Figured we’d see Microsoft changes soon:
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It definitely surprised me to hear this. I really liked Ibarra for all the work he did in his tenure.
As for the rest, I feel for them. This sucks.
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Oh my.
I’m ambiguous toward Ybarra, but my heart goes out to those 1,900. I hope they manage to land on their feet.
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I feel some sympathy for Ybarra here.
He was put up as a mea culpa for the scandal, endured an incredibly tumultuous time in a crumbling office, oversaw some truly unpopular and low-quality games and still held it together. That’s a lot of doo doo to be piled on anyone.
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Fryisshocked.gif
But really, who didn’t see this coming?
As for Mike and Allen… meh? Let’s see what the next guy does. My prediction: more of the same.
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https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/other/microsoft-cancels-blizzard-s-survival-game-amid-layoffs-shifts-developers-to-one-of-several-promising-new-projects/ar-BB1hgb8V
Here’s a nice condensing of what this layoff consists of.
I feel awful for those who lost their jobs, hopefully they’ll land on their feet.
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Wasn’t Ybarra always going to leave since he worked at MS for over 2 decades – for his own career trajectory and sanity, him bouncing was inevitable IMO.
It doesnt look like the WoW teams were affected?
Saw some ppl from OW, that survival one and a bunch of CMs?
There’s been so many CMs axed over the years that I’m not convinced that they even exist anymore.
Unsurprising. One company buys another, roles are made redundant.
Sorry for those who have lost their jobs.
I was looking forward to that survival game. I’m now the sadge…
GFDI, Microsoft. You had one job and somehow screwed the pooch so badly Kottick looks average by comparison.
So much for the quality of WoW going back up.
Anyone know if there’s a fund or something for the sacked employees? I know how 
the welfare system is across the pond.
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This. Now that the smoke as cleared, it seems these layoffs have mostly impacted non-WoW Acti-Blizz games. That’s not to say WoW employees didn’t lose their jobs today, some absolutely did. But primarily other teams were affected.
Hearing that CMs were impacted is never great. Like QA, Community Management is one of the most important yet undervalued jobs in the industry and I feel that we’re still recovering from the mass CM layoff some years back.
Hopefully Microsoft’s existing customer service structure can fill in which Acti-Blizz CMs are gone, but we’ll see if that happens or this is history repeating itself.
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Were you seriously surprised by this? It’s M$. These cuts are probably only first wave.
I don’t want to know when blizzard fires people. I want to know when they hire a PvP dev who will crush the current gameplay loop into a thousand pieces. It’s time we stood up to these pve nerds. It’s time we ruined mythic plus. It’s time to put raids to rest. It’s time for PvP to reign supreme, so that blood and tears flow through the cracks and nourish the dying plants that are the community underneath the cement tomb of hamster gear grind content.
I am for that. Hell. Crush the whole game and bring in WoW2. Probably should clear out the pve devs, story devs, and whoever made Dracthyr while they are cleaning house.
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I don’t know, it’s possible Kottick would have cut twice as many people. Riot is laying off 530 people (larger percentage of staff than the 1900 from MS), Twitch is losing over 500 this month, Unity laid off 25% of its staff on the 8th etc.
I’d expect heaps more across many companies in the first quarter of the year.
Hope anyone affected can get into something new and fruitful ASAP.
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I’m really not sure why anyone is surprised at this and it has zero to do with “Microsoft is evil”.
This is just how a buyout / merger / acquisition works.
Once it happens, some roles are made redundant and parties are no longer needed.
Sure it sucks for the people losing their jobs, but no one should be surprised.
Also, what Sef says up there. A quick spin around the internet will show that gaming industry layoffs are on the rise and have been for quite some time.
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This is the age of Tender Blizzard, buddy. Your next battleground will involve writing thoughtful essays on how you can do better.
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Topsail casts Silence on Enekie.
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