J4MES OX4D 9,774 Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 CFO been fired, users down 10% and growing, key development staff being paid to leave for cost-cutting purposes with only Diablo Immortal and Warcraft 3 Remastered on the horizon. Activision have basically killed the studio in a matter of months. Paying talented staff severance and allowing them to walk to save money suggests they want to satisfy shareholders with immediate effect and then the future of the studio will be a small team producing shitty mobile games of their classic brands. I can't see many of the long-serving staff wanting to work on mobile gaming either and with a severance package on the hip and plenty of external opportunities; it wouldn't surprise me if most walked and the studio was then moved exclusively to Asia. It'll probably be Overwatch Mobile and a Starcraft card game next. Way to kill a iconic studio. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil bottle 9,552 Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 I believe the CFO was terminated as he has been tapped up by Netflix. Either way, troubled waters...Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazzaGarratt 10,862 Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 They've had a good innings in recent years, sometimes you find good companies are cyclical - 2020 they'll start to resurge me thinks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The3rdWalker 1,263 Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 Users are losing faith in the studio and the Battle For Azeroth problems were just the tip of the iceberg prior to Immortals. i7 7700k, 16GB RAM, GEFORCE 1080, 240GB SSHD, 2TB SSD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J4MES OX4D 9,774 Posted January 3, 2019 Author Share Posted January 3, 2019 3 hours ago, GazzaGarratt said: They've had a good innings in recent years, sometimes you find good companies are cyclical - 2020 they'll start to resurge me thinks. They've been a solid developer for 20 years and Activision have ruined them in a matter of months. If they do re-surge, it'll be a brand new team, in a new country working in a completely new market most likely mobile. Wont be the same at all. It is incomprehensible that Activision would sacrifice all their long-serving developers and the likes of Diablo, Overwatch, Starcraft, World of Warcraft, HoS and Heartsone to make Chinese knock-off games loaded with microtransactions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The3rdWalker 1,263 Posted January 3, 2019 Share Posted January 3, 2019 1 hour ago, J4MES OX4D said: incomprehensible Short term dollars are more important than a long term investment. The name of Blizzard will attract people regardless. However, with the mobile game archtype, gacha style entertainment or AAA titles riddled with microtransactions there's no reason for them to do any fans a service. If they were to lose Overwatch, and honestly OWL is not in a great place right now despite picking up expansion teams Blizzard would be toast. Heroes of the Storm was a game built to ride a fad and bled money. Their decision in the past few months was a long time coming and should not expect anyone. Hearthstone is seeing a steady decline as well as the card market is being saturated; with Wizards of the Coast getting into the business model with Arena it seriously hurts them while their pro community splintered to Artifact. Troubling times for Blizzard, interested to see what comes next. I would not put it past them to just become a studio to remake classics. Vanila World of Warcraft will print money. Starcraft BroodWar remaster printed money. Warcraft 3 reforged will print money. (They better have the in client tournament system) A Diablo Master Chest will print money while killing immortals at the same time. (D1/ D2 remaster) Your market is the APAC region. Losing the western market 25-40% will not worry them if they pick up the Chinese/ Japanese/ Korean market. (Their move to mobile and gacha is aimed towards that) i7 7700k, 16GB RAM, GEFORCE 1080, 240GB SSHD, 2TB SSD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J4MES OX4D 9,774 Posted January 4, 2019 Author Share Posted January 4, 2019 Another one gone https://www.gamespot.com/articles/more-shakeup-at-activision-blizzard-as-blizzard-cf/1100-6464156/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil bottle 9,552 Posted January 4, 2019 Share Posted January 4, 2019 Another one gone https://www.gamespot.com/articles/more-shakeup-at-activision-blizzard-as-blizzard-cf/1100-6464156/I'm confused. They had two CFOs? I begin to see the problem here [emoji28]Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J4MES OX4D 9,774 Posted January 4, 2019 Author Share Posted January 4, 2019 1 minute ago, phil bottle said: I'm confused. They had two CFOs? I begin to see the problem here Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk The first guy belonged to Activision Blizzard and the other person was Blizzard. Wonder if there's a 3rd that works for Blizzvision?😎 phil bottle 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil bottle 9,552 Posted January 4, 2019 Share Posted January 4, 2019 The first guy belonged to Activision Blizzard and the other person was Blizzard. Wonder if there's a 3rd that works for Blizzvision?[emoji41]Too many chiefs not enough indians [emoji28]Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk J4MES OX4D 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The3rdWalker 1,263 Posted January 4, 2019 Share Posted January 4, 2019 The face of Hearthstone left Blizzard some time ago. Looks like he and other former HS devs are pairing with Marvel. https://www.gamespot.com/amp-articles/a-new-marvel-game-is-being-developed-by-former-bli/1100-6464154/?utm_source=reddit.com GazzaGarratt 1 i7 7700k, 16GB RAM, GEFORCE 1080, 240GB SSHD, 2TB SSD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J4MES OX4D 9,774 Posted January 14, 2019 Author Share Posted January 14, 2019 https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/activision-blizzards-new-cfo-is-getting-awards-worth-dollar15-million-for-taking-the-job/ That's where our microtransaction money is going. Fuck the games - it's all about bonuses. Plumbers Crack 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J4MES OX4D 9,774 Posted February 9, 2019 Author Share Posted February 9, 2019 Hundreds set to lose their jobs https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/report-activision-will-be-hit-with-substantial-layoffs-next-week/ They are making cutbacks but the first thing they did when they hired a new CFO was pay him $15m for simply accepting the job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J4MES OX4D 9,774 Posted February 13, 2019 Author Share Posted February 13, 2019 800 staff laid off in total. That is a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazzaGarratt 10,862 Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 On 2/13/2019 at 3:45 PM, J4MES OX4D said: 800 staff laid off in total. That is a lot Looks like the start of something not so great for them. I've enjoyed the Blizzard side of games and hope they don't get hit too hard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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