Blizzard Is Paying Employees to Quit to Cut Costs

[ISP]

"It was too good to pass up," said one person that accepted the buyout to the site. "This is voluntary, do not get me wrong. But when you see a pile a cash in front of you, over and over again, you start to lose hope and cannot see a great situation ahead."

This has stirred up the community fears about what the Activision and Blizzard partnership means for Blizzard's reputation - a reputation that has always been about the gaming community. In light of those fears growing, a Blizzard representative told Eurogamer that they are not encouraging staff to take these buyouts, despite previous reports, and have offered this voluntary option for a long time now.

Well it seems even the mighty Blizzard is embracing bog standard corporate culture and it also goes on to mention they are facing some financial issues. It would seem that keeping talent around to push out games for the player would be a better long term idea to increase revenues, don't ya think? The article also mentions that this is an offer just "on the table" and don't seem to be necessarily targeting under performing employees, this can't be good for morale.

[The Chosen One]

I’ve worked at companies that offered buyout packages. I think that it was at least considerate that Blizzard made a buy out opportunity to their people. However, this strategy can indicate major changes at Blizzard. The fact that this is being offered makes me believe that some major restructuring is in order to improve the Bottom Line and potentially a selling off of Blizzard.

Just speculating possibility that Activision (Parent) is getting Blizzard (Subsidiary) ready for sale to another company, maybe a Chinese publisher? Who knows? It’s just speculation but when I see these buy outs being offered to reduce the workforce and save on payroll expense to increase the bottom line, outsourcing Chinese game devs for Diablo mobile, shutting down HOTS in addition to freeing up positions in the company. This makes the purchase of Blizzard a much easier transition on the Buyer’s own staff that will reduce some overlap to effectively merge with Blizzard’s existing staff during the acquisition. Plus upper management is going to be game faced and playing their cards so close to the chest as not to give away that a potential selling of Blizzard is on the table to their employees. Again this is just speculation they may just be preparing for any bumpy roads ahead while they move in a different direction.

[OverdriveActive]

I hadn't even considered this angle to be honest. It hadn't crossed my mind that they might actually separate the business unit out and get it in ship shape before selling it to an entity like Tencent. Having seen corporate buyout up close it does hit a lot of the same notes. Then again, if you look at the financial reports from the last few years it seems they're making good money off it. Still, they might want to sell now if their prediction for the product lifecycle is that the Blizzard portfolio is in decline. I'm not so sure on that but I could certainly see them wanting to capitalise now if that's the case.

[The Chosen One]

OverdriveActive yeah it raises a lot of flags. Even though I said it was at least considerate that Blizzard is offering a buyout option, I don’t know each country’s “severance pay” laws, so it may be required in some countries and/or it’s to prevent lawsuits and filing for unemployment benefits. Which only adds to the possibility of a sell off. Because even though Blizzard may be paying some money up front in the form of severance, it makes it more attractive for the buyer of Blizzard because that’s less mouths to feed during the acquisition.

Regarding Tencent, they own a huge chunk of Epic Games (40% I believe) and have made a killing off Fortnite. Who knows, they may be in the buying mood with all that cash money they’ve been raking in.

[ryvrdrgn14]

I'll agree with you on the possibility of selling off Blizzard. I've been with a company that danced like a monkey with restructuring and acquisitions to get the appearance of profitability and growth. They really wouldn't let me go in the first two restructures then I told my manager to include me in the group of redundant positions with tenure payoff when I realized a third restructuring was happening.

Given their relations to China lately, I would not be surprised at all if Tencent stepped in to gobble up Blizzard. My old company was willing to do anything to please Tencent, including shutting down a profitable and fan-favorite live game to replace it with a competing Tencent product that flopped right out of the gate.

[Methpoodle]

For the employees involved, it seems like the best of a bad situation. I hate to see layoffs but at least a years salary as a severance package is a pretty good deal.

I hate to sound like a fear monger but I truly believe we've seen the end of Blizzard as a passion driven developer. I still think we'll still get good games in the future but nothing to the quality of the days of yore. I reckon we'll begin to see more rushed, unfinished titles. More aggressive implementation of micro transactions. More and more shady deals and business practices ie. pre-order this never before seen mountain dew themed Victoria's Secret underwear in cooperation with Sony to receive early access to Diablo 4 beta and 3 more slots of stash space.

Again, I feel like a pessimist for saying this, but it makes me sad to see Activision with their talons so tightly dug into the proverbial trout that is Blizzard. Warcraft: Orks & Humans was my favorite RTS alongside titles from Westwood (a developer torn apart by the hungering vulture that is EA)

I would give Blizz a 5 year buffer (at the most) of authentic and creative titles before we see no new original ip's coming out and everything becomes the yearly push for a new iteration of the same game. A new Overwatch every year, and any ip that can't manage that development cycle will just be cut.

Christ, it's the holiday season, a time of joy... and my own opinion makes me want to hang myself from the garage rafters.


(Edit) It's a sad fucking day when two of my once favorite devs (Blizz and Bethesda) seem to have become completely disconnected from the fans. Goodby old guard and hello Obsidian and Projekt Red.

[Animusisters]

I can't help myself and I dont have any negative emotions towards Blizzard or the people working there, but watching the mighty fail and fall is one of my guilty pleasures.

[ryvrdrgn14]

This isn't new though. Blizzard's first major downsize was releasing 600+ employees during 2012. This was mostly customer support, I assume, as Blizzard started resorting to annoying copy+pasta replies with even less personalized service for each case. It was due to this severe downgrade in service that caused me and my guild to stop playing wow. Blizzard has been in decline for a long time and I'm glad I stopped giving them my time and money near the top of the downtrend.

Sauce: https://investor.activision.com/news...aff-reductions

[Merlin]

I guess guess even tax evasion isn't enough to cover for your suck is it? Best spend more money making good products, than on lobbying the US congress.

[aileron]

I guess guess even tax evasion isn't enough to cover for your suck is it? Best spend more money making good products, than on lobbying the US congress.

Woah what!? I believe you but link please? I want to read about this.

[Irritablesquid]

I feel sorry for the people who have to stay, they are going to have to work harder.
ive been in that situation before and it wasnt great, it was by far the worst time ive had.

[isturbo1984]

I cared about World of Warcraft over 10 years ago. I don't play crappy mobas or "hero shooters." This company has slowly started catering to the Fortnie crowd. I've always been fascinated with the obsession adults have with this company.

[Astraea]

That's right. It took me a while to see Blizzard is pretty much the Apple of the gaming industry, but when I saw it I just moved on. There's many many many good or potentially good and upcoming devs to choose from nowadays and i'm sure 2019 will bring even more chances for better game companies to get a slice of the market and bring us good games.

[Odyssey]

Anyone already forgot the Pay2Win desaster Diablo III or Hearthstone? And the Pay2Win elements becoming more dominant in Overwatch? Blizzard isnt Blizzard anymore since many, many years. Their days are gone.

[Merlin]

Woah what!? I believe you but link please? I want to read about this.

For anyone else curious about how activision blizzard lobbied the US government to create a tax evasion loophole for themselves using a shell company.

https://youtu.be/SFKnv1YzI3k

Super Bunny Hop made a great video about it, at the time it made waves, but not big enough because back then people weren't THAT upset at blizzard at the time.

[lostaname]

For anyone else curious about how activision blizzard lobbied the US government to create a tax evasion loophole for themselves using a shell company.

https://youtu.be/SFKnv1YzI3k

Super Bunny Hop made a great video about it, at the time it made waves, but not big enough because back then people weren't THAT upset at blizzard at the time.

Hey, I member that article mentioned in the vid. Was a very good read IMO. For those interested:

[Merlin]

Yup. As much as I loved Starcraft 1/2 and Warcraft 3, I would have to say that I don't care if the company is behaving this way.

[Yoshi]

The problem with voluntary attrition is that the first people to take advantage of it are the good employees, because they know they can quickly find work elsewhere. It's like a bonus check to them.

[Omegapyrate]

If they say no to it..... do they get fired? 0_o