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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Bobby Kotick Wants to Take the Fun Out of Making Games
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[@GoingIndie]

Do you think Blizzard can make a comeback? 🔵 Join our Discord to vote for the next indie game shoutout discord.com/invite/pHHhNwNzDu

[@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

[@RBsRealm]

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

[@SchowardGaming]

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]

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

[@SchowardGaming]

@@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

[@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...

[@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.

[@grus.clausen]

@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

[@mouseii88]

@@grus.clausen There are people who will still get whatever IP Blizzard pump out, then complain about it. Just look at those WoW players who keep saying the game is boring and dead, but still return whenever there's an expansion update.

[@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?

[@Sengrath2986]

​@@jakejoyride money. Probably money.

[@OdenthorIcefang]

Yeah, but the guys they replaced you with.... I bet they made really good tea!

[@ericcornish1983]

Yeah that’s ridiculous why the hell would you return to a company who replaces you with a bunch of derka’s I would’ve moved on long ago if that were me, those people from India know nothing so I ask that company why hire someone who can barely speak your language and doesn’t understand the gaming industry 🤨🤦‍♂️

[@Electrichead64]

You know what breaks my heart even more? Seeing those photos outside the buildings of their corporate offices and realizing that an even greater company used to live there.

[@FleMoo]

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

[@Nomsynho]

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.

[@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 ;)

[@LikelyForgiven]

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.

[@hotdog5927]

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

[@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.

[@Zak-nv1tl]

Bobby got hired to raise the stock price. He did that very well. In return he got an enormous amount of the stock as payment.

[@Durgenheim]

That’s the MO of all of these generic corporate parasites; they find a healthy host, suck it dry, and leave the desiccated husk behind for someone else to either nurture back to health or pick over for the last few scraps.

[@mikeheydon6028]

Blizzard used to be the King of Games, sadly now they are the Kings of Corporate Greed

[@DEATHHEADYT]

@@mikeheydon6028 And running a business doesn’t cost any money. Maybe we can all just wing it and not pay people because we’re on an authentic artist crusade to fight the system. Lmao

[@Nempo13]

@@DEATHHEADYT Your CEO doesn't need to make multi millions a year. Also, to pop your balloon mate...look at the 'indie' game scene. They have 400-600 employees typically and produce art that is OUTSELLING the major companies pretty regularly.

[@austinreed7343]

At this point not even that.

[@apieceoftoast768]

King of Gains

[@mikeheydon6028]

@@DEATHHEADYT Indie companies like Crate can still run their business and profit without having to try to drain the last cent out of their gamers pockets. They also are able to offer support and update products years after the original release with a small and dedicated staff that are the definition of what gaming devs used to be. Blizzard did this initially with the first Diablo and Starcraft releases until greed and dumbing down of their games led to the sad situation they are in today.

[@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

[@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.

[@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

[@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.

[@ashiinsane90]

This is exactly i agree with..

[@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

[@franglais-riders]

Indeed. Enron culture was to sack 10% “ under-performers” every year. We know how that ended…

[@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.

[@645th]

There are such games: Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher 1-2-3 and more more more. Blizzard - trash. It was Blizzard developers who started killing WOW since 2010, not businessmen.

[@thefalconflame]

Most online games are hamster wheels nowadays.

[@franglais-riders]

True I play ESO and it feels like a full time job now. On Xbox I also have to pay to play multiplayer mode, despite buying the game! And quests are unimaginative, repetitive, main zones quests are predictable boring. Zero talent or imagination behind it. Time to quit I guess. I played a small wargame online (empire 4 kingdoms) and only big spenders would win any event. And big spenders would target players and guilds not spending or spending enough. Way to kill a a game…. Nice bunch of people in my guild but I left.

[@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.

[@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

[@Marqan]

Bobby Kotick saw a healthy, profitable, reputable orchard, and decided to cut down all the trees for firewood. An absolute buffoon. Also, Jeff Kaplan managed Ovewatch quite badly, despite the good underlying idea. I'm not sure why you imply it was a loss for anyone that he left. Overwatch was at several points vey close to really blowing up, but Kaplan always held it back with bad balance and missing features. Matchmaking was something they could never solve, or never bothered to solve. These were clearly a question of focus that Jeff could influence.

[@markfreeman4727]

Jeff did make questionable decisions, but he was also caught in a power struggle with Codick trying to turn Overwatch into a Call of Duty skin factory, which he won that battle sadly in the end it dosen't really matter your end goal if your to busy fending off knives in your back to ever reach it

[@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

[@jarekstorm6331]

Rob Pardo was the original guild leader of Legacy of Steel, and found Jeff. Tigole took over as guild leader soon after joining, and his rants on the LoS website were legendary. Those two guys helped make WoW the success it was.

[@Spazilton1]

@@jarekstorm6331 I remember those times as I was a huge EQ player at the time.

[@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?

[@misspat7555]

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.

[@zimriel]

unions are highly unlikely to do any good.

[@elseby]

It's crazy because the easiest fix would be to stop concentrating shareholders to such a small group of people. Expand the value of stakeholders and the company will thrive. Wealthy people that hoard all resources and control just destroy profits and quality

[@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.

[@plavala]

Girls cry to romantic movies, I seriously cry to Blizzard's story.

[@KNByam]

It's a sad story. They had everything going.

[@i.j.dragonfly3123]

Trust me, girls cry to Blizzard's story, too.

[@guiltygreen]

I'm a girl and am crying to Blizzard's story, but also no judgement on boys who cry to romantic movies

[@matthewwaterson8912]

The funniest part about this is that Disney is following the exact same path as Activision blizzard. Like the saying goes history will repeat itself.

[@kevingame3198]

Except the Disney is going woke and going broke while all the other hand Activision blizzard seem to be ok with Activision Blizzard for now

[@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.

[@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.

[@gg05irgm]

@@grndzro777 ye, but that was ultimately the result of what started in 2008, everyone who knows their blizzard knows thats the sliding moment and since then towards the retail drain we see today of braindead meta sheep

[@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

[@wattsactingdoc]

It’s almost as if putting quality, passion, and creativity before profits is the key to selling products and games people will interact with for decades

[@markfreeman4727]

high profits are the result of doing everything else right, something modern businesses have entirely forgotten

[@AdamSKAudio]

Very insightful. Thanks for putting this together!

[@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.

[@eoretaspace]

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.

[@grimreaper2606]

Blizzard is utter Trash now. "Chromie time" auto kicking. Level crush should be 240 now loser 60. They Betrayed their fan base to "make it easier for new people" The Best Game in the world to absolutely nothing valuable at all.

[@thudtheace]

Believe it or not Activision at one time (in the 80's) was like Blizzard, they made awesome games! Now they suck, just like Blizzard.

[@austinreed7343]

Yeah, and up to the early 2000s they were at least a decent publisher. (EA had killed its first studio in 2001, but they had a brief revival in the Wii era)

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@MCArt25]

Wow, I wonder why all these people left Blizzard, especially all the women. It is a mystery. Total unknown.

[@Conorscorner]

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

[@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.

[@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.

[@SuperJohn12354]

The real story about blizzard is how the "gamer" dev guys drove the company to near bankruptcy and to save the company they had to sell to Activision and the finical pressures that brought sucked money out of other departments and lead to "hard" decisions having to be made. Blizzard invested alot of money and time into a game to be called Titan, and for the large amount of money and Time what they got was very little work, yes the Dev's you love so much were phoning it in and saying yeah yeah we are coming along nicely and doing crap all work, how do we know this? from the team Activision sent in to recover the project, they were shocked (there words) at how little development had been done, so they took the art work and what little work had been done and created a game called over watch with it, this really was the start of the end because any project blizzard did, had to make money , not enough to cover the project plus a healthy profit but to dig blizzard out of the hole they were now in. So all the in game purchases, the warbond style things, the mobile games were all to make money and save the company. My dad's job was to go into failing sectors of the very large company he worked in, in a different sector and make them profitable again, i too work in management, i can recognize the language that is used "too ambitious", "budgetary problems", "time delays" blah blah blah basically poorly run project given a blank cheque and very little over site. so you can blame management and Activision, but at the end of the day the developers forgot the golden rule get the game out on time and keep the money coming in, every project was over time and way over budget for 10 years.

[@WebbstreMain]

The funny part of this video is that it doesn't even touch the original blizzard and blizzard north days. Some of these problems are waaaay older than the Activision merger Also f*** Ben Brode and his belief that card games need to have shitty artificial win rates.

[@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.

[@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? 😆

[@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

[@jarekstorm6331]

⁠@@_.Leo_.Jeff Kaplan played EverQuest on The Nameless server, his Rogue was named Tigole Bitties. Rob Pardo was the guild leader of Legacy of Steel, the Blizzard employees guild, which Jeff joined and was subsequently hired by Blizzard. Jeff later became the guild leader of LoS, and his rant posts about EverQuest were notorious. I played EQ on The Nameless as well.

[@_.Leo_.]

@@jarekstorm6331 thank you

[@0n4nd0n]

exciting chan, stoked to find it, please keep indie game info coming my way

[@depraved420]

Never seen one of your videos before, well done, I appreciate the time and effort.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@yllare]

"Activition/Blizzard" is essentially an abandoned shell now, surviving on the IP of the old guard. With so much talent gone, I doubt we'll see a new IP from the studio before its CEO finally closes it down after squeezing every bit of value left from the company brand.

[@BuzzzdLightyear]

Unfortunately, I don’t think any of those spinoff companies are gonna deliver anything of worth. There has been hype around these kinds of projects for nearly a decade, and I can’t remember a single one of them that actually launched a product.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@billyjurant5183]

Didn't stormgate turn out to be a cashgrab with lower quality graphics, audio and gameplay than what even blizztard excrete? Is there any reason to support these developers who stood idly by while the greatest IPs ever built were run into the ground, other than a false hope that they are somehow not at all responsible?

[@carlmiguel7967]

It's like what they said in their own game "No King rules forever"

[@DylanLey]

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

[@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.

[@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.

[@Jay16872]

The average person always lags behind, they need a popular video or the masses to finally drive the point home. I knew Diablo 4 was absolute garbage playing the beta. I didn’t need to spend 70 dollars and play for four weeks to know that. Vote with your wallet, don’t buy starfield, Diablo 4 or the next drivel they are all going to release

[@ShiggitySean]

Don't worry, we're all still laughing at you.

[@smeegy1]

@@ShiggitySean simp for blizzard harder

[@NJKenn]

@@ShiggitySean we need to protect the billion dollar company! 🤓

[@ShiggitySean]

@@NJKenn yeah, Im "protecting" them by making fun of autists like yourselves. WoW has apparently been dying for....like, 17 years now? I'm sure it'll happen eventually, guys.

[@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!

[@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.

[@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

[@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.

[@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.

[@zaxxon4]

Blizzard is a victim of managements love of live service. They could have had the live service while making new games by putting the new hires on them. No one gets into the business of creating games to maintain some old game, and the top talent eventually gets tired of it. People just getting into the industry are fine with a few years of that because it lets them build their resume while gaining an understanding of the coding of those games. For the experienced top developers it would be like putting Stephen King on proofreading instead of writing.

[@djangough]

Blizzard’s success was in its people. The developers. The minds that made creative fantasy of the imagination, into reality. These same people, who either got bored, or tired of how things were run, have moved on to create their own studios. If you love the spirit of blizzard, you’d be wise to pay attention to what these developers go on to do after they leave.

[@Avrelivs_Gold]

Big money wants less innovative risks, but more dry profits. They did it to Steve Jobs and many others, just they do it all the time...

[@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.

[@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.

[@SchowardGaming]

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.

[@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.

[@jodofe4879]

It is easy to blame people like Bobby, but let's not forget that ultimately it is we, the paying customers, who are also responsible. Bobby Kotick is simply a man doing his job, and it is a job he is good at. The goal of any company is to make money, and in a capitalist system it is natural for a company to never be satisfied and want constant growth. Bobby's approach only works because we make it work. We keep rewarding these kind of scummy business moves by drawing our wallets and handing over our money. The only way to make this stop is to just stop buying anything Blizzard-related. Same goes for any other company engaging in similar strategies. We have to reward the companies (like Larian Studios or Hello Games) who do the right thing, while punishing the ones that don't. If constant sequels, lootboxes and what have you no longer bring in money, then companies will very quickly stop doing them.

[@5mwa]

Thanks, your video is the only one that explained simply and clearly what caused Blizzard to go down. No one was able to explain better.

[@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.

[@D1g1tal_H1ppy]

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

[@39zack]

There is no blizzard, only Microsoft

[@Kubamorlo]

Microsoft is pretty hands off compared to other large companies, but i have to agree as they pretty much just bought the hollow rotten shell of Blizzard

[@austinreed7343]

@@Kubamorlo I don’t think Microsoft can be hands-off with itself, sadly.

[@Kubamorlo]

@@austinreed7343 Blizzard is a subsidiary of Microsoft

[@austinreed7343]

@@Kubamorlo Yeah but I was discussing things like the removal of various Windows features.

[@Kubamorlo]

@@austinreed7343 Windows was not mentioned in this thread before

[@bretmishler3435]

Bro… these guys are retiring… it’s not likn they’re leaving after 10 years having started in their 20’s. After 2 decades at a company like Blizzard, and many of them older when they started, they’re just simply retiring.

[@tiffles3890]

Steve Jobs pretty much laid out the trajectory that game companies that would get "big" were to follow, almost 3 decades ago. Frankly, big tech in general, one could even argue. That dude really got it. Vindicated over and over.

[@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

[@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.

[@groundhog-plays]

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

[@Lothramir]

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

[@Kelrae1]

Warning: - Starts with Ben Brode :D - Calls Bobby Kotick "Bobby Calarami" and he apparently had a bad run and should have done things differently when managing a global corporation???, - Plays a Steve Jobs video to apparently prove a point, - talks about guys leaving after very long and successful careers as if they were pushed out with only assumptions when all had 20+ year careers with the company. - Mentions microtransactions and experiments into other monetization models with extreme negative vibe Apparently there might also be some hope for the company now Bobby has left - The whole video is very disrespectful for all their developments over the last 10 years :( crazy stuff.

[@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 $$$

[@rainwatertea]

Please explain me why didn't all these top blizzard executives did not leave together and found their own company?

[@crpsegrnder]

Usually contracts that have non compete clauses

[@rainwatertea]

@@crpsegrnder are you sure? In this case how could ex-blizz-devs develop Stormgate?

[@crpsegrnder]

@@rainwatertea The non compete clauses eventually expire after a certain amount of years. Hence why most of these studios run by ex blizz guys pop up a few years after them leaving the company.

[@rainwatertea]

@@crpsegrnder thank you friend

[@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?

[@drowningin]

They hired too many women. Women destroy companies, especially gaming companies. No, this isn’t a joke. I want you to think back. Think about all the drama in gaming in the 80s and 90s.. …but wait you’re thinking, “there was no drama in gaming”. Precisely, then in the 00’s women were hired in bulk, now think about the drama in gaming in just the past year… it hasn’t stopped. Can you name even 1 drama a woman wasn’t involved?

[@Avrelivs_Gold]

it's not a bad thing for short time investors... they squeeze every last coin just to move on to next victim

[@GardeDuCoeur]

Only 5% are developers? 😮 Now I understand why blizzard have become so shitty 😂

[@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

[@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.

[@danielsebastian6181]

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

[@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.

[@dziku2222]

Rewarded for OUTPUT not outcome? In that case, how can an amateur 3d modeler or animator make a model or animation in a span of week or two, and multi-bilion dollar company full with crew are still reusing rigs (so skeleton on which model is animated) from Classic and TBC to this date and reuse models from previous expansions over and over again? How come we get 3.5-4 locations every expansion, instead of 6? Why are gameplay developers instead of adding new features to the game add borrowed power under A NEW name and pretend it's something new? Where is the OUTPUT? I'm not talking about quality here, I'm talking about sheer numbers.

[@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.

[@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.

[@roythomason1921]

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

[@javazombi]

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