Where Did Blizzard Go?

In the past 10 years, Blizzard has been in decline, and the people who once made it great left one by one. What drove them away from the company they loved, and where did they end up?
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Huge thanks to Rob for helping out with this video
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📃 Research Links
Mike Ybarra leaves Blizzard
www.theverge.com/2024/1/25/24...
Mike Morhaime leaves Blizzard
www.gamespot.com/articles/bli...
www.dreamhaven.com/
Frank Pearce leaves Blizzard
www.gamedeveloper.com/busines...
Brian Birmingham leaves Blizzard
us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow...
www.unleashedgames.io/
Jeff Kaplan leaves Blizzard
www.polygon.com/22394111/over...
Ben Brode leaves Blizzard
venturebeat.com/pc-gaming/hea...
seconddinner.com/
Rob Pardo leaves Blizzard
www.polygon.com/2014/7/3/5868...
tracxn.com/d/companies/bonfir...
Wei Wang leaves Blizzard
/ wei_wang_is_leaving_bl...
Scott Mercer leaves Blizzard
gameworldobserver.com/2023/06...
Tim Morten and Tim Campbell leave Blizzard
www.forbes.com/sites/hnewman/...
frostgiant.com/#about
Stormgate game
playstormgate.com/
Senior Blizzard staff celebrate 25 years at the company
blizzpro.com/2016/11/05/25-ye...
Activision-Blizzard subsidiaries
www.investopedia.com/5-compan...
Activision-Blizzard earnings call transcript
seekingalpha.com/article/1043...
Bobby Kotick strategy
arstechnica.com/gaming/2008/1...
Activision-Blizzard as 5th largest company in gaming
www.alltopeverything.com/top-...
Bobby Kotick Wants to Take the Fun Out of Making Games
www.escapistmagazine.com/bobb...
Bobby Kotick leaves Blizzard
www.theverge.com/2023/10/13/2...
Steve Jobs 1995 interview
• Designer's Digest - St...
Ben Brode video
• Hearthstone - Best of ...
Jeff Kaplan meme
• jeff_shreklan.mp4
Microsoft Layoffs @YongYea
• Microsoft Shut Down & ...
Ben Brode leaves Blizzard @wowhobbs
• Ben Brode Leaves Blizz...

[@GoingIndie]

Do you think Blizzard can make a comeback?

[@fr0ck360]

No. They literally tried to scam OW2 players with 20$ garbage collab skin lmao

[@onlinecitizen3266]

They're slaves to the microtransaction model now. They're dead to me. And I don't care if they fade into nothing.

[@mr.boneking8970]

I strongly believe that Blizzard will never make a comeback, to what they once were. Sure they will continue to make DLC, Microtransation game shop items, Pay-to-Win items, and games for the next 10-20 years, but I don't think they will ever make another great game. Like what was mentioned about the talent leaving when they saw the writing on the walls, Blizzard is a husk of what it once was and I believe will ever be again. I'm honestly shocked and amazed that they even have enough staff working on the current games and whatnot. The amount of times we have heard horror stories of how employees were treated, is displeasing at the least and disgusting at most. The sure amount of millions upon millions of gamers that have been burt from Blizzard is just another reason why they will have an enormously difficult time reinstilling trust into the old fan base. I turely believe that Blizzard Ent. should be forgotten by all gamers so we can let this old and decrepid horse, die once and for all.

[@dr.snowman4883]

with how 'inclusive' they are wanting to become, i wouldn't think so

[@emperium108]

@@dr.snowman4883 "inclusive" is one of the reasons they turned what was a failure(Titan) into a global success(Overwatch). As far as I can tell at least World of Warcraft's future is guaranteed until the end of this decade. As for Diablo, lets wait until the end of the year and see how their Expansion sales pan out. Hearthstone is probably still one of the leading online card games arounds but I think Blizz should start thinking oh a sequel for it.

[@wallthemart]

Their mistake was listening to the business guys instead of the gamer guys

[@adamsrealm]

Share holders ruin everything.

[@agoosecalledxaro6679]

Could not agree more

[@xander9460]

It's not that they listened to them. They put their company on the stocks market. Shareholders literally own a piece of the company. Shareholders cannot be denied because they own a part of the company. You're just selling your company away bit by bit. Losing control over it. Selling your soul for money. And the sad part is. The company owners get incredibly rich doing so. They all got out with million. Ask yourself. Would you sacrifice your game company for billions and instant retirement?

[@raamy2426]

nah the gamer guys like you say they bought every skin every time a new one got released they told Blizard you know what the horse skin that u made in 2 weeks and paid only a single person to do it ? We will pay 10 times more for it than the entire game you made

[@Grogeous_Maximus]

Once the companies take the 'rockstar status' from the creatives and give it to a guy in a suit, they've made their first fatal mistake

[@GIIIIlI]

Crazy you can be CEO of a gigantic gaming conglomerate, while having no clue about maintaining sustainability in that industry

[@AtticusKarpenter]

And all your decisions can be ridiculous failures but you can still pay himself huge salary and when you go from that company you will be hired again in another for similar huge salary and then these people will talk a lot about hard work and stuff. Yeah but mere mortals are punished for bad work and big shots are not

[@GIIIIlI]

@@AtticusKarpenter CEO's fail upwards, sadly

[@LSUfan4life97]

Kotick did the job he was told to. Maximize profits and drive a sale before the crash came. He doesn't care at this stage.

[@akimbo.1887]

@@LSUfan4life97 I guess he was "told to" foster a culture of sexual harrassment lmao

[@LSUfan4life97]

@@akimbo.1887 sadly people like Bobby are only in business for themselves so he likely really did not care about the side effects of his approach

[@hotdog5927]

the craziest part was blizzard was highly profitable but it wasn't enough for bobby, he needed his 10th yacht

[@samgriess438]

he was getting yelled at buy the board, investors bought out this company and ran it into the ground for "profits" they do not care about the product the stock market must be brought to a end its a corrupt casino for the elite whenever the little guy wins, they wont let them cash out, but if the big guy is losing... the shut down the casino.... its literally rigged to steal money from the general population

[@WhiteDrake77]

He is Jewish.

[@droopy_eyes]

God bless America for that! Oh, wait...

[@ianbelanger7459]

That is the problem. Too many high profile executives simply want all the money. Single or double digit millionaire isn't enough.

[@samgriess438]

@@ianbelanger7459 at this rate it will be like south Korea soon... gonna need $10,000 for a gallon of milk

[@nevereverwinter]

Many well funded companies have turned their games into chores with micro transactions and a constant need to be online just to run the game, the games are not games anymore there isn't that disconnect or escape from the real world like there use to be and therefore not fun to play. It doesn't get more simple than that.

[@FleMoo]

As gamers we should stop to follow the companies and start to follow the developers behind that company .

[@NomsyDiff]

It's kind of ironic when you think about it, gamers will watch esports for the players, like their streamers that they love or people that they think are cool, and not the orgs behind them... But then when it comes to developers we're more tribal

[@spaceowl5957]

It does make sense to pay attention to companies I think since a game is often made by 100s or 1000s of people. I think the "company culture" can often be just as influential on the products as the specific individuals involved.

[@Nyaracuga]

the issue is that the companies own the IPs the talent came up with, so even when the same talent leaves and makes the same thing again but different, it just feels boneless more often than not. its hard for me to enjoy the new RTS when my whole life my brain was hardwired to love protoss zergs terrans raynor tassadar kerrigan etc etc etc. we grow attached to the IPs

[@HWJ40]

That sadly doesn´t work either, since it´s not one man creating good games, a team does.

[@chucklesdeclown8819]

@@HWJ40 you act like we can only put our attention to one person at a time.

[@adcaptandumvulgus4252]

The funny thing is Bobby still got the golden parachute after doing all that damage to the company's reputation, well I wonder if he'll be okay with his millions...

[@EuropeanVisitor-pe6xd]

Look like he's looking at TikTok of all companies

[@gabe7109]

Well, that's good. Can't really ruin much there. It's already a worthless hellhole.

[@mouseii88]

The golden parachute is the desired outcome, he will be fine with the players' money from those who blindly follow IPs, not the creators.

[@ForOne814]

The shareholders don't care about the reputation, they care about the profits. And Bobby made them enormous amount of money. Bobby is amazing at his job.

[@patrickclausen6922]

@mouseii88 no one blindly follows IPs. They obviously just like playing the games. Just cause you don't share that opinion, doesn't mean they're wrong

[@Mister6]

I remember Jeff when we played EQ together on TN back before he was hired by Blizzard, and my buddy was in LoS with him. His insights into the game (through his weekly rant on the LoS website) showed he knew far more than the game designers themselves about what makes compelling content. What most people don't know is that prior to Blizzard hiring him, he drove a truck to make ends meet. We are all so lucky that we could benefit from his true talents!

[@_.Leo_.]

Yes yes. We all speak in abbreviations

[@Splozy]

@@_.Leo_. QQ

[@MyVanir]

@@_.Leo_. L

[@smeegy1]

My guild laughed at me at the time, but I said it in wotlk when the celestial steed was released on the store that we were witnessing the beginning of the end for blizzard.

[@onlinecitizen3266]

Wow. I didn't know about the mass exodus of talent. Makes it less surprising that they've slid so far downhill now.

[@Hikariel.]

it added slowly over time and got a hight point the last few years... Luckily many of these great talents are still in the game industry and have founded new studios so maybe keep an eye on them ;)

[@LikelyDeserved]

Nobody wants to destroy themselves with double overtime to make a legendary experience, only for some arrogant head of PR to reap the accolades & snag all the blizzcon groupies. F that

[@amotriuc]

Well stack ranking is not really good to nourish talent. It is only good to squeeze people for a while.

[@SimoneBellomonte]

He also forgot to mention that theres also a deeper, MUCH deeper problem than that, and thats that the ESG scores, look up into it yourself, the whole crybaby inc ordeal, and youll see why what im talking about is actually even more problematic, heck i wouldnt be surprised if this was the real reason of blizzards downfall, i mean bobby was the head of the company for so long, why did his damage only start appearing now? Thats because he wasnt the real problem, sure maybe he was bad, but i believe that something much FAR worse and more sinister was the real cause of its downfall.

[@Mantelar]

Only so long you can pay someone like a slave and tell them they’re living the dream.

[@Pantiflo1832]

Holy crap that clip from Steve Jobs is so prophetic lmfao

[@Sphendrana]

That clip aged so well.

[@jmal]

Reminded me of my boss at my old job. Out of touch with his existing customer base and hyper-focused on making sales for new customers. Even had me, his customer service guy, put the kibosh on every pro-consumer idea I have and made me do sales even though it wasn't part of my job description. Glad I left that hellhole. He nearly tanked that company with his boneheaded BS.

[@AntTonyLOLKID]

He must be rolling in his grave seeing how Apple has turned out

[@hvanmegen]

@@AntTonyLOLKID don't bet on it.. he was instrumental into turning Apple into a premium looking brand with subpar hardware by asking a high price and doing development the right way (THIS I will admit, despite how I hate Apple.. their focus is what makes the software good.. not perfect, mind you, just good)

[@zabrak999]

@@hvanmegen Cringe take

[@Barkebain]

I believe Michael Morhaime was the secret. He was the one who was willing to stand up to ownership bean counters, and do so effectively. When Morhaime left, the dam gates opened, and kotick's tactics, along with his like minded pals at Blizzard (ybarra, ion, etc.), started replacing content with cash grabs. kotick is the toxic poison that kills everything he touches that isn't money.

[@SimoneBellomonte]

He also forgot to mention that theres also a deeper, MUCH deeper problem than that, and thats that the ESG scores, look up into it yourself, the whole crybaby inc ordeal, and youll see why what im talking about is actually even more problematic, heck i wouldnt be surprised if this was the real reason of blizzards downfall, i mean bobby was the head of the company for so long, why did his damage only start appearing now? Thats because he wasnt the real problem, sure maybe he was bad, but i believe that something much FAR worse and more sinister was the real cause of its downfall.

[@1Fisse]

Ion is a n arzi he prey upon ppl just like haitler did back in the days

[@synckar6380]

@@SimoneBellomonte You've copied and pasted this, but like there isn't any substance here. What exactly did ESG do in all of this?

[@potentatewags]

​@@synckar6380 Esg means they can suck and put out trash actual customers do not want and still get paid by our tax money for meeting certain woke conditions. Of course this is only sustainable for so long.

[@gampie13]

@@synckar6380 in actuality, it limits the talent pool of potential by a MASSIVE margin. Instead of trying to get good people who can do a good job, you replace all talent and meritocracy, with corruption/selfishness and mediocrity

[@TehBonz]

I'm half a century old. When I was a kid, the jocks and businessmen ran the world , which sucked big time. So when 'revenge of the nerds' happened in real life, i.e. the geeks and freaks began to take over the world with their 'computer game' shenannigans, I was thrilled. Viva la revolucion! The nineties kicked so hard: technological advances, gaming getting better and better in front of our wonder-filled eyes, comics and manga and fantasy growing in popularity... Good times. But sadly - as ever - greed wins out. Companies that were once magnificent sell their souls, get bought out by corporates, and quality drops. This video illustrates this brilliantly - I salute you, sir. It's depressing what happened to Blizzard. They still have a chance to win back fans (like, maybe make WOW Classic and the first 2 xpacs FTP to lure in new players, like FF14 does), reward Blizzard veterans somehow, or even lower the monthly subscription fees (because seriously, you make 10 billion profit or 12 billion profit, what the hell man, give the fans something back). Ain't gonna happen, is it? So I'll follow your excellent advice and research what the genius developers of my favourite games are doing now, and follow them instead. I'll never throw another penny at Blizzard; they had their chance, and they blew it.

[@fransingolf5314]

It's literally just the predictable outcome of a large corporation conducting its business under capitalism.

[@PhillipJermakian]

I used to farm in the Ocean of Tears in Everquest. To save time leaving I would swim out to the boat and get it to scoop me out of the water. It was faster to know where it was so I would shout to the zone asking where the boat was. Always people would reply with a "why?" Or "just go to the dock!" Except one guy, just sent me a tell with the coordinates, that guy was Tigole Biddies, a halfling Rogue who was so good at Everquest raid leading that Blizzard hired him to work on World of Warcraft. That man was Jeff Kaplan.

[@davidemelia6296]

Cool story bro

[@PhillipJermakian]

@@davidemelia6296 thanks!

[@Thesakuraharona]

No way! That is awesome

[@paulberg3935]

I played on the nameless server and knew Tigole Biddies from Legacy of Steel

[@PhillipJermakian]

@paulberg3935 I was in Sanctuary for a bit, raided with Xini Lake some if I am spelling their name right. That's a great Nameless server story. Apparently there was a major Korean gaming website that said "pick nameless sever" and that's why we had such a large Korean pop~

[@Spooder_Man1421]

I'm a younger gamer, barely touched any blizzard games. But all i used to hear was how it was one of the greats like activision,' now it's falling apart

[@Fantasygod930]

If you played some of their older games you know they were Top dog back in their hay day

[@jeeequeue]

@@Fantasygod930my parents still play older blizzard games bc of that.

[@emultra759]

1994-2008 Blizzard games were auto-buy for millions of gamers. They were legends.

[@christopherjohnson2171]

@@emultra759 From Warcraft on everything they released was a GOTY contender.

[@Blitzkrieg1605]

Go on google right now and type "Turtle WOW". Thank me later.

[@barrieracc7634]

I randomly encountered one of the children of a Blizzard Exec in Bangkok at a meetup. The guy was strange. No job, lived off his parents wealth like a trust fund kid, claimed to have 19 motorcycles and randomly offered to let me ride one, and he seemed to have a drinking problem. I guess what I am observing is that when success hits, so does a lack of motivation.

[@michaelbread5906]

My high-school psych teacher's brother was the chief lawyer for Blizzard. Said he didn't know a more wealthy, unhappy man.

[@Roukle]

People who have success handed to them without having to work for it lack both the opportunity to develop character and experience necessary to understand its worth

[@danielsebastian6181]

Blizzard died the day they released Diablo 3 back in 2013.

[@vullord666]

The problem is once a company goes public there's a MASSIVE disconnect between gamers and shareholders. The gaming industry is like the medical industry wherein the capitalist economy basically incentivizes screwing over consumers. It's why people like private and indie games so much right now. There isn't that massive conflict of interest looming over.

[@emultra759]

To think that Blizzard was once owned by a couple/business team named Bob and Jan Davidson, who let them do their thing with minimal interference. That's when they laid the foundation for their success.

[@mrillis9259]

Capitalism only works when there are multiple companies giving similar products and none become monopoly. Once a few break away from the crowd then they can cut costs, and being bad at their job doesn't effect them.

[@SimoneBellomonte]

He also forgot to mention that theres also a deeper, MUCH deeper problem than that, and thats that the ESG scores, look up into it yourself, the whole crybaby inc ordeal, and youll see why what im talking about is actually even more problematic, heck i wouldnt be surprised if this was the real reason of blizzards downfall, i mean bobby was the head of the company for so long, why did his damage only start appearing now? Thats because he wasnt the real problem, sure maybe he was bad, but i believe that something much FAR worse and more sinister was the real cause of its downfall.

[@KTP12275]

no, it's not that, it's the incentive of CEO in companies, the higher their company stocks are, the higher the CEO's pay gets, that's why CEO all over the world are such short sighted, narrow vision people, it's not because they are stupid or dumb, it's just that sustainability means nothing to them, until the model of pay for CEOs change, the same plague that has ravage us for decades now will never stop

[@skyhymitch]

Capitalist economy isn't what ruined gaming. Capitalism is what continues to save gaming because it allows small, private, indie devs to succeed. The problem is Blizzard allowing financials to drive their business rather than as a guide.

[@02owo32]

As an ex-Blizzard games player, I had a great a time while it lasted, but of course I moved on. The downfall is totally deserved, and I hope that at least serve as example for others companies out there. RIP Blizzard

[@mkatakm]

What example? Its owners had already made billions.

[@02owo32]

@@mkatakmThat nor your devs or your once millions of players will stand when you make shitty decisions

[@chucklesdeclown8819]

@@chuckberry7749 "LeAvE tHe BiLlOn DoLlAr CoMpAnY aLoNe"

[@02owo32]

@@chuckberry7749 keep getting disappointed (yeah...) get fucked, not my problem

[@xXReimuHakureiXx]

Yeah but you made your money which seems to be the only thing any of you guys think about so cry more

[@MrTigurius]

When the maggots from Harvard Business School saw there was money in games they had their conglomerates scoop up game companies. Money, money, money…profit..profit.. revenue..revenue.. revenue.

[@sidneyvandykeii3169]

Blizzard is just a name now. In a creative industry like making video games the creative minds are the company. When they leave you are left with a name only.

[@myfunbox355]

Same thing happened with Infinity Ward, the creators of Call of Duty.

[@kespec]

most of them are in respawn entertainment now

[@La-Li-Lu-Le-Loo]

​@@kespecmost of respawn is gone to. Thanks to EA look at the stat of apex right now.

[@Yora21]

It happens to everyone. I can't think of any studio that was big in the 90s that still exists in a recognizable form.

[@TheResilient5689]

@@La-Li-Lu-Le-LooWhat happened to Apex? Haven’t kept up with it in years.

[@eunit6696]

@@Yora21 ID software maybe?

[@theok391]

I left Blizzard in 2018 when Ben Brode left. Never played Blizzard games since. The company is plagued to the core. Awful culture, monetization, even the forums too, anything Blizzard related was piss. I don't think they gonna make a comeback soon, especially with the recent Microsoft slops.

[@jhaeros]

I knew someone who worked at Blizzard during the time most of these legendary figures were leaving the company. I can confirm that the company is terribly run, and they do not care about the games whatsoever anymore. Just the $$$

[@misspatvandriverlady7555]

The story of every successful company in America. Owner cashes out, new “investors” focus on short-term profits over long-term viability, company implodes, wash, rinse, repeat. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. No wonder unions are on the rise again… 😒

[@austinreed7343]

Sometimes a company can come back from the brink though.

[@TurboLoveTrain]

@@austinreed7343 Not anymore. Blackrock buys them when their down using the endless stream of money printed whenever they need it by the federal reserve.

[@mullenio4200]

I still remember the 2008 takeover and I knew then that it likely the end. Plenty of us did in comment sections like this. Since then it's been short term gains over long term integrity. When Bobby is having such success that's all the shareholders can see. But profit over everything will always fail in the end.

[@grndzro777]

When they murdered the classic WoW talent trees was when the game died to me.

[@jamesbrown3239]

Oh man, that Steve Jobs clip from the 90’s perfectly sums up the state of modern Hollywood, as well as the Comics industry and Gaming. It’s sad to see all of my favorite things going the way of the dinosaur. But hey, at least we have large corporations making mega profits oh and representation lol

[@chillington7387]

shooters and rts dying because of the consoles and they keep making slashers out of every game, sad future

[@Frankthetank302]

Consoles arent killing games. Consoles started games before pc ​@chillington7387 the issue is corporations and greed and listening to business and marketing degrees and making everything look good on the surface instead of listening to the gamers in the company and making quality games

[@jamesbrown3239]

@@Frankthetank302 agreed. Typically when you see a company has lost its way from its customer base you know that it will see a downfall and shake up. This is typically in a lot of industry’s. They’ll stumble and either collapse or refine themselves and succeed. Think of this as other a defining moment where we as gamers learn to grow or a mini collapse whereby gamers just don’t buy what they are not interested in and the current crop dies out, the gaming journalists and activists in the industry get laid off and find another sector to take their scam and sell their “services” to.

[@drivanradosivic1357]

Shooters and RTS are thriving in the Middle Market and indie scenes. We need to support them if we want a better world of gaming! Support the Old Blizzard guard! support all the good devs!

[@austinreed7343]

This will also taint representation in the eyes of the public.

[@frefai]

Remember, Kaplan (aka Tigole) made his name by being a lead designer of original WoW. He was recruited by one of the execs as Tigole was the guild leader in EverQuest when they played together

[@deadbatt9321]

If there is one thing I have learned, people at the top of companies think everyone is replaceable, even if they are not. I have worked for companies that have laid people off who are the only people who know their way around a particular product or have access, only to panic and realize what a mess they made later. One company that laid me off when they cut the workforce, replaced me with 10 people from India that tried to do my job and couldn't, so they rehired me again only to cut me again a few months later. I was done with them after that.

[@jakejoyride]

Why you returned in the first place?

[@FoxBatinaHat]

Back in Wotlk... when they were bought by Activision is when I threw my hands up and said: "Well it was good while it lasted!" And though they continued to trudge along. The soul was slowly leeching out.

[@twitchyrats5252]

I said the same thing! But back then we had all these dicksucking idiots on the Blizzard forums saying, "NUH UH, UR WRONG MAN. YOU JUST MAD, BRUH."

[@Maibuwolf]

The "merger" happened near the end of TBC not wotlk. Its why there was the one singular mount you could buy at some point in tbc.

[@Denward2186]

Remember thinking, " beginning of the end here."

[@vincentlerma483]

It was the final patch after icecrown citadel before Cataclysm release.....it was just...different. Then came the celestial horse mount copies "for sale"

[@finnheisenheim8274]

More soulless than the Scourge... that hilarious and sad.

[@hungrymusicwolf]

So the simple reason why Activision-Blizzard failed is because they let the finance guy pressure the staff to work for more revenue than quality. Forgetting that the revenue is HIS job while the quality is THEIRS. Interfering with their work caused terrible products, terrible products drove business away. That's how the cycle of the finance guy pressuring the quality guys for more output/revenue, thus destroying more quality.

[@andydudley1775]

so it was ran on some one ego into the ground for a short term proffit nice .sound like the tory party.

[@vanhasydan4754]

You sum it up beautifully

[@chokobo0047]

As a side note, GM motors follows this same practice and I was unaware that anyone else incorporated this philosophy or anything at all similar. Strict grading system used to evaluate their work force based on a variety of different metrics that favor quantity over quality. I can't remember what the interval is but every few years the bottom 10% get fired. The theory being that with this practice a company will always be improving as a whole.

[@Thulgore]

The finance guys also keep all of their reputation. Which is fucking crazy.

[@fransingolf5314]

The finance guys are just doing their job. It's literally their job to figure out how to maximize the profit of the company. Blizzard has been raking in record profits for years, so by that measure it's been a huge success.

[@shannonmcstormy5021]

After all is said and done, for-profit publicly-owned corporations are about short-term profits. They may talk about long term vision, but the fact is that if you squeeze a company into the ground, producing profits for shareholders on a quarterly basis, that is a successful CEO. And the most amazing thing about this system is that these CEO's think about the brand and loyalty to the brand as fertile ground for profits. Company after company has been destroyed, though the upper management typically walks away with millions. For-profit publicly-owned companies are specifically designed to make wealthy people wealthier and now the gaming industry has fallen prey to their machinations and predatory approach.

[@joshuatucker2521]

Bobby just inherited success. Blizzard was on an upward trajectory when it merged with Activision. Everything after that was downhill for the games and players. I wouldn't praise Bobby for what Blizzard revenue became.. because it would have anyway. It likely would be more successful and generate more revenue now if the Blizzard culture and focus hadn't shifted.

[@ahpuro]

bobby made a matrix so good that people willingly became human batteries of cash and time, sold it to an overseer, inserted a NEO named Chris Metzen to give hope to the revolutionists and flew off in his golden armada ship.

[@johnnykeys1978]

@@bonsai8493 Not at all. Most people could do something similar but morals and ethics put them on a path that creates better energy.

[@TheOrian34]

How difficult must have it been to search and edit all those Bobby clips without breaking down.

[@peterk6797]

This happens all the time, it happened at every large corporation I ever worked at. Leadership is forcing 10% of employees to be labelled as low performing. This creates toxic workplaces with high turnover, which has compounding negative impacts. Very short sighted

[@mspionage1743]

People may not like Alex Afriabi but there is absolutely no question that he brought in massive, globally massive amounts of people to WoW due to being Furor Planedefiler. That character was massive in the late 90s and was often seen as the video game voice that was needed to assure good products.

[@Fantasygod930]

While I'm great at the spirit of blizzard lives on in Other studios It's really sad that the blizzard that a lot of us grew up with Just died Because of one heartless man I hope 1 day the all the founders Can come together and create one great game That celebrates the legacy of blizzard and I hope they can merge their own companies to Reawakens the old blizzard spirit

[@chrisj320ac3]

Dude they're getting on in years, by the time that could happen they'll be retiring.

[@Vanished584]

A bunch of the old Devs actually got together around the launch of Classic WoW to play the game. The video is up on the blizzard channel still.

[@HelicopterRidesForCommunists]

Yeah I hear people tall about Bobby Kotick like he was a genius businessman CEO for how he made so much profit, but what they fail to realize is how temporary it is and how those strategies kill the entire company. Now look at them and tell me how good Bobby Kotick is at business.

[@Conorscorner]

Shit started going down hill when Activision bought blizzard. Morhaime left and then Metzen, he's back now but still it's bad.

[@kea7119]

KZbin rarely send interesting video in my feed. But for once it sent something that could be of interest. I decided to give it a try and watch. Video starts... I'm immediately captivated. Subject is interesting. The host has a charismatic and soothing voice. Then the impossibly unexpected happened. It was 1:46 in the presentation when against all odds... The single THICKEST moustache appeared laid bare for my little eyes to witness! From that point onward, i knew ladies and gentleman. I absolutely had to be subscribed to this channel!

[@NeedforMine1]

I grew up on Blizz games. Warcraft 3 was the very first game I touched and spent thousands of hours on it. When HotS came out and everyone at my school played LoL I stayed loyal to Blizz. I got my parents to buy me Overwatch. Spent a lot of time playing Starcraft 2 as well. Seeing such a giant component of me fall to such low depths is scary honestly. Goes to show how corporate greed does not work with gaming companies in the long term. Larian has shown us how making a high quality product is still the way to go after almost 80 years of videogames.

[@mattlars89]

Corporate greed does not work with anything really. Start seeing it across all sectors. And it´s not like the supply of video games is hard to come by, everything is digital today. No hard copies. So dumb to let down quality when your product is relatively easily produced once developed. Only thing holding back is demand. Which is declining because of lower quality.

[@tiffles3890]

I grew up with WC lore

[@fransingolf5314]

Corporations are mandated by law to maximize shareholder value through record profit. "Greed", if that's what you want to call it, is literally the default position, and all companies do it because they must. The option to do anything else does not exist.

[@tiffles3890]

@@fransingolf5314 The avenue of profitability was created in the first place by betting on quality and care about the "art" of the product (something that's absolutely crucial in creative industries). Blizzard used to be a company that would rather delay launch by half a year and redo major components from scratch rather than shipping a product they as artisans felt was inferior. That's how they created genre defining games that made them tons of money and skyrocketed their brand. Instead, what you have here is a steady erosion of that brand value by myopic focus on short term profits to assuage "shareholders". The quality of the creative product deteriorates. The brand garners a negative image. And in the long run, profitability declines. Of course, the soulless parasites can "individually" line their pockets while the gravy train lasts, before the brand is hollowed out to unsalvageable levels, before just cashing out.

[@eccentricstylist]

Wow!! I'll admit I haven't looked at AAA companies that much, but this was quite interesting. Definitely a good case study to follow.

[@SimoneBellomonte]

He also forgot to mention that theres also a deeper, MUCH deeper problem than that, and thats that the ESG scores, look up into it yourself, the whole crybaby inc ordeal, and youll see why what im talking about is actually even more problematic, heck i wouldnt be surprised if this was the real reason of blizzards downfall, i mean bobby was the head of the company for so long, why did his damage only start appearing now? Thats because he wasnt the real problem, sure maybe he was bad, but i believe that something much FAR worse and more sinister was the real cause of its downfall.

[@TurboLoveTrain]

@@SimoneBellomonte This is what happens when corporations operate out of debt and not profit. Fun fact: almost all of them operate out of debt because it's easier than making good business decisions and having things like integrity or foresight.

[@dougshipley5547]

This is a variation on the Blockbuster / Netflix saga; with the point here being as dynamic business platforms expand into corporations the people who once had the means to create are replaced by those who cannot create anything but revenue. So, they ultimately destroy the ability for creation. I've seen this happen time and again over the last fourty plus years. On a positive note, the industry will see someone, in the form of a new developer) emerge and when they do it will seem to many as if they came from "out of the blue". I once heard a fellow say something that sums this sort of thing all up, "Corporation? It feels a lot more like Plantation!"

[@jkohutiak]

Fantastic video. Well produced, well researched, well said.

[@DrNiradino]

5:26 At the time of Blizzard/Activision merger, Activision had a reputation of game conveyor, releasing the same soulles CoD slop every year with minimal changes. Wouldn't say that it was a good reputation for them.

[@christopherjohnson2171]

They will never again release a game that is both critically acclaimed and overwhelmingly loved by the public. They'll limp along for a bit making some money here and there of of their legacy but no one that matters is even there anymore, there is no coming back.

[@DanielEckert63]

Thank you for sharing your understanding of what happened.

[@christiansachse6630]

Great video. Subscribed!!

[@outforbeer]

A company is only as good as its best developers and leaders that made it great. Once the company got bought out, all the existing ppl started leaving over time. Look at what’s happening with marvel and Pixar. Big companies love buying into upcoming successful businesses for huge prices but then allow all the personnel to leave

[@tman10686]

The new Marvel movies are all Shiite.

[@austinreed7343]

@@tman10686 Even WITH the great people who made it that way. Imagine how bad it’ll get once they’re gone.

[@DylanLey]

Great video as always! Great to see that most of the OG Blizzard talent are going their own way making quality games!

[@matrixcom69]

Reminds me of the warehouse I work in. Set production rates high and only care about the bare minimum of quality. On top of that they raise the production rates based on the average rate of everyone. Meaning even if people are meeting the rates and quotas, management will eventually increase rates to a higher number (even if it means people are pressured into skipping steps in the process).

[@duncanreeves225]

Jack Welsh style business has been disastrous. Rank and yank may increase some metrics of productivity, but it always makes people care more about how their performance is measured than actual quality of work, and is one of the worst environments for employees. So many skilled employees quit. Sacrificing the quality that made your company great, and cutting short term costs and ride on your brand name, destroys companies products. We see this everywhere from Blizzard to Boeing.

[@nopenope7777]

This video hits hard. I quit working at LinkedIn the other day. It's gone downhill so fast since we had layoffs and multiple levels of management change. The company that I saw as my forever home fell apart in less than a year. All because profits were down for a year. Not multiple. Just one and we were still substantially higher than pre covid numbers. It just confirmed that the only safe place is being independent or being the business owner

[@luc_xott]

The obsession with infinite growth will destroy everything

[@Ascerian]

How were the hiring practices? 😆

[@WavyDane]

gluttony & greed ruin everything, balance deminishes & so do morals, u can have a good game & have good money, it just takes effort to keep everything in balance, being & feeling alive takes effort to maintain, thats where most ppl fail, effort, ask people how they are feeling more often

[@javazombi]

Remarkable video, very well done. Thanks for researching and sharing!

[@Lothramir]

Good job in explaining the timeline and struggle. Spot on when you edited in Steve Jobs at 10:25 ish.

[@erikgarrow6781]

Shareholder Maximization. This is exactly what happened here, and is happening to many companies today. An idea that, at it's core is slash and burn, burning the company down to the ground to extract every last penny. After all, when CEOs are not expected to last for very long and shareholders expect to have jumped ship long before it catches up to the company, why care about the long-term?😓

[@fransingolf5314]

Thank you! Very well put.

[@RamonChiNangWong078]

lol, this is similar to what happened to Boeing. kick out all the engineers who cared about safety and replace with marketeers, business guys and CEOs who are into big time bonuses

[@fransingolf5314]

Nothing matters except the bottom line. It's not about caring, it's about PROFIT. Until you understand this fact, you will continue to be surprised everytime a company does the exact same thing.

[@closerrl9851]

Problem is, sometimes people do good and at other times they perform a little less. Being forced to always be good makes your creativity drop.

[@MarsM13]

The top guys almost all think like Private Equity companies, even if they are technically not. Private Equity companies do things like buy companies with good cash-flow, saddle them with the loan used to buy them, cut and slash at costs even if this lowers quality drastically, a gobble up the profits that result in the time between the reduction in quality and the market realizing the company has become garbage.

[@LunarPriestessYT]

Blizzard should try doing something new. Last new IP they made was Overwatch.. 8 years ago.

[@Rezlusiowa]

The problem is that the company is rotten inside. They just canceled their unnamed survival game or something like that what they've been working on for the past 6 years? Don't get me started on ow2 pve...

[@ekcman]

They can't. Even if they could, it's still too 'risky' to make the call from the business guy

[@misapheonix]

wtf, really! That was like the only thing left that I was remotely interested in, from this company x. x@@Rezlusiowa

[@coolbrotherf127]

They won't make anything new that can't be extremely monetized. Even if they released a new IP, it would be so full of micro transactions that it would be unplayable like the new Diablo games or Overwatch 2. The original Overwatch only got released like it did because the vice-president of the company Jeff Kaplan was the game lead. It was the last real Blizzard game they will ever make.

[@LSUfan4life97]

I'd settle for them doing something besides COD. Which seems to be slowly happening. D4 is actually really fun. The live service aspects just suck. The overwatch team seems to actually be trying to drum up interest again.

[@Sleepy.Time.]

everything was going great in till 2010 when Activision became more "involved" in Blizzard's operations, its been a sh*t show since

[@easycake3251]

Id NEVER put Mike Failbarra as a "Blizzard gr8". He was a corpo thru and thru. Him getting the boot (Not leaving) is actually a very good thing for Blizzard. I mean, it wont change much for the general company, but may change something for WoW.

[@austinreed7343]

I think he was included for the sake of completeness.

[@AimRobot]

Yep, the only reason Blizzard is still in the name, was because of how big the name was. They even did a survey around the time of the merger, what players thoughts of different game company like EA/Activision/Bethesda/Blizzard. Mike Morhaime was also forced to lie at that Blizzcon when the "merger" was announced.

[@fatihakmese]

No matter what people says, once pets, companions, vanity pets, mounts starts to getting sold by in-game purchases in WoW, i heard that one particular mount sold much higher that all SC2 sales… Investors will love those kind of things. Minimum effort maximum profits… It is not Bobby ruined that company it was us… We should never buy those kind of shits. i.e. level boosts etc. People are cheaters, and companies are keen to spot these trends. We kill it ourselves. I can imagine a scenario where sales people introduced level boost idea to developers and they objected that this will kill the spirit of the game, no one will buy that and sales people push them to make a trial and we jumped these level boosts etc. and we ruined developers.

[@fransingolf5314]

Exactly, you nailed it. There's even an interview from 2007 where Jeff Kaplan rules out bringing microtransactions to wow, but literally a few years later they realized that it would generate huge profits and now here we are. Players destroyed their own games and continue to do so.

[@patriciamedaris8552]

This is what happens when you forget where you came from, screw over your employees, and forget it's the players love of the game that helped make it what it is.

[@fransingolf5314]

They didn't forget. They're mandated by law to maximize shareholder value. All that sentimental bullshit has no place in a giant corporation.

[@ingolf82]

Ben Brode plays Magic the Gathering... I was thinking "where have I seen that guy before?" But yeah, he's a magic player, plays commander and all that good stuff. he's often on a channel called "Commander at home" because the people that own that channel are friends of his.

[@mishkawolfforever5951]

The problem with companies, doing this is now a lot of gamers are becoming aware. games are more for a quick buck now a day for the companies and we as gamers get screwed. i'm learning not to listen to the hype until i do research by watching hrs of gameplay, or playing demos before i even think of purchasing a game now.

[@mishkawolfforever5951]

but agree we as gamers need to start following the devs or streamers, if our fav streamer starts having a problem with the game they have been playing for yrs do to the company as a whole it should raise some red flags.

[@mdtaranto]

This was a long video showcasing companies full of blizzard employees... and I can't name a single great game that any of them produced. If you can tell me what Bonfire studios is making, I'd be impressed (as an example).

[@Utrilus]

Yeah, looking into it, only 2 of their companies have products. One is stormgate, I tried the beta and it was buggy, far too early to tell if it'll be good. And then there is Marvel snap, which I haven't tried but many loved.

[@ReconCrusader]

Money corrupts everything it touches.

[@leslielemmon7729]

Actually, it started even earlier: It was in 2013 that Greg Street, or "Ghostcrawler", Lead Systems Designer of World of Warcraft, left the company. And that was when their flagship and most important game, World of Warcraft, went from innovating to maintaining the status quo ever since.

[@roythomason1921]

Activision, that's what went wrong. They went from the kings of customer service to to hell with the customer.

[@robb037]

i've been saying this exact thing for over a decade, blizzard lost the passion for making great games.

[@vg___]

this has been happening to BIG companies like Blizzard, Activision as well as King. I've just gone through a very similar experience myself within one of these big companies :) it's allll about sales, kpis and skills - nobody values learning or competency or the joy of crafting a product. and now with AI in the game...I will stop here, you know where this is going. thanks for making the video @Going Indie 🙏🏻

[@johnwinstondarby]

It's time for Blizzard to sell much of it's IP and focus on a few games and re-start with a small core

[@TheBigExclusive]

I know someone who didn't give AF about games growing up. She only followed what was trendy and got her the most attention. She ended up working at Blizzard for several years, and she only pretended to like games because of the name brand of the company. These are the types of people working at Blizzard now.

[@Bozebo]

My 2c: I studied game development at university (around Burning Crusade time and after). Some of the people I met were absolute savants: amazing programmers since they were kids with hard drives full of home made games (including mmos! every single line of code hand made), fantastic drawn and digital artists, and great public speakers too. None of them heard back at all from job applications to Blizzard :/ Something must be wrong with the culture at the company, basically. When it comes to the greats leaving . After hitting such great success, we can't really force them to pump out more of the same because we like it as gamers. Wouldn't you want to go for a big change or take it easy in your later career if you could? Shame when they did want to though but couldn't in their company. Also, Activison did not have a good reputation back then. Everyone knew the merger was total BS and ruining Blizzard immediately?

[@Jereonn]

Scott Mercer actually retired and didn't just 'leave' like many of the others did. He was working on OW2 until just a couple months back.

[@fragdude]

Gotta love that GE style of management. & that McKinsey ‘business logic’ of cutting costs at the bottom & raising top tier executive pay is what’s best for business health… Career executives are the bane of long term business health

[@hjonesjr5316]

My brother works at blizzard and frequently talks about how many dumb decisions are made by the higher ups. For example, He worked on overwatch 2 and knew about a lot of cool stuff that was removed for seemingly no reason

[@qedsoku849]

And in this position blizzard sacrificed... their reputation!

[@alexw4482]

A rook named reputation

[@DrewPicklesTheDark]

You could feel the changes immediately after he took charge, a lot of people were just on copium saying "Blizzard is trying new stuff" and other nonsense. It's when it became blatantly obvious and undeniable that people finally accepted it.

[@sasha_yudin504]

Fantastic video, thank you!

[@NeilHaskins]

This is why Nintendo is going strong after more than forty years of making games. They still have a lot of talent from the NES/SNES era.

[@Sakurajima616]

Simp

[@NeilHaskins]

@@Sakurajima616 It's warranted.

[@jasont80]

I used to be a Blizzard fan boi. I haven't touched a Blizzard game in about 6 years now. It just lost all the feeling. Expansions were boring and repetitive without deep stories. Every update felt empty. I hope these guys all have great success, but Blizzard is dead to me.

[@laoshirich8407]

This is why Larian is on top of the gaming world now. Baldurs Gate 3 is a masterpiece.

[@Connorses]

Always remember to follow the PEOPLE behind your favorite media, not the company. Good video.

[@garydose129]

No king rules forever. Im glad blizz made some bangers, but many companies offer better games for less money and less microtransactions. I only have time to play those games instead (BG3, Helldivers 2, Deeprock Galactic, Elden Ring, Zelda, No Mans Sky, Animal Crossing, Stardew, last epoch, etc)

[@CH-vr2dl]

Bobby Kotick = BK BK = Blizzard Killer

[@austinreed7343]

Kotick is gone, so do you imply there’s hope?

[@rwulf]

Steve Jobs up in there playing that "the worst person you know just made a great point" card.

[@Mnerd7368]

I am a junior undergraduate computer science student in an accredited university for the past 6 years and I want to become a game Designer in Unreal Engine 5 in a AAA video game studios company but 5 to 10 years of entry level experience with a 4-years degree is ABSURD and INSANITY!!!! 😅 Keep in my I went to university in 2018 and now is 2024. I am 24 years old male thinking someday to create my own indie studios.

[@fr0ck360]

Bobby Kotick deserves to be put in jail after getting away so many scandals in Blizzard. He's definitely not owning Tiktok lol

[@Blaze_ooz]

Tiktok will definitely be fucked

[@jern2216]

Why the CEOs dont learn their lesson, that by focusing solely on profit and not the product you kill your product. Economy rewards those that contribute the most, not those that extract the most out of the economy. Man this is basics of economics, how come these people dont know that?

[@darren7917]

Because the CEO's only care about their performance bonuses and personal wealth, if the company goes down, they just move on with a golden parachute and leech from another company.

[@fransingolf5314]

This is hilariously wrong. Blizzard has been great at generating profits via shitty products for years. And that's the ONLY thing that matters under capitalism.

[@neoblackcyptron]

I learnt a lot from this how to balance running a company , as both the Kodick guy and the people who built blizzard. Nice video.Thanks

[@Listener113377]

i don't think blizzard can recover from the talent and trust that they've lost over the past decades. they might be able to survive, but they will never be what they once were. This version of blizzard have been toxic for quite some time and i had hoped blizzard and all its parent-companies would just lay down and give up. Someone should also rob Bobby Kotick of everything he has. He doesn't deserve a dime for all the evil he has commited.

[@gassygorilla4767]

Nah they should go bankrupt

[@Sound_Tech]

That wouldn't end the company

[@gassygorilla4767]

@@Sound_Tech sure but the management should lose their jobs

[@patrickherb4670]

​​@@gassygorilla4767 but they won't, blackrock would buy them and tell them to make it lame and gay

[@mrmane2000]

They charge insanely high prices for the subscription especially for people living outside the USA. Don't get me wrong, I love the game, but having to pay MYR 237.50 for a new expansion and MYR 63.34 subscription per month for something that requires so much grinding just to keep up-to-date with everything going on the game does not seem justified. We have other more important things to do with our time (such as earn actual money).

[@5280Skylines]

Thank you for this video!

[@master_jon]

Great video