Essentially there is 2 sides to this.
Activision wants Blizzard entertainment gone. But they want the MONEY. The FTC is blocking their sale. and So they are doing the Nuclear option to get the cash they WANT.
They know we, as the player base can just UP and leave, and their company has ZERO VALUE left to it. While at the same time, they NEED us unhappy, so the sale goes without a hitch. Since they want us to dislike the game enough, that they can shove it out the side door.
The flip side is. Neither side holding the keys to the castlle, will be GOOD. Except if they decide to seperate from Activision and stand on their OWN 2 feet. Which they will NOT do.
With the few amount of cars that are found around Blizzard Entertainment. The obvious issues is, they aren’t going to be around much longer. Its a sign that division is collapsing.
All-time player happy-ness is GONE. match maker gets "changed’ and the game becomes WORSE.
The game engine is now WORSE.
The quality of the matches is now WORSE.
1 ) Yes, this is being done ON PURPOSE.
2 ) They are firing staff and making cuts rapidly.
What they are setting up for, is the liquidation of the Division. They are like any other aquisition company. They want this division to fold in, so they can LIQUIDATE the property and come out ahead. And they WILL find a way to file an insurance claim on it and scoot the Security and exchanges commission for taxable write-offs and Bankruptcy. Since the FTC has told them “no” to the sale and their board + CEO wants the money.
They could care less about the feelings of us. So they are going to sink the ship, since they aren’t allowed to sell it.
Ethical and legal, probably not. But I have worked for a company that did the same thing. its quite something to watch the same thing unfold here. 1-2 years this will go under, they will declare bankruptcy and claim that "Customer satisfaction was below normal, nobody paid into their bad business model, so they need to liquidate and file.
