The president Mike used to play WoW during work hours! :)
And I'm betting not a single one was Kotick's cult that ruined the company
Quite normal for tech companies right now. Overhiring during covid let to this.Riot did the same last week for example.
I love this! Shake things up Microsoft! Let's get the other blizzard games to the level that WoW is!
I wish we got more information, but at least there is a silver lining in Ybarra leaving.
We don't have to freak out every time a company downsizes. A lot of tech companies are doing it right now. This comes after pandemic overhiring and the current staff size just isn't right for the current environment in a lot of cases. I am surprised Ybarra chose to leave though. It seems sudden and wasn't something I predicted happening before the next WoW expac release was complete. Makes me wonder what's going on over there, leaving without an obvious replacement readied. Leadership has always felt so clueless and disconnected, from the games they create, at Blizzard. But maybe its really just a fact that no one seems to have any idea what's going on over there, even themselves. Who is steering this ship and where is it going?
what the who the ? what happened !
One thing I never understand about people on WowHead and other commenting websites:Why do people cheer and celebrate when people lose their jobs? Why are people hoping that Ion loses his job? Why are people wishing that others lose money, financial stability, potentially a home, and other negative implications from not having a job - all because they perceive their "video game" as worse than they remembered. Imagine you are in work and you are fired. Then you hear your colleagues celebrating - how disgusted would you be? I think it's disgraceful. Even if I absolutely hated the direction of the game, like in WoD, I never wanted developers to lose their job or cheer and celebrate when they were forced to leave.I think it's shameful for anyone to celebrate or wish it upon the developers or executives.Chances are, the game is still going in the same direction. The game you think will "magically" change over the next few months is still going to be as bad you remembered it - because it's not the game that's changing, it's your perception of it getting worse. I really hope people have a long hard look at how shameful their behaviour is, especially on a social media website where you know absolutely none of the people who will get fired.
I am going to assume some are the overlapping management due to merger, which is the "norm". But the rest? Eh...Plus the stepping down of those two is a bit strange, probably had some background deal with Microsoft in the first place months ago.
If these layoffs are normal then why would we see leadership resigning in response to them?