The day will come when an actually really good new mmorpg will come out and then at last we can all ditch Activision Blizzard forever, the company who sold their soul to the devil a long time ago.In the meantime, don't give them any unnecessary money (don't buy character services, don't buy shop mounts etc) and enjoy what you can.
They don't care, all they care about is kissing China's arse........I've been playing WOW for over 10 years, never have I seen a company go to hell so quickly as I have watching this constant greed based drama play out.
Weird. I wonder why Blizzard is looking to move its offices from a country that is known for its strong worker protection into a country (particularly, a city) that’s about to lose a bunch of worker protections and is full of billionaire money exploiting lax business and trading rules?It's inexplicable, really.
I'll be up front and say I don't like Jason Schrier. I didn't like him when he was at Kotaku either, as the only content he seems to pump out is for a singular company. I would like something more, maybe other companies or franchises, but he's deadset on blizzard. There are other companies who mistreat their employees and have shifty reps, some of whom we adore even though they time crunch their employees hard.I also feel he is very disingenuous. Fair wages are a big problem, but Blizzard is a California based company. Anyone in the United States knows how expensive California is, with unrestricted rent control and an extremely high cost of living. As someone who as lived there for a long period of time, a fair wage (to live on, where you don't need to worry about missing a rent payment or not being able to afford basic necessities) won't come unless you manage your money, or work at one of the major tech companies--who will still crunch and abuse you just as hard, that's just a given--but he never touches on that. I wish he would, instead of riding the Blizzard hate-train for clicks. He should see how badly Amazon treats its employees in California sometimes.Other than that, it really does suck the office is closing, as I heard support in the EU is sometimes a mixed bag with the various native speakers and customer support being drafted from different office to work with issues. I do think Blizzard automation has gotten a lot better, though. You can submit a ticket, click a few prompts, and unless you want a refund the game will usually handle it for you.
Good-bring those dollars back into the US
Bobby needs more money i guess
sigh*
If I ran a business, I'd be doing everything possible to limit my EU footprint too. I'm not saying it's "right" in some universal moral sense, but it's logical from a business standpoint.
I hope Blizzard splits with Activision. I'm too immature to give up Shadowlands since I feel so invested in it now. The more news I see about the business side the more it detracts from my ability to enjoy what I play. I just can't ignore or downplay what's going on in the games industry anymore. I believe I will have to prepare myself to stop playing all Blizzard games by the end of Shadowlands unless I see something meaningful happen. If I care about how my food is produced then I should also care about how my games are made. Not too long ago I was getting tired of reading and listening to all the news about the business side of WoW when all I wanted was the latest scoop and details on Shadowlands beta, but I've come to realize that it's because it has gotten to a point where the noise is uncontainable and seeping into all facets making its way into our ears. Listen and consider for oneself what to do going onwards.I type this out so I can't go back on my word later. What I've seen and noticed this is where I'm at. Might have been a combination of this kind of news along with the mood I'm in this morning that caused this post to happen. Maybe this block of text might help someone else like how there's much to glean from other comments as well. The kind of folks who open up articles like this and also read/post comments. Cheers.
Sad for the employees. Not sad for my ATVI stock.
Shadowlands will be the last wow expansion, have fun
RiP customer services. Prepare for indian accent.
Not good news for us Europeans, I can see some more decline in communication and quality of CS in our region.
I hope Blizzard will get their heart back.... I dont think any man is worth the salary that Kotick is getting. Maybe use that money to hire some more staff? Create better games and environement for their employees? nah, the top is too greedy for that.