Massive layoffs at Activision-Blizzard

[Elttharion]

Burn the all company down, including the code monkeys. Fuck it.

Kill them all and let God sort them out

 

[d1r]

Reported OP for Incline farming.

 

[jaekl]

Post more livejournal-style sad tweets from laid off losers please, nothing gets me going like the despair of people who were somehow involved in ruining video games.

 

[frajaq]

This will be a year of pain for normie gamers

 

[Dr1f7]

Burn the all company down, including the code monkeys. Fuck it.

Kill them all and let God sort them out

God (The Holiest of Holies): *shows them diablo, starcraft, warcraft 1-3* What happened, my son?
Blizz dev: ehrrmm did you just assume my gender? Does heaven have soybeans? where's my electric car?
God (The Holiest of Holies):

 

[ds]

Nah, programmers in gamedev will always be the last to be fired. The code monkeys have good job security because they're in a field that underpays compared to what they could get elsewhere.

They're underpaid because there is always a younger dev who really wants to get into game development and is willing to work for less. I fail to see how that makes them less disposable.

 

[TripJack]

hope the whole industry dies fuck these gay niggers

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

...
Despite the additional resources, the project struggled largely due to technical issues surrounding the engine, or the suite of tools and technology that developers use to construct a game, according to people familiar with the process. Odyssey was originally prototyped on the popular Unreal Engine, from Epic Games Inc., but Blizzard executives decided to switch, in part, because it wouldn’t support their ambitions for vast maps supporting up to 100 players at once.

Blizzard instead directed the Odyssey team to use Synapse, an internal engine that the company had originally developed for mobile games and envisioned as something that would be shared across many of its projects. But that led to significant problems as the technology was slow to coalesce, and Odyssey’s artists instead spent time prototyping content in the Unreal Engine that they knew would have to be discarded later, said the people.
...

"Sure, we could successfully complete a multiplayer survival game that would likely have enjoyed considerable sales similar to several other recent multiplayer survival games that have been commercially successful, but why do that rather than force the development to create the game on our internal engine designed for mobile phones?"

 

[Falksi]

Keep 'em coming.

Lmao at modelling your work culture, especially office based one on Japan

My University friends work in Japan and no, in office it doesn't change much. You will still go home way past 7 pm everyday.

Shift based blue collar labour is the good one in Japan. They are very disciplined with work hour and OSHA in general

Yeah, seems like a great role model for other nations.

Some pretty based customs in there tbf. Shows how spoiled and retarded the younger gen are that they think they aren't.

 

[Lucumo]

Keep 'em coming.

Lmao at modelling your work culture, especially office based one on Japan

My University friends work in Japan and no, in office it doesn't change much. You will still go home way past 7 pm everyday.

Shift based blue collar labour is the good one in Japan. They are very disciplined with work hour and OSHA in general

Yeah, seems like a great role model for other nations.

Some pretty based customs in there tbf. Shows how spoiled and retarded the younger gen are that they think they aren't.

The only bad things are the drinking party, the unpaid overtime (unless you are a slacker, then it's obviously deserved) and the possibly-not-going-home-before-boss thing.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Keep 'em coming.

Lmao at modelling your work culture, especially office based one on Japan

My University friends work in Japan and no, in office it doesn't change much. You will still go home way past 7 pm everyday.

Shift based blue collar labour is the good one in Japan. They are very disciplined with work hour and OSHA in general

Yeah, seems like a great role model for other nations.

Some pretty based customs in there tbf. Shows how spoiled and retarded the younger gen are that they think they aren't.

The only bad things are the drinking party, the unpaid overtime (unless you are a slacker, then it's obviously deserved) and the possibly-not-going-home-before-boss thing.

Showing up early is also unpaid overtime, not being able to fire shit employees is cancer, and the greeting huddle thing is a mandatory waste of everyone's time. Really, these are all fucking awful. Strict dress codes only make sense if you're meeting clients in person and it's basically a uniform. And the handwritten resume thing is clearly just some old timers butthurt about computers they can't use.

 

[Azdul]

If you don't work in the corporate world, you might think that the overriding mission of these corporations is profit. That is, earning as much as possible while spending as little as possible.

However, that's not how it works in practice. In reality, managers in large corporations want to be Empire Builders. They want to hire as many people as they can, because the more people you're the boss of, the higher your prestige.

Sometimes it doesn't end well!

The goal isn't profit, its growth. When the line goes up, money comes in. Being quietly and stably profitable won't move capital towards you, and you won't grow. Growth is what gets you bonuses and awards as a CEO/president.
A growth graph that looks like a staircase means booms and busts, but also means every CEO gets his own growth burst and therefore big bonuses.

Walmart or Coca-Cola can be quietly and stably profitable - but Microsoft is a technology company.

As long as department grows their income at 20% a year - they can do whatever they want - as long as costs do not raise more than 5% a year. There are companies (or even Microsoft's own Azure) that manage to achieve that - so investors and CEO won't make exception for 'vidya department'.

In technology sector - booms and busts are mentioned on earnings calls only by underachieving managers. Other technological company - Google - already solved the problem of slow growth of Stadia.

All companies bought by Microsoft are in for a rude awakening.

 

[Lucumo]

Keep 'em coming.

Lmao at modelling your work culture, especially office based one on Japan

My University friends work in Japan and no, in office it doesn't change much. You will still go home way past 7 pm everyday.

Shift based blue collar labour is the good one in Japan. They are very disciplined with work hour and OSHA in general

Yeah, seems like a great role model for other nations.

Some pretty based customs in there tbf. Shows how spoiled and retarded the younger gen are that they think they aren't.

The only bad things are the drinking party, the unpaid overtime (unless you are a slacker, then it's obviously deserved) and the possibly-not-going-home-before-boss thing.

Showing up early is also unpaid overtime, not being able to fire shit employees is cancer, and the greeting huddle thing is a mandatory waste of everyone's time. Really, these are all fucking awful. Strict dress codes only make sense if you're meeting clients in person and it's basically a uniform. And the handwritten resume thing is clearly just some old timers butthurt about computers they can't use.

What's wrong with showing up ten minutes, or so, early to get your workplace in order/actually get ready for work? It's a simple thing of being polite. Making it more formal also starts everyone off on the same foot. "Strict", lol. Imagine being so degenerate that you want to look like Steve Jobs when working in a serious job. And something handwritten serves well to filter out the retards.

 

[pOcHa]

can't believe i am quoting morgoth of all people, but he hits this one right on the head:

https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads...me-medium-as-modern-games.149437/post-8854286

One impression I always get from playing oldies is that devs fully mastered the engine, the art and the tools from tip to toe. With all the hardware limitations they had to work with (and around), they always pushed above their weight, which led to coherent results.

Today, it seems devs have lost control of their technology and processes. Too complex, too automated, too muddled, too unoptimized, too spread out... it seems like the engine is gaming the devs. The result is incoherence. Just look at Blizzard's latest canceled survival game, or 7+ years dev cycles becoming the norm.

 

[flyingjohn]

Showing up early is also unpaid overtime

I am shocked how many people don't understand this.

not being able to fire shit employees is cancer,

Primary reason why EU is such a shithole. Firing somebody in France/Spain takes years and they get extra monies from suing as well.

and the greeting huddle thing is a mandatory waste of everyone's time.

Not for the Boss. It enforces his ego. Chinese love doing this in Africa.

And the handwritten resume thing is clearly just some old timers butthurt about computers they can't use.

It is even stupider because you will be doing said work on a computer. Having a actual filter in the form of at least showing that you can use the computer seems handy to everybody except Japan and African tribes.

 

[RobotSquirrel]

Nah, programmers in gamedev will always be the last to be fired. The code monkeys have good job security because they're in a field that underpays compared to what they could get elsewhere.

They're the last to be fired because if a programmer disputes the work it can completely shut down the studio. I've seen a programmer do it and its hilarious when they do, by that point I had already been made redundant and victim of wage theft. But yeah really fun way to flip your former boss a middle finger by stealing the IP back from under them for compensation.

ActiBlizz deserves the position they're in frankly, they put up with shit for far far far far too long and now look at where they are.

 

[abija]

can't believe i am quoting morgoth of all people, but he hits this one right on the head:

He is using an inhouse engine as an example of devs losing control of technology and processes...
Incoherence comes from shitty leads and too many changes of direction.

 

[Hellraiser]

Lolololol.

https://www.pcgamer.com/activisions...-manager-takes-over-as-president-of-blizzard/

Experience
    Activision Blizzard
    5 yrs 6 mos5 yrs 6 mos
            GM, Call of Duty GM, Call of Duty
            Apr 2021 - Present · 2 yrs 10 mos Apr 2021 - Present · 2 yrs 10 mos
            SVP, Head of Leagues SVP, Head of Leagues
            Full-timeFull-time Aug 2020 - Apr 2021 · 9 mosAug 2020 - Apr 2021 · 9 mos Santa Monica, California, United States Santa Monica, California, United States
            Commissioner, Call of Duty Esports Commissioner, Call of Duty Esports
            Aug 2018 - Aug 2020 · 2 yrs 1 mo Aug 2018 - Aug 2020 · 2 yrs 1 mo Santa Monica, CA Santa Monica, CA

    National Football League (NFL)
    11 yrs 8 mos11 yrs 8 mos
            Vice President, Club Business Development Vice President, Club Business Development
            Jun 2018 - Aug 2018 · 3 mos Jun 2018 - Aug 2018 · 3 mos New York, New York New York, New York
            Vice President, Marketing Strategy & Fan Development Vice President, Marketing Strategy & Fan Development
            Mar 2013 - Jun 2018 · 5 yrs 4 mos Mar 2013 - Jun 2018 · 5 yrs 4 mos New York, NYNew York, NY
                
            Director, Consumer Products & Licensing Director, Consumer Products & Licensing
            Mar 2009 - Mar 2013 · 4 yrs 1 mo Mar 2009 - Mar 2013 · 4 yrs 1 mo New York, NYNew York, NY
            Manager, Sponsorship Sales Manager, Sponsorship Sales
            Dec 2007 - Mar 2009 · 1 yr 4 mos Dec 2007 - Mar 2009 · 1 yr 4 mos New York, NYNew York, NY
            Coordinator, Innovation & Business Development Coordinator, Innovation & Business Development
            Jan 2007 - Jan 2008 · 1 yr 1 mo Jan 2007 - Jan 2008 · 1 yr 1 mo New York, NY

https://www.linkedin.com/in/johannafaries/details/experience/

Not sure if I should laugh or be glad Blizzard is getting put out of its misery. Would have said that this is how you kill a hen laying golden eggs, with random MBAs put in charge of a legend of the industry, ones that probably never even played games, but that ship has already sailed back when Kotick put his beancounter at the helm a billion years ago after the merger.

 

[Ryzer]

Nah, programmers in gamedev will always be the last to be fired. The code monkeys have good job security because they're in a field that underpays compared to what they could get elsewhere.

They're the last to be fired because if a programmer disputes the work it can completely shut down the studio. I've seen a programmer do it and its hilarious when they do, by that point I had already been made redundant and victim of wage theft. But yeah really fun way to flip your former boss a middle finger by stealing the IP back from under them for compensation.

ActiBlizz deserves the position they're in frankly, they put up with shit for far far far far too long and now look at where they are.

You can basically replace all these programmers with phind AI, bro.

 

[Late Bloomer]

Microsoft lays off most of Activision Blizzard esports organization

https://venturebeat.com/gaming-busi...-of-activision-blizzard-esports-organization/

The layoffs at the internal group are part of the 1,900 cutbacks in jobs that Microsoft announced last week for its Xbox, Bethesda and Activision Blizzard gaming divisions.

 

[Viata]

Nah, programmers in gamedev will always be the last to be fired. The code monkeys have good job security because they're in a field that underpays compared to what they could get elsewhere.

They're the last to be fired because if a programmer disputes the work it can completely shut down the studio. I've seen a programmer do it and its hilarious when they do, by that point I had already been made redundant and victim of wage theft. But yeah really fun way to flip your former boss a middle finger by stealing the IP back from under them for compensation.

ActiBlizz deserves the position they're in frankly, they put up with shit for far far far far too long and now look at where they are.

You can basically replace all these programmers with phind AI, bro.

At Blizzard? Sure. See their last few outputs. Nothing that requires a top tier programmer working there.

 

[abija]

Programming wise everything is top notch in Overwatch and D4 has at least a solid renderer (even though they moved to upscaled aids).

 

[whydoibother]

Reported OP for Incline farming.

Ironically, I made this post in a different existing thread, and the mods split it into its own standalone thread.
So this is mod approved incline farming. I have a license and everything!
And while esports and inclusion and so on staff being fired is incline, and business people being fired after a merge is expected, it looks like engine and gameplay people are also being fired. This is decline.

 

[Hellraiser]

And while esports and inclusion and so on staff being fired is incline, and business people being fired after a merge is expected, it looks like engine and gameplay people are also being fired. This is decline.

Not decline, incline, the sooner it dies from retarded suit decisions the better. Blizzard must be the Christ of nations gaming, dying for the sins of AAA, killing microsoft's retarded blob in the process, traumatizing (together with Embracer of Death) suits for a decade or two before any retard tries ubermergers again. It's the only way Blizzard still can still do any good, not like a NFL sponsorship sales manager failing upwards for years will have them make Warcraft IV, even if they had any shred of talent left amongst the designers.

 

[Late Bloomer]

And while esports and inclusion and so on staff being fired is incline, and business people being fired after a merge is expected, it looks like engine and gameplay people are also being fired. This is decline.

Not decline, incline, the sooner it dies from retarded suit decisions the better. Blizzard must be the Christ of nations gaming, dying for the sins of AAA, killing microsoft's retarded blob in the process, traumatizing (together with Embracer of Death) suits for a decade or two before any retard tries ubermergers again. It's the only way Blizzard still can still do any good, not like a NFL sponsorship sales manager failing upwards for years will have them make Warcraft IV, even if they had any shred of talent left amongst the designers.

Microsoft gaming revenue up 49% after Activision Blizzard joins Xbox Game Studios​

https://www.trueachievements.com/ne...r-activision-blizzard-joins-xbox-game-studios

Activision Blizzard added 44 points of net impact to Microsoft's gaming revenue, which has seen a 49% increase year-on-year to $7.1 billion. The increase sees gaming surpass Windows as Microsoft's third-largest business, behind Office and cloud.