Blizzard Employee Letter to Leadership, Other Responses to Lawsuit

[DingDongKing]

Who would you sooner trust, the California Department of Fair Employment & Housing, or a sleazy CEO who lost a sexual harassment suit from 15 years ago and who pockets nine figure bonuses while his subsidiary companies go through layoffs?

Oh, man. I'm pretty sure a LOT of the posters in this thread would sooner trust the CEO of ABK than someone accusing a man of sexual abuse.

[-Zo-]

Glad to see the 1000x signed post from employees.

I've had the usual moral dilemma between keep playing and unsub in protest until they make it right. Well, I just bought a token to not leave my guild in a lurch and they have a month for the appropriate heads to start rolling. I know they couldn't care less about my sub money. I liked Hazel's statement and the realization that there are a lot of hard working and good employees that earn my sub each month.

I just want the leadership at Blizzard to stop giving me so many excuses to leave. They're making being addicted to a game too hard. I just need a place to chill and heal my buds and not feel like crap about it. It's insane that's such a big thing to ask. Heads need to roll. I know where I'd start.

[uuuhname]

He's fucking right though. You value game content more than the welfare of people.

really is amazing the take away from that post is "he's blaming the gamers!" uuuuh no? if you feel slighted by that statement then you probably deserve to feel that way.

[Femininity]

Given how Ion blamed the customers for why his game is so shitty, it seems that they might have an ego problem.



Blizzard also did this song and dance with the artifacts and the RNGendaries during the Legion beta. Players - Preach, the forums everyone - called out the problems with them months before release. Blizzard ignored what their testers were saying and released those systems in shitty states, and the turned around said "uh, we didn't know that they were bad! Why didn't our players tell us?". Same with Azerite for BFA, and Chorghast for Shadowlands.

Can you imagine other companies saying "it's not our fault the washing machine we sold to our customers was broken! Our unpaid testers didn't tell us! (even though they did. For several months before release).

At this point, paying a WoW sub is purchasing a license to bitch.

[Ihavewaffles]

I don't know who this fucking Alex Klontzas is, but fuck that guy, WE ARE PAYING SUBSCRIPTIONS! This is NOT A FREE GAME.

They need to sort this asap n get back on track not "oh, but you really should wait until 2023 for patch 9.2!" fuck that shit! Their company will go down if they don't clean house.

[arkanon]

If you think the culture is something only within blizzard and people going “i don’t care give me my product” doesn't contribute to higher ups ignoring issues so they can get said product out you are a fool.

THIER culture. THEIR problem. Their culture at their workplace with their employees has absolutely nothing to do with me in any way, shape, or form. What does have something to do with me, is them admitting they are no longer developing a product I purchased, and until recently paid to access, IS my business, and i choose to take it elsewhere. I had already made this decision before this all blew up, based on the lackluster quality of their product, however, them trying to shift blame to their paying customers who have literally NOTHING to do with their internal complement issues, is the last straw for quite a few people.

When I first saw this come to light, I thought "meh, nothing will happen, nothing will change, they will hide for a few weeks then announce something new and shiny and everyone will forget and move on". However, based on how they chose to respond, and the amazing response from over 1000 past and present staff, has confirmed I am unlikely to be back any time soon.

[darklogrus]

He's fucking right though. You value game content more than the welfare of people.

A.K values his job and his title more then he values his co-workers.

[Femininity]

He's fucking right though. You value game content more than the welfare of people.

Continuing to support them in any way makes you complicit, sorry!

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I don't know who this fucking Alex Klontzas is, but fuck that guy, WE ARE PAYING SUBSCRIPTIONS! This is NOT A FREE GAME.

They need to sort this asap n get back on track not "oh, but you really should wait until 2023 for patch 9.2!" fuck that shit! Their company will go down if they don't clean house.

Unsub. Stop supporting their shitty policies and practices. You don't need that next patch.

[uuuhname]

Continuing to support them in any way makes you complicit, sorry!

that, is a bit unfair, this is on the state to regulate them, not the consumers. however if your main issue is you not getting more content for your video game then I'm sorry but you're not helping anyone, at all.

[DingDongKing]

A.K values his job and his title more then he values his co-workers.

Can I ask how you've come to this conclusion?

Continuing to support them in any way makes you complicit, sorry!

a) I'm not a paying customer.

b) I will support employees who want better for their colleagues. Thanks. Welfare over Entertainment.

[Ihavewaffles]

Unsub. Stop supporting their shitty policies and practices. You don't need that next patch.

A sub is for game content, not policies n practices, you are shifting blame to the player.

Are you just another contrarian who just hangs around forums for games he stopped playing long ago? That's pathetic.

[Darkimpact]

People are allowed to be upset about the delay. Brushing off the concerns over another delay after starving your base for so long is a super shitty move. That said, players also need to realize your voice should be CANCELED SUBS. Gut their income streams and show them you won't tolerate this kind of crap. If a company can't keep their shit together for game stability take away their support. Don't care about these internal issues? You do now. When companies allow this type of behavior it leads to issues. ActiBlizz failed their employees AND they failed you.

[muto]

I don’t know what to do. I don’t have all the answers. I can tell you, almost no work is being done on World of Warcraft right now while this obscenity plays out. And that benefits nobody - not the players, not the developers, not the shareholders.

Say hello to 9.1 lasting 7 to 8 months, and a two patch expansion with the last patch (9.2) probably lasting a year+.

[Clbull]

Oh, man. I'm pretty sure a LOT of the posters in this thread would sooner trust the CEO of ABK than someone accusing a man of sexual abuse.

This isn't a mere disgruntled ex-employee throwing around sexual abuse accusations. This is the result of a two year investigation instigated by a state-level government agency. They would know better than to push through a lawsuit without merit or evidence.

Many of the current and former Blizzard employees who have spoken out in condemnation of Activision Blizzard's internal company culture are doing so now because the cat's out of the bag. A lone employee blowing the whistle would have likely been sacked and blackballed from the whole industry.

[Sithalos]

Continuing to support them in any way makes you complicit, sorry!

If you boycotted everything from every company that's ever done something shady, or had any relations with China, you would have...very few things in your house.

Blaming the common customer isn't really fair.

[arkanon]

He's fucking right though. You value game content more than the welfare of people.

I hold value for money in the products i pay for higher than internal employment and legal issues, yes. Without even the smallest amount of doubt.

[Liftbrul]

He's fucking right though. You value game content more than the welfare of people.

The welfare of what people? The dipshits who kept working and turned a blind eye and are only now tripping over each other to mewl about how awful this is to cover their own asses? Please. I'm willing to bet most people sympathize with the actual victims of harassment, but that sympathy doesn't extend to the rest of the company. On top of which, people are paying for game content; if they're interested in helping others, there's a thousand charity organizations ready to dip into your wallet.

[DingDongKing]

This isn't a mere disgruntled ex-employee throwing around sexual abuse accusations. This is the result of a two year investigation instigated by a state-level government agency. They would know better than to push through a lawsuit without merit or evidence.

Many of the current and former Blizzard employees who have spoken out in condemnation of Activision Blizzard's internal company culture are doing so now because the cat's out of the bag. A lone employee blowing the whistle would have likely been sacked and blackballed from the whole industry.

I know dude, I'm pointing out how a lot of posters here don't give a damn about the harassment that has occurred.

THEY JUST WANT THEIR CONTENT MRRNGH. 'I don't care if people were harassed, my 9.2 is more important!'

The welfare of what people? The dipshits who kept working and turned a blind eye and are only now tripping over each other to mewl about how awful this is to cover their own asses? Please. I'm willing to bet most people sympathize with the actual victims of harassment, but that sympathy doesn't extend to the rest of the company. On top of which, people are paying for game content; if they're interested in helping others, there's a thousand charity organizations ready to dip into your wallet.

Like this guy. No one is asking anyone to sympathise with perpetrators or enablers. People who've been quiet and are now speaking were also acutely aware of what the consequence of speaking up looks like. For every poster who screams 'cancel culture', there's people being victimised for speaking up through 'confidential lines' and 'support lines' run by their employers. It's how companies out whistleblowers. 'Speak to us, we want to listen' leads to 'thanks for letting us know, now leave so we can brush it under the rug'. People don't realise how toxic corporate culture can be.

[Queen of Hamsters]

Ain't that the truth. It's almost like someone is running a social experiment, mind you.

In the last 18 months or so, different world events have resulted in a litany of sociopaths on MMO Champ being outed.

The BLM protests brought out the racists, the pandemic brought out the conspiracy theorists, the Jan 6 riots brought out the fascists. Now this.

Don't forget the MeToo movement.

And the European refugee crisis.

[Femininity]

Can I ask how you've come to this conclusion?



a) I'm not a paying customer.

b) I will support employees who want better for their colleagues. Thanks.

Support the employees, sure.

You don't have to spend a dime to support their scummy corporate system though. WoW token, or even just being a statistic to their shareholders is doing more harm than good right now.

Take a break from the machine, people.