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  1. #1

    Gift Card Face Slap

    Although not purely about wow, clearly the "e-sport" division of Blizzard includes both the Arena Comp and M+ comps, so I think this is the right place for this.

    Does anyone else feel like the $200 gift card is a HUGE slap in the face? I wont comment on the severance package itself, as that is a whole other can of worms, but the gift card in particular seems like a massive middle finger from Blizzard.

    "Yeah, this isn't working out, we are letting you go. HOWEVER, we are giving you a $200 gift card...............which can only be spent on OUR products.....so.....if we could just have that $200 back, that would be great."

    How would you feel if your position was made redundant, and the company who just let you go offered you a gift card that was only redeemable with said company?

    To me, it screams "we are horribly out of touch"
    Quote Originally Posted by Kyanion View Post
    In no way are you entitled to the 'complete' game when you buy it, because DLC/cosmetics and so on are there for companies to make more money
    Quote Originally Posted by rhorle View Post
    Others, including myself, are saying that they only exist because Blizzard needed to create things so they could monetize it.

  2. #2
    They get a gift card on top of the regular severance package. I don't see an issue with this. I'd rather get a little bonus than nothing. If they don't need it they can use it for friends or family.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cavox View Post
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  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Azerate View Post
    They get a gift card on top of the regular severance package. I don't see an issue with this. I'd rather get a little bonus than nothing. If they don't need it they can use it for friends or family.
    So why not offer a generic gift card? Why Blizzard only products? It holds zero value to Blizzard, and every single member of the team that has been let go know that, and Blizzard are well aware they know it.

    "Something is better than nothing" - Not if the "something" is a kick in the balls.
    Quote Originally Posted by Kyanion View Post
    In no way are you entitled to the 'complete' game when you buy it, because DLC/cosmetics and so on are there for companies to make more money
    Quote Originally Posted by rhorle View Post
    Others, including myself, are saying that they only exist because Blizzard needed to create things so they could monetize it.

  4. #4
    Well 12 months of Company Health Insurance is already really damned good..I don't know if you ever had to get COBRA but for ME to get it is about 1400 a month just for me....multiply that by 12 then that by the people laid off and that's a pretty damned good deal. we don't know what the "3 month Severance package" is but I assume its about 3 months worth of pay. The $200 is just..you know extra like "hey sorry we fucked up have a bonus gift certificate to our store"

    I mean shit I've seen people get laid off and they got a "welp sorry" and kicked out the door.

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Mysterymask View Post
    Well 12 months of Company Health Insurance is already really damned good..I don't know if you ever had to get COBRA but for ME to get it is about 1400 a month just for me....multiply that by 12 then that by the people laid off and that's a pretty damned good deal. we don't know what the "3 month Severance package" is but I assume its about 3 months worth of pay. The $200 is just..you know extra like "hey sorry we fucked up have a bonus gift certificate to our store"

    I mean shit I've seen people get laid off and they got a "welp sorry" and kicked out the door.
    As i said quite clearly, as this is an international site, i wont get into the specifics of the core severance package, because in some countries it might be seen as great, but in good countries it would be seen as pretty shit. This is specifically about the "gift card"

    If someone signs a contract with ZERO redundancy package, thats on them.
    Quote Originally Posted by Kyanion View Post
    In no way are you entitled to the 'complete' game when you buy it, because DLC/cosmetics and so on are there for companies to make more money
    Quote Originally Posted by rhorle View Post
    Others, including myself, are saying that they only exist because Blizzard needed to create things so they could monetize it.

  6. #6
    I don't know... to me it doesn't sound that bad at all.
    As a company that tends to market itself as "we employ gamers", has actually been made by gamers and even has "please list titles made by us" on their job offers it really isn't that out of touch.

    And to everyone screaming: "they just got fired during a global pandemic."
    Yes they did, but they worked in IT, which is blooming during exactly this time; which means there are more positions open than they were before.

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Mysterymask View Post
    Well 12 months of Company Health Insurance is already really damned good..I don't know if you ever had to get COBRA but for ME to get it is about 1400 a month just for me....multiply that by 12 then that by the people laid off and that's a pretty damned good deal. we don't know what the "3 month Severance package" is but I assume its about 3 months worth of pay. The $200 is just..you know extra like "hey sorry we fucked up have a bonus gift certificate to our store"

    I mean shit I've seen people get laid off and they got a "welp sorry" and kicked out the door.
    M8, most of the people posting here won't care about any of that, they will latch on the card part and demonize and berrate Blizzard for it. They would do it even if they gave each layed off person a million dollars in compensation...it is a bit pathological, really.

  8. #8
    i think a $200 gift card is a bit of a dick move. it says "we care enough about you that we want to avoid bad pr" to me. blizz could easily have just given them each $200 (50 people totals it to 10k btw) which is basically pocket change for a company this big. everything else was good and its hard to fault blizz for this layoff since esports are usually big, in-person events and that isn't exactly happening with covid.

    summary, i think it's a dick move but not a big deal. at least they got real benefits.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by arkanon View Post
    As i said quite clearly, as this is an international site, i wont get into the specifics of the core severance package, because in some countries it might be seen as great, but in good countries it would be seen as pretty shit. This is specifically about the "gift card"

    If someone signs a contract with ZERO redundancy package, thats on them.
    Well the gift card is a bonus...and like I said they could of just given them NOTHING which is pretty common in America. I am American and for that level of an employee that's pretty decent. I mean if I got laid off from Wal-Mart and they gave me a $200 gift card..shit that's about 2 weeks of groceries for me

    Quote Originally Posted by aceperson View Post
    i think a $200 gift card is a bit of a dick move. it says "we care enough about you that we want to avoid bad pr" to me. blizz could easily have just given them each $200 (50 people totals it to 10k btw)
    A 3 month severance Package is their monthly pay x3 and they get 12 month of Health Insurance which can average about $1500 monthly in some cases (COBRA's a bitch)

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Jamais View Post
    M8, most of the people posting here won't care about any of that, they will latch on the card part and demonize and berrate Blizzard for it. They would do it even if they gave each layed off person a million dollars in compensation...it is a bit pathological, really.
    I know...I mean if I do the math I'd assume most of those people would of made what on average $75,000 a year? So that's about $6,250.00 a month...They are getting a flat payout of $18,750 plus about $20,000 worth of health insurance they dont' even have to pay for anymore

    but oh no $200 gift card on top of that real kick in the face
    Last edited by Mysterymask; 2021-03-17 at 06:43 AM.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by arkanon View Post

    "Something is better than nothing" - Not if the "something" is a kick in the balls.
    Can’t believe the levels of hatred Blizzard gets on this forum sometimes, please give me a $200 Blizzard gift card over a kick in the balls anyday

    ONTOP of the severance package they are receiving

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Mysterymask View Post
    A 3 month severance Package is their monthly pay x3 and they get 12 month of Health Insurance which can average about $1500 monthly in some cases (COBRA's a bitch)

    - - - Updated - - -

    that doesn't change my point. it be a bonus but its a rather crappy bonus. hey guys, we're firing you. since you no longer work for us, here is a gift card to get you invested into blizzard games which have clearly gotten worse over the years because of bad management and corporate practices. it's just a crappy bonus no matter how you look at it.

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by arkanon View Post
    Although not purely about wow, clearly the "e-sport" division of Blizzard includes both the Arena Comp and M+ comps, so I think this is the right place for this.

    Does anyone else feel like the $200 gift card is a HUGE slap in the face? I wont comment on the severance package itself, as that is a whole other can of worms, but the gift card in particular seems like a massive middle finger from Blizzard.

    "Yeah, this isn't working out, we are letting you go. HOWEVER, we are giving you a $200 gift card...............which can only be spent on OUR products.....so.....if we could just have that $200 back, that would be great."

    How would you feel if your position was made redundant, and the company who just let you go offered you a gift card that was only redeemable with said company?

    To me, it screams "we are horribly out of touch"
    I mean chances are they already have subs to some or all of Blizzard's products... so they would spend the $200 anyway but now they don't have to and can spend the 200 they would've spent on Blizzard games on other things. also, you seem to be ignoring the severance package entirely... you said you won't comment on it as that is a whole other can of worms... but from the comments here it's a pretty fucking decent can of worms so yeah all things combined it's pretty good

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Fleugen View Post
    Yes, but you can't buy Groceries at the Blizzard store.
    no you can't but if they are spending money at the Blizzard store anyway (wow subs etc) then the 200 they would've spent on Blizzard shit can be spent on other things... like groceries

  13. #13
    Didn't they fire like 800 people some time ago? Feel 50 is not that much when comparing.
    Do you hear the voices too?

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Knife Pervert View Post
    if they'd have just axed the 200$ cards no one would even be batting an eye.=
    Correct - and thats the point. If you give someone a $200 gift card, but the only way to redeem that gift card is to give it back to the person who just gave it to you, its a bit of a slap in the face.
    Quote Originally Posted by Kyanion View Post
    In no way are you entitled to the 'complete' game when you buy it, because DLC/cosmetics and so on are there for companies to make more money
    Quote Originally Posted by rhorle View Post
    Others, including myself, are saying that they only exist because Blizzard needed to create things so they could monetize it.

  15. #15
    When I first read it my kneejerk reaction was the same, although with the rest of the benefits being offered my mind changed.

    In all likelihood this isn't like when they just completely dumped Heroes of the Storm. These folks have seen the writing on the wall since the start of the pandemic and being let go right now isn't a surprise.

    Also there's a very strong likelihood of them being rehired in 6 months as we approach the 80% vaccine threshold and implement laws that will allow for in person events and team travel. Most people are understanding and happy that eSports in general was able to shift into a virtual space, but people love the live events and they will make a return, which means that those being let go are probably the first to be rehired to bring back the events in the fall.

    If anything I'd say they've been kept on payroll to set up plans to revamp live tournament events and now that all the prep work is done are being laid off until they can start up the actual events.

    The gift card is just glad handing.

  16. #16
    Seems like it would be a great thing to give as an Xmas gift or Birthday gift at some point if they didn't want to keep it themselves.
    As an American seeing 12 months of healthcare in the severance package is blowing my mind.
    Last time I was offered Cobra, over 10 years ago mind you, it was about $400/wk and it was only for a very limited time from what I remember.

  17. #17
    A dick move would be to have a limit of what on the blizzard store they could buy with the $200 gift card.

  18. #18
    Are you surprised by the actions of a company that gives honor points which can be traded for goodies as compensation to their employees?

    https://massivelyop.com/2020/08/06/b...ard-no-cookie/

    I mean, the entire situation gets another level of hilarity when you consider how adamantely the WoW devs fought against PvP vendors (and thus honor points), but that's another story.
    Blizzard being out of touch is hardly anything new, they also seemingly wanted money from Twitch "because our games helped the site to grow".

    They seem to think it's still 2006 and they are the infallible Game creator studio with the Midas Touch.

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by arkanon View Post
    So why not offer a generic gift card? Why Blizzard only products? It holds zero value to Blizzard, and every single member of the team that has been let go know that, and Blizzard are well aware they know it.

    "Something is better than nothing" - Not if the "something" is a kick in the balls.
    They gave them a Blizzard Gift Card, because they are Blizzard. There is no secret evil plan there, it... was... just... a... gift.

    Really, these days Blizzard could spend 5 billion to cure cancer and the community would construe that they only do that so people pay subs for longer.

    Stop being bloody outraged at every friggin thing the company does.

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by arkanon View Post
    Although not purely about wow, clearly the "e-sport" division of Blizzard includes both the Arena Comp and M+ comps, so I think this is the right place for this.

    Does anyone else feel like the $200 gift card is a HUGE slap in the face? I wont comment on the severance package itself, as that is a whole other can of worms, but the gift card in particular seems like a massive middle finger from Blizzard.

    "Yeah, this isn't working out, we are letting you go. HOWEVER, we are giving you a $200 gift card...............which can only be spent on OUR products.....so.....if we could just have that $200 back, that would be great."

    How would you feel if your position was made redundant, and the company who just let you go offered you a gift card that was only redeemable with said company?

    To me, it screams "we are horribly out of touch"
    In total, the deal is probably quite good since its in the US. 12 months of healthcare? should be more like a lifetime healthcare from your country. But oh well, thats off topic.

    Yeah I can understand why the gift card sounds like a dick move. But then again - Theres new games coming out from Blizzard/acti and these people probably are gamers to some degree anyway, so thats 200 dollars worth of games right there. Thats money saved, not spendt.

    I dont have great insight in the world of esports, but I would imagine its shifting and moving all the time. Trends, popularity and how people consume/flock to certain games probably play a big part. Its probably a great industry to work in, but its also a industry with not-so-great stability work wise. I would bet most of these people will carry on playing games(even Blizzard ones) while looking for new avenues. Its probably a ruthless world, working in the gaming industry.

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