Aye, weird to smirk to the prospect of people losing their jobs.
Unless it's Trump losing his job of course.
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Blizzard employees are crying and hugging in the parking lot ahead of impending layoffs - Jason Schreier
- Thread starter Deleted member 249
- Start date
Aye, weird to smirk to the prospect of people losing their jobs.
Unless it's Trump losing his job of course.
Not sure about OWL (I believe at least some positions related to OWL were cut), but at least things like Overwatch collegiate and other OW Esports initiatives were affected with more than just a few people leaving.
Presumably talking about all their non OWL ventures, which includes non OWL overwatch ventures. SC2 has definitely long outlasted its lifespan as an esport, I wouldn't be surprised if WCS sees cuts, and eventually goes the way of Heroes of the Dorm. Same for Hearthstone to a lesser degree.
It really sucks for non OWL overwatch though, because it just makes it harder for aspiring players to break into OWL.
But really this shouldn't come as a surprise to a lot of people. It should make them sad, but it shouldn't be an irrational decision when you look at it logically. Even if you justify that Acti-Blizz can afford to keep all the employees laid off, those employees definitely cannot continue doing their job in the divisions that would presumably get shuttered just from the fact that those divisions were dying.
Do you need a full contingent of community managers, for games like SC2 and HOTS, or even D3? The thing about marketing and esports in games is that those departments are linked to the performance and health of the games they're for. And almost all of Blizzard's games not named Overwatch and Hearthstone have been declining. (and there's an argument there for Hearthstone declining too).
I think for a long time Blizzard had let passion extend the life of initiatives that should have long ago been put down. And the money bleed out has consequences that unfortunately do effect the people in and around those dying initiatives.
Of course, all this really stems from a problem of bad management and vision. There was a potential for SC2 to have been a big contender and long lasting force in esports like LoL is, but that was squandered. And HotS didn't need to be the money sink it was if the scope of the project stayed to being an SC2 custom game.
It's not a problem with an easy solution, and getting rid of execs is only a feel good bandaid that does nothing to solve the problem.
I'm sorry I can't get over the top brass giving themselves huge salaries and bonuses and recording record profits while at the same time booting out 800 people. 800!!!
Its fucking disgusing. And anyone who says otherwise is an awful person.
That the leadership of Blizzard seemingly have no care or responsibility for their employees turns my stomach.
Its fucking disgusing. And anyone who says otherwise is an awful person.
That the leadership of Blizzard seemingly have no care or responsibility for their employees turns my stomach.
You're basically saying that companies should not be allowed to change course and restructure after assessing parts of the business that aren't performing. It's not like the many thousands of employees who are being kept on are getting pay cuts or forfeiting their performance bonuses while the fat cats cackle all the way to the bank.
For whatever it's worth, Blizzard's 2019 revenue is forecast to be a 4-6 year low for that segment.
Capitalism was a mistake. Those 800+ people generated all of the bonuses and profit the fat cunts cats at the top enjoy. It should be the people getting the big fat bonuses not the bastards at the top pushing numbers around.
I hope they all land on their feet. One of the few good things about the gaming industry is when something terrible happens they all rally around with job openings.
I hope they all land on their feet. One of the few good things about the gaming industry is when something terrible happens they all rally around with job openings.
How do you know it was those specific 800+ that generated the profits? Capitalism is no mistake, I am from a former socialist-communist republic so be careful what you wish for.
I mean I'm with you that it sucks but I mean capitalism is sort of what allows jobs like 'esports manager' to exist in the first place
Capitalism is fine, it's unchecked capitalism that allows pure greed to govern it that is a mistake.
A bit of reality never hurts.
Do you think all of the thousands of remaining employees aren't getting performance-based bonuses and pay raises?
So 134 more layoff for Blizzard Europe too (in France).
https://kotaku.com/four-hundred-blizzard-france-employees-still-dont-know-1832619346
https://kotaku.com/four-hundred-blizzard-france-employees-still-dont-know-1832619346
I assumed this was included in the already announced layoff numbers, they just can't do it right away because of labor laws.
Abso-fucking-lutely not. They already announced a 1.5 billion dollar stock buy back in the future. They are also clearly trying to hire new developers. If you think current staff are seeing a new shiny nickel, you're off the gourd.
I fail to see how the stock buy back and investing in new development staff means current employees are likely getting the short end of the stick.
Well are they? why so quick to defend the company that just dicked over 800 people? Fucking hell the millionaires don't need a defense force.
Let me spell it out for you.
1: If the company spends 1.5 billion dollars on buying its own stocks, it isn't spending that money on paying it's employees more.
2: If the company is hiring new development staff and firing non development staff, neither current development or non development staff are getting raises, as new employees are unlikely to be paid more than old ones, and anyone who speaks up on the non-development side will be introduced to the career cross roads program.
I'm not anti-corporate. I just think there is absolutely no sense in maintaining that all of these layoffs will actually have the benefit of raising employee wages, particularly when we have data from a multitude of sources that wages have stagnated across all sectors, regardless of what is happening.
Companies like Activision, especially those in highly competitive industries, have pretty in-depth retention programs that will include benefit packages, annual merit-based bonuses, and yearly pay raises. All companies need to do this if they wish to retain talent. Programmers in particular almost always have other options on the table.
I'm guessing he was a contractor? I don't think they can do that with FTEs.
Was that person in Seattle though? Because on the layoff day, people in Seattle weren't going into work because of snow, so unless they delayed the layoffs there wasn't much other choice. Too many people to realistically call.
Maybe if they had staff to man the phones they would've been able to call everyone. Ironic that.
I actually went back to your original post and it's really quite interesting. Your post, in a vacuum, backs up everything you said and I agree with the above (as I know it to be true).
The tricky part (and I don't mean in a duplicitous way) is that you make the "vacuum" comment in response to a context in which people are talking about the laid off employees. It's actually a non-sequitor in that sense as you weren't really responsive to that comment (A says something about employees being entitled to the big bonuses, B makes a non-sequitor about employees getting bonuses generally). As a result, I mis-interpreted your post to be implying that the remaining employees would be getting more as a result of the layoff, which itself is not responsive to your comment either. I give myself some credit since you used "pay raises" which I interpreted in conjunction with being correlative with the layoffs, but yeah, what an interesting ride.
Ah, that makes sense. Yeah, I didn't mean to imply that the current employees will be getting anything more as a result of these firings. That's extremely unlikely.
Oh yeah that must've been why. He just told us he had gotten a text saying "Yeah, you're not coming back..."
I've been called into the office and laid off before, I wish that on no one. Unlike this case I had no forewarning, but it sucks either way. I then had to go back out and train my best friend on how to do my job. I ended up staying on in the end too, what a rollercoaster of emotions that day.
I hope everyone affected can find jobs quickly.
I hope everyone affected can find jobs quickly.
That's fucked up.
