Yeah I know. I was upset about ATVI making them move to start with. This just drives home the point that there was no need to uproot people who could do their job anywhere there was a computer and internet communications.
People wondered why I never applied to Blizzard. I was NOT ever moving to CA and was not going to be at the mercy of a company/industry with a high layoff rate. It was bad enough as a govt contractor. At least I could do that on a flex schedule in a lower cost of living area. As long as my project was high quality, on time, on budget, that I met all my requirements and then some. They were happy. Customer is happy. Bosses are happy. I could work where I wanted except for travel and meetings.
I just can’t imagine the pain of selling my house, moving cross country, trying to live in such a high cost of living area, then getting laid off soon after.
Define “forced”. Like made it a condition of employment? I agree with remote work, but I don’t see “forced” here. My employer also took extraordinary measures during the pandemic, like telework. We all knew things would go back to something like the last 100 years of business practice when the pandemic was over. Meaning, back to work at the office the company paid big bucks for.
It was inevitable there would be some restructuring and subsequent jobs lost. Whether they’re trimming the fat or preparing for major changes remains to be seen.
While it sucks, its 1900 out of 22,000 total employees across its gaming divisions with most of those being impacted on customer service teams. Again, it sucks, but I’m not sure why this wasn’t expected when you’re acquired by a company that already has a pretty robust CS team. M&As like this routinely create areas of significant overlap and redundancy. Costs need to be cut somewhere to rein in what has probably been over-budget spending for a while now to ensure the company is able to move forward confidently into the future.
I definitely feel for these people and, after working for a big name like Blizzard, I have hope they will land on their feet quickly, but I do strongly believe the writing should have been on the wall for this one. I’ve managed to survive two mergers in my career in higher education thus far, but there was not a point that went by as they both started happening where I wasn’t concerned for my job security and where I wasn’t actively searching/interviewing on the side just to ensure I had a safety net. These layoffs always gut me emotionally, but I have to trust MS is doing what they are saying and supporting these individuals with severance packages and other services as they transition out.
So as long as you get yours, it’s fine then right? You realize a lot of people don’t even HAVE retirement because they can’t afford it and have to live paycheck to paycheck.
Brother. I work 60 hours a week in a field that has a life expectancy 10 years less than the average. I’ve made these sacrifices to have a retirement on top of giving up the money over the years each paycheck to contribute to my retirement.
If we’re going to take on the cares of the world, why aren’t we talking about the poor residents of Chad, Africa? They have worst problems there than layoffs and no retirement. Spare me your moral high ground.
I appreciate you not doing that. I am personal friends with the person and it was via friend only posts on FB. I didn’t even think about Twitter, but even so, I appreciate that.
The husband would always find me at BlizzCon as he attended and she would be there. I looked forward every year to her big smile when she saw me and the big hug I’d get. So it really sucks that this happened because they’re going to hurt and it’s going to make BlizzCon less fun because little moments like that are what really made the trip worth it for me.
Just thinking about it makes me want to cry a little because I don’t like seeing my friends in a hardship.
What happened to you? Like no reason to go and make this up. I’ve known these two since 2014 or 2015 and have been friends since. I only knew of the wife working for Blizzard, but I knew the husband attended BlizzCon.
I’ve also watch the journey of them becoming parents (twice) through social media.
Oh and the husband worked for Blizzard in the past, was gone prior to 2015 I think. I’m not going to inquire as it doesn’t matter.
But, yeah, it does suck for them because being @ Blizzard that long (over 10) and able to support 2 kids while husband does the parent job, and then losing it suddenly really sucks. And that’s only one household who has been negatively affected by this. I know others who were equally hurt, maybe even more.
My friend was so excited about this survival game, too. I could tell she wanted to talk about it, but could not talk about it. Guess we’ll never know what it was, at last for now.
Life happened. It’s sad that people lost their jobs but it’s the way of the world. Read a history book or travel the world and you’ll see that all this stuff we are discussing is relatively normal and mild compared to what is out there.
My job also deals in hardship. It’s colored my perception. Kind of like how a pediatric oncologist might find it hard to shed tears for someone diagnosed with restless leg syndrome. Restless leg sucks, but compared to what they see everyday? Relatively minor.
Also, the internet has made me cynical.
It’s just hard to watch people doom post on a cell phone made of conflict minerals and covered in clothes made in sweat shops. Those people actually have it rough. They would kill for a severance package.
Depends on what you’re doing but tbh, if it’s anything software dev related idk why you wouldn’t just continue on as an entrepreneur.
AI is going to be the savior of working class people not the oligarchy. The reason is it removes all the personnel leverage ($$$) that prohibits working class people from competing with the rich. If you work in software dev or plan on any intellectual property I would absolutely start using AI today.
When AI can make my models, help add fidelity to my artistic concepts, help write the code and handle the deploys I’m making my own games and selling them. It’s just a matter of time really.
My degree is in child & adolescent studies, goes into social work, education, psychology, and more. I’ve worked in social services for years.
I follow what’s going on around the world, and how horrible some people are. So I get it, but I’m not going to ignore the pain of others. If anything, I ignore my pain and try to heal those I can.
Don’t let it get cynical. The problems causing all of these hardships sadly seem to be related; the rich & powerful are to blame. They don’t care what happens to the average person whether it’s what’s going on in the Middle East or what corporations are doing here. Horrible people making decisions to benefit themselves while hurting others.
Can’t let it get to you and go Dark Side though. I’m going through my own struggles and it’s draining me daily, but I have to endure to keep fighting for others as best as I can.
