10 Things Blizzard Want You To Forget
2. Laying Off Staff Despite Best Financial Year
2018 was a record year for Activision Blizzard. They earned a record $7.5 billion in sales, $1.8 billion of that being profit. Going into 2019, the company should have been celebrating their huge success. Maybe greenlight a few alternative, creative projects? Hire more staff to make the dreaded crunch more bearable? Maybe take the staff out for a nice meal? Something kind to thank their incredibly dedicated staff for all their hard work.
Activision Blizzard decided the best way to celebrate was to sack EIGHT HUNDRED staff members.
Video games employment ebb and flows when a project is finished. Staff will typically move onto the next project or company if resources are not available or if it is a linear experience with little online multiplayer. But Activision Blizzard is massive. Their games are typically service games, needing staff to constantly oversee servers and updates. There was no viable excuse for the sacking of EIGHT HUNDRED people other than in the pursuit of more money.
This move is a flagrant abuse of power from the CEO's who pay themselves exorbitant salaries. Though we cannot pin sole responsibility for this move of Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, the fact is that he was at the table. He had a voice that could have prevented peoples livelihoods, salaries, health insurance and prospects being ripped from them because they performed so well.