https://x.com/klobrille/status/1750554900193272119?s=46&t=O_AGT9SEnlptKOF_2SxtqQ
Worth sacrifice? Not the people, I mean the project.
The layoffs bother me a lot more than the cancelation of a game we havenāt even seen if Iām being completely honest.
Like itās a shame, but it feels like a nothing burger especially since it was seemingly years away.
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Mike Ybarra getting clipped is nothing but a good thing. Heās an anti-union stooge who several Blizzard employees quoted as being a big fucking hassle to work with.
ā The layoffs were going to happen but itās nothing short of despicable that it happened anyway. Tech industry is worthless.
I also donāt particularly understand the existence of the Blizzard survival game when we should be past the era of Blizzard making me-too projects to compete with whatās hot (Heroes of the Storm, Battlegrounds etc.). Iām not too bummed about the cancellation.
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Yeah, not really sad to see Ybarra go hopefully that union busting chick that some of our community members love is also on the chopping block.
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I canāt get too in my feelings about a survival game that was 6+ years in development that we havenāt seen anything of. If it was in anyway as promising as people want to assume, they probably wouldnāt have cancelled it.
Also, the general consensus is that people wanted MS to reallocate resources to projects that people want back, Starcraft, Vicarious Visions people on new TH games, etc. If this is what it takes for those things to come to fruition, so be it.
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I guess it wasnāt shaping good, but weāll never know what could have been now. Iām just disappointed. It will pass, but Iām still appalled by that decision.
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Sure. But i would argue human captial is also important. For a software company is basically its most important asset. Firing so many people canāt be good for teams and projects.
I absolutely despise the American way of hire and fire. Its dehumanzing. I personally also believe its bad for business.
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Wow, I didnāt know this. And even more wow @ Jez then, because he pretty much called Ms idiots when someone said āwhy did Mike have to leave.ā.
i agree. never liked him much and some things he said and did raised an eyebrow.
Sheās already gone or in the process I believe, if you mean Lulu
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Good.
Yeah she left among various other management staff when Kotick left.
yes sounds very much like a Jez Corden move lmao
He implemented a nonsensical return to office policy that pissed a significant portion of Blizzard QA staff off. You gotta consider: he was scrubbed off of a similar role in Xbox years ago, why the hell would MS upper management wanna keep that guy.
If Rod F. is still at Blizzard on Diablo (Iām genuinely unsure, figured he dipped), then it makes this even more funnier
Jez and co love everyone who gives them the time of day and more importantly information.
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I feel bad for all the ActiBlizz workers who had to ride through hell when Kotick was in charge only to be cut loose when they finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel after he left. The one bit of silver lining here is that the remaining employees who werenāt cut should now be able to unionize, as that was one of the conditions Microsoft had to promise in order to have the backing of the CWA and other unions during the FTC trial.
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āYbarra allegedly made a bizarre comparison to his and other executivesā pay packages to those of rank-and-file employees, appeared to downplay the value of QA and customer service roles at the studio, and defended the companyās decision to slash annual profit-sharing bonuses,ā GameDeveloper.com reports. ā**If you think that executives are making a lot of money and you arenāt, youāre living in a myth**,ā he told workers. As GD notes, some Irvine QA make as little as $22 an hour ($45,000 annually), so itās unclear why Ybarra would suggest otherwise because weāre quite certain heās not making merely $45,000 a year.
oh hell yeah
oh helll yeah
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I completely understand the empathy. It is the healthy way to look at the human side of these things which I agree with entirely.
At the same time a degree of pragmatism needs to be applied. These people arenāt being thrown out on the streets. They are provided severance and assistance with finding new roles elsewhere. They all certainly have a bevy of industry contacts, and they are talented, valuable, highly employable people who will assuredly land on their feet.
And it 100% is not bad for business. It is actually the opposite. Which is why capitalism is so unseemly. Its literally one of the first things you learn in business related fields (Iām almost done with an MBA) is that the first place you go to cut costs is employees.
I also think it is an error to look at MSā value as a whole and make judgements on the constituent pieces of the whole. Each of these entities has its own books and operating costs that need to be evaluated on their own. They have to carry their own weight. And everyone knows that Activision was a monolith on the brink of collapsing under its own weight.
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Iāll say this. While it is easy to feel sympathy for everyone, itās hard to feel a bit of vengeance without the context. Look, I donāt wish ill on anyone, but I believe in karma behind the scene. I donāt want to celebrate; just simply stating that it hurts and wish them the best; whoever life decide to choose.
Since Jen OāNeal is also gone from Blizzard apparently, the only managerial talent I can think of that could do good on Blizzard is maybe
ā¦Rodā¦Ferguson?
Man the revolving door of game dev is so fucking funny
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