Bloomberg report on Activision Blizzard King misbehaviours by Jason Schrier

[beastmode10]

Jason Schreier

MOD EDIT: Please do not post entire articles in posts, especially ones behind paywalls. Excerpts are fine, not the entire thing.

[Boosted_Gear]

@beastmode10

…yed for resources. As a result, some are reluctant to report internal problems and risk drawing unwanted attention to their teams from corporate overlords, current employees said. Activision Blizzard said it aims to preserve Blizzard’s “unique identity” while ensuring a safe and fair work environment. It recently awarded equity to every employee, the spokesman said. However, a recent revision to the performance review system forces managers to give more frequent negative reviews, which will result in less generous bonuses and profit share for Blizzard employees, three people familiar with the change said. Several women said they fear this will give managers more opportunities to discriminate in conscious and unconscious ways—and that it will further empower the company’s supposed rock stars.

Just… what an horrible mess that seems to have been there since the very beginning.

[SheepDip]

It’s so tempting to want to idolize the people who make the games we love, but this and the problems at Fullbright Company are good reminders that there is no correlation between being a great artist and being a great person.

[Ruthwik_Rao]

Game industry is a fucking mess

[BRiT]

@Ruthwik_Rao

Game industry is a fucking mess

All industries are a mess. We think those around entertainment are the worst off because it has featured coverage so we hear about it. Yes, very pessimistic outlook. I don’t think people are genuinely good.

[SteadyMercury]

@BRiT

All industries are a mess. We think those around entertainment are the worst off because it has featured coverage so we hear about it. Yes, very pessimistic outlook. I don’t think people are genuinely good.

I work for an industrial agriculture company in rural Eastern Canada. It’s hardly an industry or region renowned for being progressive. But I can name tons of really senior well respected women. Head vets, compliance and certification, recruitment, supply chain, marketing, sales. All full of really well respected women.

And when we do have problems, we deal with them. I just fired someone who was great at their job but texted a totally inappropriate comment to a female co-worker.

I’m not religious, but to put to perspective how “old school” we are… We’re a totally dry company, even the sales team. We pray at company Christmas parties every year. And we don’t treat women that way. Not that we’re perfect, we aren’t. But we try. And clearly Blizzard wasn’t even doing that.

I really wish we wouldn’t say “everywhere is like that” because it isn’t. A lot of companies and organizations are marketing themselves as leaders in areas like treating women well, pay equity and environmental consciousness and when they get caught being shit people react by saying “Geez that’s horrible, imagine how bad everyone else must be.” That’s not the correct thing to say though. The real statement is “look at these lying scumbags.”

[BRiT]

@SteadyMercury That’s great to hear, so thanks for sharing something positive. I wish that was the normal narrative we see covered equally by the media.

Though when I say “all industries are a mess”, I’m not saying 100% of every industry is a mess, but that there exists at least 1 bad apple in every bunch.

[Proven]

I’ve edited the OP as it linked the entirety of Jason Schreier’s article. Especially when the article is behind a paywall, do not just copy and paste the entire article.

[GoroMajima]

Not that its relevant to this but IMO World of Warcraft was and still is one of the most overrated games ever. No wonder the company became a cesspool of shitbags. They gained 50x more popularity and money and these were mostly led by perversive nerds.