The Activision Blizzard Situation ¿Any Thoughts?

[Kurogachii]

Besides of what's known about the horrible controversy surrounding Blizzard, i'd like to start a conversation about the company itself and it's decline over the years, it kinda feels that they're going full EA in terms of milking games and making horrible decisions while at the same time having an incredibly loyal fan base.

 

Other interesting news surrounding the topic:

World of Warcraft players are staging in-game protests against Activision Blizzard

Bungie promises 'zero-tolerance' for harassment following Activision allegations

Edited July 23, 2021 by Kurogachii

[roadworx]

blizzard has always milked the shit out of games and made terrible decisions, just look at world of warcraft and real id respectively

 

as for the lawsuit, hopefully they don't just get a slap on the wrist and actually have some real punishment. people died cuz of this shit, a few million dollars in fines isn't gonna cut it

[Kurogachii]

6 minutes ago, roadworx said:

as for the lawsuit, hopefully they don't just get a slap on the wrist and actually have some real punishment. 

That's what i was thinking, microtransactions and mods prohibition is one thing, life and death is just another level.

[Jacek Bourne]

Something like this was inevitable. It just happens that now is the time. Hopefully they will get what they deserve.

[Murdoch]

I have never been a particular fan of any blizzard games. Activision distributed a few good games back in the day but I'm pretty sure I've not bought anything in a while. That said i have heard a lot and well it just seems like their management is deeply stupid and complete collapse is quite probable unless they change.

[Wavy]

Abhorrent. Stuff like this doesn't really surprise me when it's coming from Activision Blizzard and the best/only "real" way to protest against them is simply by not playing any of their games.

[omx32x]

people need to care more about the developers like seriously there are racism, sexual harassment, crunch culture with no overtime pay and in some cases even outright rape and people simply doesnt care

its like when jim stearling said on twitter how people forgot the ubsoft allegations when they saw the new far cry and people said that they needed to "move on" and that it "wasnt relevant" like wtf

hell i have even seen videos of people saying that crunch culture is good for video games by saying "oh great games have been made with it so its good for the industry" completely ignoring stuff like cyberpunk or other games that release completely broken because of it

[Teo Slayer]

Just don't play their games after what they've done, they deserve to burn in Hell

 

[TheMagicMushroomMan]

These days it seems that major developers with good morals are impossible to find. Nintendo is the only big corporation I can think of that still feels like they've retained the same spirit over the past decades. Not being a western corporation probably has a lot to do with that. Granted, you have some midrange developers like the Warframe folks who come across as good people. Activision, Blizzard, EA, Ubisoft, Epic, Bungie, and all of those assholes can blow each other. 

[hybridial]

3 minutes ago, TheMagicMushroomMan said:

These days it seems that major developers with good morals are impossible to find. Nintendo is the only big corporation I can think of that still feels like they've retained the same spirit over the past decades. 

 

I think Sega are mostly alright as well, and honestly I kinda prefer them as a developer over Nintendo in recent years. 

 

I don't have much to add to the topic, I've not played (more importantly, not bought) any games by these big and blatantly parasitic companies in over a decade now. And if people want to make a real difference, following my example wouldn't hurt. 

[Teo Slayer]

1 minute ago, hybridial said:

I think Sega are mostly alright as well, and honestly I kinda prefer them as a developer over Nintendo in recent years.

Nintendo makes better games than Sega nowadays, but Sega is a way better developer than Nintendo. Nintendo bans fangames, videos, music and whatever relates to them and that sucks. Sega does the opposite

[Murdoch]

OK so actually read the article. I did not at first because I was expecting it to be the usual Activision Blizzard nonsense but no, so very much worse. Bunch of juvenile dickheads. Is being professional and treating people with respect really so very hard? Am sure the perpetrators think they are the pinnacle of comedy to boot. Asshats.

[TheMagicMushroomMan]

17 minutes ago, hybridial said:

 

I think Sega are mostly alright as well, and honestly I kinda prefer them as a developer over Nintendo in recent years. 

 

I don't have much to add to the topic, I've not played (more importantly, not bought) any games by these big and blatantly parasitic companies in over a decade now. And if people want to make a real difference, following my example wouldn't hurt. 

Yeah I kind of forgot about SEGA, that's one part of the industry I've kind of missed out on. Good example though, another eastern developer.

 

Nintendo can be dicks about legality but banning a fangame that is a straight remake of a popular ip is at least understandable, and is a misdemeanour compared to stuff like this. I can deal with a developer being stingy about their franchises being used by people who are unauthorized depending on the situation.

 

There are still plenty of Nintendo ROM hacks to keep me happy.

[RileyXY1]

I sort of knew this was going to happen because I've heard a lot of bad things about Activision over the years, and that's not just shutting their studios down and/or turning them into support studios for Call of Duty.

[Major Arlene]

Given wider gamer culture on the internet that I've been exposed to in recent months, I'm sad, angry, but completely unsurprised.

 

I do hope that this becomes a turning point for the wider gaming industry. I don't know if unionization will occur/be helpful (having worked in retail and part of a union that union didn't do much). 

What I do hope is that California wins and Activision is made an example of how not to treat women in the gaming industry. I can't say much about individuals when corporate culture is informing them how they should act. I hope that EVERYONE involved is held responsible, top to bottom. 

I'm tired. But I'm going to hope for the best, here.

[printz]

10 hours ago, Kurogachii said:

Bungie promises 'zero-tolerance' for harassment following Activision allegations

I'm getting "page not found" from this link (see the OP, the hyperlink got lost with the quote); is it for everyone or just me?

Edited July 23, 2021 by printz

[Major Arlene]

2 minutes ago, printz said:

I'm getting "page not found" from this link (see the OP, the hyperlink got lost with the quote); is it for everyone or just me?

Here's an article that includes the lawsuit filing.

[Murdoch]

6 minutes ago, Major Arlene said:

Here's an article that includes the lawsuit filing.

 

“We value diversity and strive to foster a workplace that offers inclusivity for everyone. There is no place in our company or industry, or any industry, for sexual misconduct or harassment of any kind,” 

 

God damn. I get an involuntary twitch of rage any time I read corporate bollocks like this.

No you don't value diversity, inclusivity, nor do you give a crap about harrassment and misconduct. Well, until you got found out that is. Then it's generic buzzwords and talking points in a desperate attempt to make it look like you actually give a fuck. Nothing less than complete canning of every manager who let this idiocy slide would prove otherwise and yet I somehow doubt they have that level of courage.

[Major Arlene]

1 minute ago, Murdoch said:

 

“We value diversity and strive to foster a workplace that offers inclusivity for everyone. There is no place in our company or industry, or any industry, for sexual misconduct or harassment of any kind,” 

 

God damn. I get an involuntary twitch of rage any time I read corporate bollocks like this.

No you don't value diversity, inclusivity, nor do you give a crap about harrassment and misconduct. Well, until you got found out that is. Then it's generic buzzwords and talking points in a desperate attempt to make it look like you actually give a fuck. Nothing less than complete canning of every manager who let this idiocy slide would prove otherwise and yet I somehow doubt they have that level of courage.

 

This is literally a copy/paste of any corporation that gets found to be discriminatory- Amazon even went so far as to create an ENTIRE FAQ about the inclusive policies that they 100% do not support with their sweatshop warehouses. 

 

Corporations can all go be blown into the sun as far as I care. The people that hold onto the Gospel of Wealth ideas of "well the rich provide jobs so it's okay if they fuck up sometimes" are deluded as hell, at least in American capitalism. 

 

[Biodegradable]

Half the industry seems to be rotten to the core and rife with these kind of issues. Much like Rockstar Games and Ubisoft before them, Activision/Blizzard having the same issue with this kind of gross, negligent behaviour seems all too bloody common. Activision's own legacy of dog shit schemes and scuzzy behaviour, that feels like they're always copying notes out of EA's book, is much older than then what they've been doing nowadays. Considering this is the same company that routinely fires hundreds of employees every time they've released a new game to cut costs and give their executives another payrise, finding out the work conditions are utterly appalling in general seems like a no-brainer.  

Edited July 23, 2021 by Biodegradable

[Cruduxy Pegg]

EA are one of the few who treat their employees well. What do they have to do with this?

[The_Trve_Raith]

This entire situation has only proved even more why I pirate Activision games.

[Nine Inch Heels]

10 hours ago, roadworx said:

blizzard has always milked the shit out of games and made terrible decisions, just look at world of warcraft and real id respectively

I get the hate for blizzard, and it's well-deserved, but let's stick to the facts here... Claiming that blizzard always milked their games to the highest extent possible is easily proven false when you look at how long they've been actively supporting Starcraft, Warcraft 3 and Diablo 2 pro bono well before the MTX debacle started with both WoW and hearthstone...

 

Back then, prior to the "WoW days", the only way for them to make more money off a product they had already made was to create and sell "oldschool expansion packs" on store shelves, which were always decent value for money. Shit turned sour when Blizzard got gobbled up by activision, and started milking existing IPs like hearthstone and WoW for even more money...

 

In the early Hearthstone days, the first expansion was Goblins vs Gnomes, if memory serves... The game was out for about a year by then, if not longer, leaving closed and public beta aside... Once they realized that their first hearthstone expansion was a commercial success, they upped the pace, and started banging out expansions left and right to make a game that was always pay to win (raw deck strength), and partially pay2play (arena runs) even more profitable, but it didn't start like this right out the gate, they took their time with this...

 

All things considered, the problems really started ramping up when activision got involved... That doesn't mean blizzard wouldn't have caved in to investor's pressure on its own eventually, but that "fusion" was a catalyst that accelerated the inevitable by a lot...

 

As for the lawsuits... I, too, hope that blizzard is getting their spines plucked, but experience tells me that matter will probably be settled quietly and outside of a court room, because one thing the gaming industry does not want is a precedent where they're being held accountable for the shit that goes down behind their doors... I suppose we shall wait and see....

[Major Arlene]

15 minutes ago, Pegg said:

EA are one of the few who treat their employees well. What do they have to do with this?

No, they do not.

 

As it goes I also did a college thesis on EA about 5 years ago? And yeah, they aren't great, especially with the crunch culture ethic.

[Cruduxy Pegg]

17 minutes ago, Major Arlene said:

No, they do not.

 

As it goes I also did a college thesis on EA about 5 years ago? And yeah, they aren't great, especially with the crunch culture ethic.

 

You know. I'd rather keep distance from defending any of these horrible companies. Can't claim I've double checked any instance of people saying they were good employers either, could just be more stupid HR stunts by them. Especially since it is the one company that is constantly caught doing horrible things.

On topic the list of reasons to boycott Blizzard just continues to grow and grow. I don't know why anyone would continue supporting them without willful ignorance of their activities or sharing the same morale compass their CEO has - That is having none if it is still ambiguous.

[Vorpal]

Indie gaming scene and modding scene is glorious imo, there's no reason to support the AAA industry

[DSC]

The return of Doocialist Forums ^{I swear I'll try stopping using this pun...}... Damn, I couldn't agree more, this "we don't support harassment in the workplace" crap is just the Pride Month Capitalism thing going on once again. The "public relations" section of all those scummy businesses should just be renamed "Blatant Lies Inc.".

[BaileyTW]

Unsurprising but god fucking awful. You hear of this horrible frat-like shit everywhere and it's always overlooked or forgotten quickly. Hopefully the scum who did this shit and who did nothing about this shit get what they deserve.

[Kurogachii]

1 hour ago, DSC said:

The return of Doocialist Forums ^{I swear I'll try stopping using this pun...}... Damn, I couldn't agree more, this "we don't support harassment in the workplace" crap is just the Pride Month Capitalism thing going on once again. The "public relations" section of all those scummy businesses should just be renamed "Blatant Lies Inc.".

Lmao I personally didn't think this was politics related, if you want to know, i dislike all SJW and leftist conducts

 

But this situation is just common sense, harassment and racism is totally unnecessary!

 

 

[Azuris]

7 hours ago, Teo Slayer said:

Nintendo makes better games than Sega nowadays, but Sega is a way better developer than Nintendo. Nintendo bans fangames, videos, music and whatever relates to them and that sucks. Sega does the opposite

 

I think the truth isn't as black and white:

 

 

What i dislike about Nintendo, since the success with the Switch they took away some liberties from us customers, compared to the Wii U and 3DS and raised the prices.

Also, they have a very strong lobby in Japan, that brought up brutal copy right laws.

 

 

To the Topic:

 

A Court has to judge over it and speak them guilty or free.

 

Lastly People form Mobs against everything and and everybody and i feel more and more that we act as People did in the Middle Ages, hunting down "Witches"...