At a time of unprecedented economic hardships and as we slowly tumble into a global depression, I'm having trouble working up a tear for underplayed blizzard employees. This is standard industry playbook.
Sounds like standard operating procedures of every large US company.Yes, it's scummy and terrible. I hope this causes some serious change for Blizzard, but we need larger systemic change in the US to make this kind of @#$% not okay. Discuss your wages openly, people. Hiding it only benefits your employer.
I agree Blizzard should pay their employees better and we also have to look at the other problem. California cost of living being the out of control monster that it is. Paying huge wages is not such a big deal for a company as large as Activision Blizzard, however , as a business in general its unappealing to have to give everyone six figure salaries in order to make "ends meet". That is what it would take for everyone to live comfortably as an employee in California, especially SoCal. So here is an idea. Blizzard move your campus to an area that is more affordable, offer incentives for your employees to move with you. Pay them better as well; I'm not excusing the fact that the employees are underpaid in the first place. This would solve many problems. They shouldn't be concerned about recruiting talent, they can do that from anywhere now. You don't need to be in Cali to be "in". That's my opinion on the matter.
So Jason Schreier got a job at bloomberg so he realized he could recycle old gaming stories? The fact Blizzard employees are underpaid has been well known in the industry for over a decade. The argument, right or wrong, has always been that employees accept that because having Blizzard on your resume looks so good. It’s not much different than an intern ship and is something most major companies do. I’m not saying it’s right or wrong but then again this isn’t about right or wrong it’s business. If you are unhappy with your current job or even career then you should always be hunting for new options and not just waiting for them to come to you. That’s the thing most people that complain about their job also aren’t seeking something better they are just sitting around waiting for it to fall in their lap.Blizzard employees are under paid and overworked, I’m sorry to hear that but that also describes 80% of the work force. If it’s happening and they are looking for something else then be patience and glad you have a job while you look, million don’t, and if it’s happening and they are not looking then that’s on them.
The most stressful thing is that if the bosses even get a whif of unionisation they will fire those people and get in new hires, and its totally legal, and they have probably threatened them with it hence why it hasn't happened yet.It's really depressing that these workers will lose their livelyhoods that barely make ends meet if they decide to stand up for their rights.
"What a shock," she said, filled to the brim with sarcasm.Activision is a plague and Kotick is an overpaid worm writhing on its bloated corpse. Sucks that even in a wildly successful company the ones who do the work are shafted. Hopefully this changes soon; I'm sure management won't like seeing their shiny new expansion left to rot during a strike. Hint hint.
Blizzard employees are underpaid but don't get it twisted-- half of the blame falls on the people working for them. Just some background because people are gonna wanna know: I graduated an arts and design program. Our program's co-director has a few contacts from a few of the companies out there, including Bungie, Riot, etc. This is what he's warned us about Blizzard-- They know you want to work for them because you love their games and want the name recognition. Just getting hired by Blizzard is the goal, moreso than an affordable wage. Blizzard doesn't offer much because they know they can lean into their name value, and because young artists and developers today are also just very bad at advocating for themselves and negotiating a wage that isn't garbage, or worse they don't even think about trying.Call Blizzard evil for not paying enough if you want to, but they're not getting any pushback at all from the people who have stars in their eyes. They know they don't have to pump up your pay because some schmuck is willing to get paid less just to say they work at Blizzard. This means every go-getter who is willing to negotiate is going to get passed up because Blizzard has a reliable stock of people who value the name more than their pay.Same problem in the comic book industry btw. Artists and writers get paid poorly because they just wanna be company men.If young professionals weren't too timid to say 'eff you, pay me', Blizzard wouldn't have all the leverage.
So leave and work elsewhere. You think a company that was making layoffs and record profits at the same time really care about staff?Activision care about shareholders, because that's who they're legally bound to please.
I would assume Lore makes more money streaming than in his CM job.
Sometimes I wonder how America became so absolutely screwed in the last 6 months and then I see the total lack of empathy for people struggling to pay rent and buy food who work for a company that shells out 40 million to one man in the comments here and I realize we deserve everything coming to us right now.
Well time for some YT monthly Blizzard hate vids, sorry to hear about the people pay but we all know the hate about to flow cause the name Blizzard alone, though i think this is happening in all entertainment aspect but i maybe wrong.
I find it interesting that it says specificly Blizzard employees are under paid and mention how Activision Blizzard made record profits.I'd like to know the hidden meaning behind the way they worded this article.
This is not unique or special to Blizzard. Every single tech company operates like this. At a LA based tech company I got a raise this year that actually put me under what i made last year including my bonus and the changes to our benefits. I pushed back and they increased it but not by much. The only way to make vertical salary growth is to change companies which is really sad and bad for the industry as a whole.
Lot of companies do this. It's not new. My position easily pays $20-25 starting at other companies in other areas. Mine? It's barely above minimum wage. I deal with criminal offenders every day. I run the risk of people walking in with a knife or a gun and shooting me every day I work and I barely make over minimum wage. I've also had to work through the pandemic because we're considered essential. Our compensation? $500 split across 6 checks that got taxed. I actually only got $499.98 before taxes so I got stiffed 2 pennies. I then lost about $150 to taxes. I stay in my job because I like it and (for the most part) I like the people, not because of the money. Granted, if I got offered one where I made twice as much, I'd take it ... depending on who my boss would be.People can complain about pay all they want, but there's always someone else who will do it for less. I could complain about getting $0.30 raises and my hours, but there would be someone else who'd gladly take my job and do it for less than I do. Would they do it as well? Probably not, at least not in the beginning.I'm rather surprised Blizzard sticks around in Los Angeles and doesn't just relocate to somewhere cheaper. Cheaper labor, cheaper taxes, cheaper rental costs, cheaper everything. The talent might not follow at least initially, but give a good enough incentive like covering moving costs and living expenses for the first 1-3 months and many would gladly move. It'd help other areas and give areas like Los Angeles the middle finger for being so expensive. Blizzard could then still pay the same wages, but due to being in a lower cost of living area, it'd work out better for their employees.
The lack of empathy displayed in this comments section is deeply saddening. It's easy to tell someone to find a new job or change their career. Even if you've done it yourself, not everyone has the resources available to them or the living situation where that is a feasible option. Why should we not be striving towards a society where people can do the work they love and get paid (at minimum) a living wage to do so? C'mon now, instead of sniping at people who are struggling to make a living, let's be more supportive. A rising tide lifts all boats, as they say.