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Blizzard President J Allen Brack's Letter to the Community Regarding 'Restructuring'

SBFordSBFord Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
edited February 2019 in News & Features Discussion

imageBlizzard President J Allen Brack's Letter to the Community Regarding 'Restructuring'

The Activision-Blizzard earnings call is history complete with the announcement that nearly 800 Blizzard jobs have been lost. Blizzard President J Allen Brack has posted a new letter to the community regarding the "restructuring" of the company.

Read the full story here



¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 


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Comments

  • Slapshot1188Slapshot1188 Member LegendaryPosts: 17,654
    edited February 2019
    The community's response to J. Allen Brack:

    .!. .!.
    [Deleted User]Kyleran3dominfomatzgastovski1Klikae

    All time classic  MY NEW FAVORITE POST!  (Keep laying those bricks)

    "I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator

    Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017. 

    Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018

    "Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018

  • Slapshot1188Slapshot1188 Member LegendaryPosts: 17,654
    "To assist with the transition, we are offering each impacted employee a severance package that includes additional pay, benefits continuation, and career and recruiting support to help them find their next opportunity."

    You mean because of the size of your layoffs you fall under the WARN Act and need to provide this to the employees...
    ZeddakisAlmostLancelotgervaise1MargraveBlueThunderBearSabracCazrielAragonitweedledumb99Whiskeydustand 11 others.

    All time classic  MY NEW FAVORITE POST!  (Keep laying those bricks)

    "I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator

    Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017. 

    Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018

    "Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018

  • XingbairongXingbairong Member RarePosts: 927
    Most of their games are "losing" popularity, because the top streamers that were playing those games aren't playing them anymore(Overwatch for example) OR the game are in a horrible state(WoW) and of course with the lack of hype while the games are still doing good it's obvious that there will be less of a craze to spend money on the games.

    Honestly I'm like 99% sure after Blizzard saw how Apex Legends is doing they are already developing a BR.

    They already threw their dignity out the window when they started moving their attention towards mobile games.
    SBFordThaharSabracCazrielValdheiminfomatzGdemamimarcio519gastovski1deniterand 5 others.
  • ErevusErevus Member UncommonPosts: 135

    "Our development pipeline is strong"

    :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
    AlmostLancelotSBFordThaharCazrielSabracinfomatzgastovski1ceh430Xingbairong[Deleted User]and 5 others.
    "Human beings make life so interesting. Do you know, that in a universe so full of wonders, they have managed to invent boredom. (Death)”
    ― Terry Pratchett,


  • gervaise1gervaise1 Member EpicPosts: 6,919
    edited February 2019
    erevus said:

    "Our development pipeline is strong"

    :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
    Which means what? Other than:
    • no frontline release for Blizzard in 2019
    Pipelines span years and not everything in them gets finished.
    SBFordXingbairongKlikae
  • AlbatroesAlbatroes Member LegendaryPosts: 7,671
    edited February 2019
    J. Allen Brack Tl;dr - They think they wanted their jobs but they really didn't. To be perfectly honest, I think Activision picked Brack since he's always been more in-line with how they think and handled business. Doesn't help that Morhaime left early as well, probably got tired of 'advising' walls.
    SBFord[Deleted User]
  • MargraveMargrave Member RarePosts: 1,371
    Letter from the devil means nothing
    KalebGraysonThaharGorweinfomatzgastovski1[Deleted User]Klikae
  • zaberfangxzaberfangx Member UncommonPosts: 1,796
    edited February 2019

    Arterius said:

    Screw this guy. Saying that I will not write off Blizzard completely. I know that if announced Diablo 4 today I would pre order in a heart beat.



    The way how things are going it will be a $60/$80/$200 game with a cash shop + season pass.
    [Deleted User]Klikae
  • DAOWAceDAOWAce Member UncommonPosts: 436
    Maybe they'll add their east coast servers back to their games after this layoff.


    Oh, who am I kidding.
    Klikae
  • FlyByKnightFlyByKnight Member EpicPosts: 3,967
    "Dear community,

    Remember all those people we just sh!# canned?

    Me neither..."
    image


    PalebaneMadFrenchieHatefullrojoArcueidmoguy1Ginaz[Deleted User]Klikae
    "As far as the forum code of conduct, I would think it's a bit outdated and in need of a refre *CLOSED*" 

    ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
  • foppoteefoppotee Member RarePosts: 537
    This is just not corporate restructuring. This is laying off to pay the way for the fat cats at the top of the corporations, some just recently hired, & the dividends for stock holders.


    Arterius said:

    Screw this guy. Saying that I will not write off Blizzard completely. I know that if announced Diablo 4 today I would pre order in a heart beat.



    Your the type of person that these corporations luv. Your Lemming devotion is what enables this behaviour.
    PalebaneGdemamiAlomar
  • Solar_ProphetSolar_Prophet Member EpicPosts: 1,960
    Fuck this guy. How about you take a fucking pay cut, asshole? How about you stop handing out 15 MILLION dollar bonuses to new executives?

    Take your letter and shove it up hard. I'm done with your company, not that you've made anything worth paying for in the last couple of years. 
    UngoodGdemamigastovski1Alomar

    AN' DERE AIN'T NO SUCH FING AS ENUFF DAKKA, YA GROT! Enuff'z more than ya got an' less than too much an' there ain't no such fing as too much dakka. Say dere is, and me Squiggoff'z eatin' tonight!

    We are born of the blood. Made men by the blood. Undone by the blood. Our eyes are yet to open. FEAR THE OLD BLOOD. 

    #IStandWithVic

  • tmanrocks999tmanrocks999 Member UncommonPosts: 10
    firing people because they want that money for themselves. each new release they do they demand more money from people every time. they should just shut down blizzard and sell there games to companies who would actually make the games great again KKona.
    Gdemami
  • AlbatroesAlbatroes Member LegendaryPosts: 7,671
    edited February 2019
    There is one argument they could make to save face if they did it quick enough. Towards the end of 2017 and early 2018 they were hiring a lot of people, so they could just say they noticed their staff was too high for what is currently being worked on. But lets be real, all of 2018 they haven't cared about people's perception of them....Lets not forget Brack saying why they marketed Diablo Immortal at Blizzcon: "We're trying to reach a new demographic that is mainly young adults and the eastern market with this Diablo title...." Anyway, I'm pretty excited for wow's first expansion being announced at blizzcon this year that will be for our phones.
  • UngoodUngood Member LegendaryPosts: 7,534
    Well.. Gonna be honest, I have no played a Blizzard game in years.  Nothing moral or principal based, just not into what they were making.

    I wish the people who lost their jobs, good fortune in finding a new one. All the best to them.

    While, it seems according to the letter, that the cuts were not development staff, not sure how they had 800 members of their team that didn't help make the games they have, but, that is what the letter said.

    Egotism is the anesthetic that dullens the pain of stupidity, this is why when I try to beat my head against the stupidity of other people, I only hurt myself.

  • CazrielCazriel Member RarePosts: 419

    DMKano said:


    FlyByKnight said:

    "Dear community,



    Remember all those people we just sh!# canned?



    Me neither..."

    image








    The thing is - game company employees are creative focused and this sort of cutthroat line simply doesn't work in such environment.

    This might work at an investment firm. But if CEO took that tone, he'd lose all employees within a year. No game devs will put up with that shit.



    Know a guy that worked at one of Blizzard's companies as a developer. It was shut down about a year or so ago. They just came in and said, "We're not making this game anymore." So the guy shrugs and gets another job. Now Blizzard is calling him and wants him to come back to work for them and he's about as interested in their job offer as he is in a week-old plate of spaghetti. Working for Blizz (ooo-aaah) only goes so far. Once you've been shat upon, it really loses its lustre.

    Companies that lay off people, especially massive layoffs like this one, never recover.
    WhiskeydustDhamon99infomatzGdemamiAlomarpsiicZeneren[Deleted User]
  • UngoodUngood Member LegendaryPosts: 7,534
    Cazriel said:
    Know a guy that worked at one of Blizzard's companies as a developer. It was shut down about a year or so ago. They just came in and said, "We're not making this game anymore." So the guy shrugs and gets another job. Now Blizzard is calling him and wants him to come back to work for them and he's about as interested in their job offer as he is in a week-old plate of spaghetti. Working for Blizz (ooo-aaah) only goes so far. Once you've been shat upon, it really loses its lustre. 

    Companies that lay off people, especially massive layoffs like this one, never recover.
    Given that moves like this are often done because the ship is sinking hard and fast, that makes sense.
    Egotism is the anesthetic that dullens the pain of stupidity, this is why when I try to beat my head against the stupidity of other people, I only hurt myself.

  • Viper482Viper482 Member LegendaryPosts: 4,101
    Any coincidence this happens after the BFA debacle? Poor decisions and not listening to customers gets you here. 
    Make MMORPG's Great Again!
  • PalebanePalebane Member RarePosts: 4,011
    I blame Pathfinder
    MadFrenchieKlikae

    Vault-Tec analysts have concluded that the odds of worldwide nuclear armaggeddon this decade are 17,143,762... to 1.

  • HatefullHatefull Member EpicPosts: 2,503

    Cazriel said:



    DMKano said:




    FlyByKnight said:


    "Dear community,





    Remember all those people we just sh!# canned?





    Me neither..."


    image













    The thing is - game company employees are creative focused and this sort of cutthroat line simply doesn't work in such environment.

    This might work at an investment firm. But if CEO took that tone, he'd lose all employees within a year. No game devs will put up with that shit.






    Know a guy that worked at one of Blizzard's companies as a developer. It was shut down about a year or so ago. They just came in and said, "We're not making this game anymore." So the guy shrugs and gets another job. Now Blizzard is calling him and wants him to come back to work for them and he's about as interested in their job offer as he is in a week-old plate of spaghetti. Working for Blizz (ooo-aaah) only goes so far. Once you've been shat upon, it really loses its lustre.



    Companies that lay off people, especially massive layoffs like this one, never recover.



    Completely false. In no way based on fact. Want to use Ford as an example? Yeah they refused a government bail out and instead laid of literally thousands to stay in business and recovered just fine. Now they are looking at laying off again, to the tune of 25K by some predictions. 25 thousand autoworkers out of jobs. GM is looking at the same thing. I could name more, the point is, lay offs and recoveries happen. They have happened in the past and they will happen in the future and many companies recover from it.

    This type of thing happens all the time...Artists won't put up with that...absolute bullshit, when they get hungry enough, they sure as hell will put up with it.

    It is sad, and it does suck, but it is not the end of the world, people get laid off daily, business exists to make money when that isn't happening, changes have to be made. You don't like that the exec's are still getting paid? well then start your own company and when it starts to fail keep the rank and file and lay yourself off see how far that goes. Life is not always easy and it is seldom fair, be prepared for that or be prepared to go hungry. Your happiness and comfort are not guaranteed.

    Could the execs ease the burden by taking pay cuts, sure, for a time, but once you gut your leadership there is very little chance for a recovery.
    GdemamiPhryjimmywolf

    If you want a new idea, go read an old book.

    In order to be insulted, I must first value your opinion.

  • EldrachEldrach Member RarePosts: 465
    People no longer play your games because they are old and haven't changed in any significant way to encourage people to come back. Release new games or perish.
    Alomar
  • cmacqcmacq Member UncommonPosts: 331

    Eldrach said:

    People no longer play your games because they are old and haven't changed in any significant way to encourage people to come back. Release new games or perish.



    Prolly This. Industry is at a crossroads right now, Adapt or Die...
    SBFord
  • UngoodUngood Member LegendaryPosts: 7,534
    Viper482 said:
    Any coincidence this happens after the BFA debacle? Poor decisions and not listening to customers gets you here. 
    BFA?
    Egotism is the anesthetic that dullens the pain of stupidity, this is why when I try to beat my head against the stupidity of other people, I only hurt myself.

  • Sykosematic1Sykosematic1 Member UncommonPosts: 3
    I guess the $7.16 billion they made in 2018 was not enough to share with their staff. Profits above all else.
    Cryomatrix
  • bcbullybcbully Member EpicPosts: 11,843

    DMKano said:


    bcbully said:

    #1


    Umm have we regressed to this?



    Haters gonna hate
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