Mike Ybarra - Blizzard Trust and Culture Efforts Update

[Athredas]

Nobody outside of Twitter sphere cares about how many minorities and men who LARP as women they'll hire. And opinions of people within the Twitter sphere don't matter.

[Toppy]

Well, obviously that isn't happening since even the Co-CEO's weren't paid equally.

Thank you. That's kinda the point of people trying to push this.

So stop defending the people taking advantage of the system.

[Jester Joe]

Well, obviously that isn't happening since even the Co-CEO's weren't paid equally.

Due to contract issues that should have been fixed, yes.

But don't even try to use that as an example to prove your point of literal outsourcing the work.

[Dr Assbandit]

No. We believe people should be hired because they are qualified for the job. Not for some asinine box ticking quota.

You idiotic minorities have been crying for years about discrimination in the workplace. Yet now you think it's fine when the opposite is occurring?

Pot, meet kettle!

It's hilarious when racist trash out themselves and automatically render their arguments moot lol. You're not supposed to say the quiet part out loud champ .

Also I know you can't help being delusional but there is no widespread discrimination against white people going on in any professional capacity on a large scale. Statistically minorities are still very much underrepresented in most if not all major professional settings.

But I think I've wasted enough time on racist scum for a day so cheers mate .

[Coffeh]

Well, obviously that isn't happening since even the Co-CEO's weren't paid equally.

Neither were CEOs. Even Brack wasn't CEO. Blizzard hasn't had one since Morhaime left.

[GreenJesus]

Yooo, how do I get this magical job where all I do is travel the world giving jobs out to "brown people"?

Go work at Apple's diversity department.

[ElDoorO]

Funny thing is people saying "I just want them to make a better game"

Their bullshit company culture has likely CAUSED the game going to shit.

Their leadership are all in a big clique and in a place where they cant be questioned. Not keeping their positions on merit but rather on their place in the heirarchy.

You cant BOTH claim that you want a better game while also saying that the culture (leadership) isnt a problem.

Thats the big irony. Theres little question that the leadership at blizzard keep screwing up. But turning around and going "We're going "To far" with cleaning up the workface culture"? Thats hypocrisy. The poor leadership is a direct consequence of their workplace culture.

The hyper-woke people also seem to be mucking things up. Ya know, like replacing a woman with fruit and removing /spit because, apparently, that's how you stop sexual harassment in the job? Feels like they are about to wrap right about the hardcore ultra-puritan ways.

[Darkguyver2020]

It's hilarious when racist trash out themselves and automatically render their arguments moot lol. You're not supposed to say the quiet part out loud champ .

Also I know you can't help being delusional but there is no widespread discrimination against white people going on in any professional capacity on a large scale. Statistically minorities are still very much underrepresented in most if not all major professional settings.

I always label those with a victim complex as idiots. Trying to make out they are being discriminated and underrepresented to cover up the fact that someone who just so happens to have white skin is more qualified for the position they are applying for.

Hiring people purely based on their ethnicity is tokenism which is just another form of racism. So the mere fact alone that you're in favor of this practice makes you a racist!

But I think I've wasted enough time on racist scum for a day so cheers mate .

I couldn't agree more. Buh-bye, racist trash!

[Gadzooks]

All the internal turmoil aside, they have created groundbreaking games in several genres. I wont ever discredit that achivements of old Blizzard. That said, whats been revealed is horrible and should never, ever have even happend. I sincerly hope that those that suffered get compensation and justice and those responsible gets the punishment they deserve.

Here's the thing, though - the scandals and firings didn't happen that long ago. They still have a lot of work to fix the rift between the executive office and the workers, between the workers and the customers, and to the investors. People like J Allen and Afrasiabi and Bobby Kotick created such a monumental towering inferno of a dumpster fire, to expect them to have shaken it off and even started fixing it by now is laughable. Blizzard is going to be reeling internally over this, and it's going to be some time before MS can step in and start to make the changes to make the Irvine campus a healthy place to work.

And yes, that will have a significant impact on the quality of the games they make, and their product schedules. Don't discount that almost 40 people, many of them very high level, are now gone. Some of them the "father' of their games (I suspect Kaplan's exit was not his idea), and it was their passion and vision, and now they have top restructure, restaff, and try to ignite the fires of passion again.

I mean, honestly, this lame PR statement may be all that Ybarra can do right now - as I stated before, he still answers to Kotick and his team today, and that won't change until 2023.

On top of all that, the WoW team was struggling and broken before any of this scandal happened. There still seems to be serious issues on that team, and Ion's and John Hite's leadership. So expecting them to just heel turn in a matter of weeks, or months, well...lower your expectations. Just lower them. Getting rid of Ion - as good as a move that might be, along with some of the more belligerent lead devs, will be a massive upheaval and take months to recover from, without everything else going on.

Everyone is demanding them to fix the games. I'm not convinced they can, right now. And, the very devs who broke the game, are still there.

I'm not trying to make this a "fire Ion" post - because while I lean towards that idea, the bigger picture is this could take a long time, to turn Blizzard around, and all we're probably going to get is generic HR pablum from Ybarra and anyone else at Blizzard - because they're still facing the lawsuit from California.

Remember that? It's still heading to a court, unless they settle it, soon. And they're going to be extremely hampered until they do - and Kotick is the one who can do it, and I see no sign from him that he's even considering settling it. I could be wrong. There could be a stipulation from MS that the suit be settled/concluded before the deal finalizes. I don't even know if that's legal. But the lawsuit is still hanging over their heads, and Ybarra has to be mindful of that - and it's probably the entire reason for him doing it.

[MoanaLisa]

After reading MSFt Games Ceo Spencer interview with the Wapo , I am convinced that when the deal is fine, every Blizzard employee , manager , dev etc, who had any guidance in the way Blizzard developed games fir the last 10 years is going to be purged.

He see s shocked that the franchise ATVI shelved, was allowed to happen. Ion and his crew will be gone, any employee who tried to get a union , gone. It's gonna be ugly at Blizzard, but a purge is needed.

I don't see Ybarra sticking around long after.

Couple of things:
Link to the article so everyone else can read it if they haven't seen it: https://www.washingtonpost.com/video...-phil-spencer/

- There is nada, zero, in that article to suggest they're going to wholesale fire every Blizzard employee, manager, developer, etc. who had any guidance in the way Blizzard developed games over the last 10 years. Nothing whatsoever. Besides you don't set an already struggling Blizzard back another two years by firing everyone and starting completely over. I'll remind you that the old guard of management that created the conditions for the lawsuit, harassment and years between product releases are already gone.

- Mike Ybarra spent 22 years at Microsoft before coming to Blizzard, a lot of it working with Spencer.

- The shocking IP's mentioned specifically are contained in these paragraphs:

“I was looking at the IP list, I mean, let’s go!” Spencer said. “ ‘King’s Quest,’ ‘Guitar Hero,’ … I should know this but I think they got ‘HeXen.’ ”

“HeXen,” indeed an Activision Blizzard property, is a cult hit first-person game about using magic spells. Microsoft’s pending acquisition of Activision Blizzard also means owning the rights to many creations from gaming’s past, including Crash Bandicoot, the original Sony PlayStation mascot. There’s also the influential and popular Tony Hawk skateboard series and beloved characters like Spyro the Dragon.

Quoted post is overwrought.

Completely unrelated question: Tom Chilton is supposed to be working on a secret passion project. That's been going on for five years. All you leakers out there? That's a much more interesting question.

[Aedruid]

Great, let's focus on how to make the company look better to the public instead of investing the resources into actually making the game better. Good start.

[Dr Assbandit]

Sweet. Hope we have this in the UK, I want to get paid to travel the world and give jobs out like sweets to people with certain skin tones.

One of my good mates got hired this way from India. Greenjesus is correct in that they do hold you hostage with a visa since he couldn't go work for a different company that would have paid him way way higher as a software developer than what he was working for. So it's more like just dangling sweets rather than handing them out. However, he wouldn't have had the opportunity otherwise so I dunno ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

If I recall certain European countries pay way better for overseas software developers if you apply for their visa programs but I dunno why the U.S. has such a strong draw for desi folk (Pakistani and Indian people).

[Engal]

I don't see Ybarra sticking around long after

Lol, he used to work with Spencer for a long time. I dont see Spencer firing him. On the contrary, their collaboration might be stronger, or I hope so.

[Rob4453]

Diversity, Inclusivity and Equity is destroying Blizzard, video games, movies, music, and everything else we love.

D.I.E must DIE. - Look it up on youtube or read the article below on the nationalpost.com

Jordan Peterson: Why I am no longer a tenured professor at the University of Toronto

This is why all blizzard games are trash now, and your just being shoved virtue signaling identity politics down your throat at a nauseating relentless pace.

[Dr Assbandit]

Oh, I'm actually serious lol If I can get paid to jet around and just give jobs out, I'm all for it.

Try looking at some recruiting departments for startups or some people even work as freelance headhunters. I'm not sure what their qualifications would be but I'm assuming some sort of business or similar degree.

I only have information on requirements in the field of medicine mostly so sorry can't help more in this regard .

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Diversity, Inclusivity and Equity is destroying Blizzard, video games, movies, music, and everything else we love.

D.I.E must DIE. - Look it up on youtube or read the article below on the nationalpost.com

Jordan Peterson: Why I am no longer a tenured professor at the University of Toronto

This is why all blizzard games are trash now, and your just being shoved virtue signaling identity politics down your throat at a nauseating relentless pace.

Nice throwaway account, how brave! Also LOL Jordan Peterson LOL.

[Gadzooks]

Couple of things:
Link to the article so everyone else can read it if they haven't seen it: https://www.washingtonpost.com/video...-phil-spencer/

- There is nada, zero, in that article to suggest they're going to wholesale fire every Blizzard employee, manager, developer, etc. who had any guidance in the way Blizzard developed games over the last 10 years. Nothing whatsoever. Besides you don't set an already struggling Blizzard back another two years by firing everyone and starting completely over. I'll remind you that the old guard of management that created the conditions for the lawsuit, harassment and years between product releases are already gone.

- Mike Ybarra spent 22 years at Microsoft before coming to Blizzard, a lot of it working with Spencer.

- The shocking IP's mentioned specifically are contained in these paragraphs:


Quoted post is overwrought.

Completely unrelated question: Tom Chilton is supposed to be working on a secret passion project. That's been going on for five years. All you leakers out there? That's a much more interesting question.

Wow, Sierra, there's a blast from the past. Lots of good games from them - I played and enjoyed a lot of them, like Leisure Suit Larry, Ceasar III, and Space Quest. I don't know how relevant any of those titles would be today - Larry definitely not - but yeah, I think everyone forgot that ATVI got Sierra in the deal, and hasn't done much of anything with their IPs.

[MoanaLisa]

Wow, Sierra, there's a blast from the past. Lots of good games from them - I played and enjoyed a lot of them, like Leisure Suit Larry, Ceasar III, and Space Quest. I don't know how relevant any of those titles would be today - Larry definitely not - but yeah, I think everyone forgot that ATVI got Sierra in the deal, and hasn't done much of anything with their IPs.

The IP's are the thing here although I would pre-order a 21st century updating of HeXen the day it was available. I spent more time in that game than Doom by a long ways back in the day.

[Bee76]

You don't just have to deliver on a more regular basis, you have to deliver `better` content.

Nah, there will always be ppl who dislike the content. "Better" is something very individual. I dislike SL contet aswell, i would prefer meaningful content, connected with charpower progreß, way more grind, and less cosmetics.
But his only jobis to make money fpr AB or soon Microsoft. And as long as enough people playing the games its completly irrelevant if you or i liked the content or not.

[MoanaLisa]

You don't just have to deliver on a more regular basis, you have to deliver `better` content. Shadowlands had so much promise and failed so hard to deliver on that promise.

What would that be though? More raids and dungeons? I don't raid and I only lazily run dungeons.

More world content? That would be great for me. I love being out in the world. It would suck for those who would rather just raid log. A better story? Lots of people don't care about the story at all.

That's why all of these posts about "better" are so much bilgewater. They don't mean anything because 'better' means totally different things to different people and in some cases it's contradictory. It's just posturing unless you provide specifics about what better means to you.

[Rob4453]

No serious person should do this. Jordan Peterson is only to be mocked, tbh. That he has such a following of incels and the like will always amaze me, though.

Good job on the new account, at least.

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Mock, ridicule, call the other side names like "incel" , act like a child. be extremely hostile to any views that threaten to expose your own cowardice.

This is exactly the kind of behavior i would expect from someone that doesn't want people to look at the facts and draw their own conclusions.

Really "incel".... you have 14,000 forum posts on a video game website, i am sure you get laid all the time....