I am amazed at the mental gymnastics people are performing.
“The only reasons possible someone with 30+ years working at the same company would leave is because he wants off the Titanic. Retiring is not an option”
I have yet to see any evidence that Activision has told Blizzard they must start pumping out new IPs or else.
Some where between it wont to very badly. The big risk is the loss of key institutional memory. Like if they accidentally let everyone go that knew how the net code worked.
If Beta For Azeroth is anything to go by… half that group was already let go.
I would be extremely surprised if anyone that has anything to do with WoW from a creative/technical side gets let go.
I am sorry, my dear, but what in blazes are ya effing talking about?
This has nothing to do with WoW, you don’t get hit with $400 million in taxes and fees all at once if you have been paying them as you should. We (USA) have the lowest effective tax rate on corporations on the planet and Activision STILL managed to fail to pay 400 million in back taxes and now the game that raise some of us since childhood, that we bonded with our parents over, that we played with our friends on.
And who’s fault is that? Did the hundreds of programmers and artists who tossed their most valuable years into the blender for Blizz syphon 400 million and throw it in the garbage? Did 26,666,666 players (400 million divided by 15 dollars per player per month) somehow get free game time and nobody noticed?
No, these were executives, people who get paid and contribute nothing of their own wanting a third yacht, and we are all going to lose Azeroth because of some greedy jerk who doesn’t give a damn about our home.
Capitalism has failed. Blizzard should be owned by the workers, not some rich sod who has never marveled at a video card or took in the Throne-room of Lordaeron. If workers owned Blizzard, NONE of this would have happened.
But let’s give the CFO fifteen million dollars on top of his mil-a-year salary.
Corporations have some really stupid priorities.
…but the CFO did not get 15 million dollars
https://www.pcgamer.com/activision-blizzards-new-cfo-is-getting-awards-worth-dollar15-million-for-taking-the-job/
![:thinking:](https://d38bqls1q93fod.cloudfront.net/en/wow/images/emoji/twitter/thinking.png?v=6" ":thinking:")
…did you read that article?
its like a 3 million dollar bonus (sure, still big), and the rest in stock options based on incentives he has to make…that he can’t even touch until 2020.
…That’s still a lot of money, ya dink.
So lets get mad at something accurate, instead of mad at something false?
Because if accuracy doesn’t matter, lets get mad at the CFO for getting a 80 million dollar bonus.
‘Awards worth 15 million’ isn’t inaccurate, now go nitpick elsewhere.
And its also incentive based. Meaning he has to perform very well as a CFO to get it all. Its not just being handed over blank-check like.
I don’t know why we hate the truth so much.
15 million dollar bonus is a HUGE difference from 3 million dollars and incentive based stock options
If you don’t understand why laying off this many people, but paying one man who already makes a million a year with awards that estimate around fifteen million, be it money, stock options, or whatever - be it based on performance, personality, achievements, ect - then you’re not worth talking to. You missed the point entirely. I’m done humoring you.
…if I don’t understand something that had literally nothing to do with what I was talking about?
Sheesh. All I said was to get mad about the facts. And that facts > spreading misinformation.
While CFO bonuses are extremely common in every single industry, I agree this one was a bit mistimed. But that is no excuse to purposely promote spreading false information just because you don’t like it.
Literally my only point is “lets get mad at the facts”
From what I’ve heard developers are probably safe since Activision wants to churn out as many games as possible as quickly as possible, but customer service and QA will probably get cut way back.
This mindset is part of the problem. We criticize blizzard because we know they can do better. We love this franchise. It has done well int he past. The current leadership is throwing it all away in an effort to double down on mistakes instead of admitting they are wrong and making the correct changes no matter how much it hurts them in the short term. Sure doing what is needed will hurt a lot but continuing down the path they are they are just going to end up killing the entire company instead of taking the pain and moving on to heal.
Most executives in any company are directly involved in what that company produces, and have absolutely no power over (and little if any insight into) the management of tax liabilities.
“I don’t actually understand capitalism, or socialism, much less how either is variously practiced in variant or hybrid around the world.”
See those executives getting tens of millions of dollars in money and share bonuses as both salaries and sweeteners? They’re the ones who get to decide what happens. Perhaps that’s why even if they get cut, some of them get more in severance when they do leave than most employees earn in their entire career.
Basic rules of capitalism, nothing specific to any one company.
Its funny because what he is asking for is literally whats happening…but at an even stronger scale.
The 15 million dollar bonus? Its only a 3 million dollar bonus unless the CFO gets results.