whats going on.


Is there a merge for Classic and Retail upcoming? Is the timetraveling in Shadowlands opening up later on in patches and we will see a full merge and zone picking like we will have 1-50?

Brand new type of game?

Couple things jump out at me here... 'late' in what way? they are already working on the expansion after Shadowlands, and, the one after that. Merge? Seriously? Where would you get that impression?

[Corroc]

This might just be bigger budget to the wow team and now they are hiring more. 8.3 definitely showed that they need more people working on the game from quality stand point.

[Kaleredar]

Source

https://careers.blizzard.com/en-us/o...raft/all/all/1

They are hiring in several KEYPOSITIONS right now and It made me quite qurious whats going on.


Is there a merge for Classic and Retail upcoming? Is the timetraveling in Shadowlands opening up later on in patches and we will see a full merge and zone picking like we will have 1-50?

Brand new type of game?

I love it when people who have no idea how the video game industry works make broad, sweeping conspiracy theories about the inner workings of the video game industry.

[Tident]

Blizzard has sadly become a bit of a revolving door studio. They pay less then the industry standard for most positions. I imagine they are always hiring.

[Zandalarian Paladin]

I think you need to consider the fact that they're not hiring for Shadowlands, but for what's after the release of the expansion.

Be aware that it's easy to assume things, but no company will hire individuals who didn't have any prior experience on their games and make them work on something that will ship in a few months.

[Ielenia]

Pretty harsh, just asking a bunch of pointed questions. I'll answer just one to illuminate you - Blizzard has repeatedly said that they make expansions years ahead of their launch, hence, if Shadowlands launches in October, it is late for Shadowlands, if you consider that they have been working on the game for a year or two. But it is nice to see that you just trying to attack, instead of trying to contribute to a discussion. But of course, attacking is easier

The problem here is that the "a bit late for Shadowlands, no?" part of the title not only is completely meaningless, but it also heavily implies that Shadowlands is a failure that "cannot be saved" since it's "too late".