This is coming. They keep testing the waters to see what we will pay for. They have the 6mo sub tied to the high rez mounts. They tested us with the tmog set. They regularly put “Sales” on in game services to boost quarterly revenue. They now sell gold in game, via WoW tokens. They are adding more and more monetization to Classic WoW in TBC. Paid character copy. Paid Character Boosts ect.
More will come.
Layoffs are HOW you increase revenue. Besides, these were layoffs of salesmen, not devs.
Why on earth were YOU frustrated about news that had zero effect on you? Do you scan the news, getting upset about what everyone does?
I seriously can’t understand your “frustration”.
It’s good business practice to remove unnecessary expenditure.
Blizzard are doing really well. 9.1 is looking really good, I’d hoped they would make cov swapping easier but they didn’t. Apart from that it’s looking better and better each time
WoW has been around for 16 years. How long has this “they keep testing” been happening? Blame Blizzard for things they do, NOT for things you imagine they MIGHT do in the future.
You missed the point I was making to argue. I am betting that Ion and John have less control of how they can develop their game due to financial restrictions. If your budget on an ongoing project remains stagnant or decreases year over year, yet you are expected to increase your revenue year over year, it becomes a case of sacrifice. You have less and less ability to request more money now, for a larger payoff in the future. And nowhere in my post did I say that the head of software spends what he/she wants without limit. And I never said adding devs makes things happen faster. But, adding more programmers, graphic designers, riggers ect will turn out more assets for the product faster. It will cost more, but it will make things happen faster.
And I never said human beings are similar to glasses and silverware. I was using that as a similarity to budget management. So a design department has a set amount of money they can use to allocate labor to asset design. The Directors have to decide how to utilize those labor hours, and what is possible with that budget.
Silverware and Glassware. The example I used, was to elaborate on how the choice of where I could allocate the budgeted spend for that department. What I would have to sacrifice ect.
You are too quick to argue.
Why are you so angry and confrontational?
Im not imagining anything. Over time they have implemented more and more monetization. Mostly really nice convenience ones. But little by little over the years, they add more and more. Gradually up to selling gold in game via tokens. And the monetization of Classic/TBC WoW is a real thing. They are implementing it. And I will be buying a TBC boost.
I never once speculated on what monetization they may add. I just pointed out many of the options they added.
I have no idea what is causing you to be so confrontational.
Layoffs are not, in any way, how you increase revenue. They are how you decrease costs. You can increase your profit margin by cutting costs, but you will not increase revenue that way. You increase revenue by generating sales.
And where did you get the information that the layoffs were from the sales team? Im curious.
The layoffs may have been necessary or to a greater extent justifiable. The departments where the layoffs happened, were not producing the results that were desired. Or the departments fulfilled the goals set for the department and it ran its course. There could have been a hundred reasons. Or just one. But whatever the reason. Those positions were deemed not worth their cost.