Think we are about to see another wave.

[Ronduwil]

FF14 is actually a good example in this case. We've heard MMO's are a dying genre, games have a limited lifespan and that people will always take abuse from big developers. But this game is an MMO, that's getting on in years, with developers who have a passion for their game ...and we're having a massive spike in subscribers while the larger game with arrogant developers is crashing.

That's because this game's developers respect their players, and we respond to that. When there are delays, we don't get long silences followed by lame excuses. We get ongoing updates with credible explanations and realistic projections. When there are complaints, we're not gaslighted with laughable explanations like, "It's mostly a skill issue." We're given an explanation of the intent behind the current design along with plans to try and address areas where the intent has fallen flat. Given the scorn that Blizzard has publicly shown their players, it's no surprise that they disrespect each other behind closed doors as well.

[Larirawiel]

Here is a good explanation why many content creators and players quit the game:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ6w--GhpaM


Cheers

[Shougun]

Response from Bobby (CEO of Activision Blizzard):

This has been a difficult and upsetting week.

I want to recognize and thank all those who have come forward in the past and in recent days. I so appreciate your courage. Every voice matters - and we will do a better job of listening now, and in the future.

Our initial responses to the issues we face together, and to your concerns, were, quite frankly, tone deaf.

It is imperative that we acknowledge all perspectives and experiences and respect the feelings of those who have been mistreated in any way. I am sorry that we did not provide the right empathy and understanding.
Many of you have told us that active outreach comes from caring so deeply for the Company. That so many people have reached out and shared thoughts, suggestions, and highlighted opportunities for improvement is a powerful reflection of how you care for our communities of colleagues and players – and for each other. Ensuring that we have a safe and welcoming work environment is my highest priority. The leadership team has heard you loud and clear.

We are taking swift action to be the compassionate, caring company you came to work for and to ensure a safe environment. There is no place anywhere at our Company for discrimination, harassment, or unequal treatment of any kind.

We will do everything possible to make sure that together, we improve and build the kind of inclusive workplace that is essential to foster creativity and inspiration.

I have asked the law firm WilmerHale to conduct a review of our policies and procedures to ensure that we have and maintain best practices to promote a respectful and inclusive workplace. This work will begin immediately. The WilmerHale team will be led by Stephanie Avakian, who is a member of the management team at WilmerHale and was most recently the Director of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement.

We encourage anyone with an experience you believe violates our policies or in any way made you uncomfortable in the workplace to use any of our many existing channels for reporting or to reach out to Stephanie. She and her team at WilmerHale will be available to speak with you on a confidential basis and can be reached at ATVI@wilmerhale.com or 202-247-2725. Your outreach will be kept confidential. Of course, NO retaliation will be tolerated.

We are committed to long-lasting change. Effective immediately, we will be taking the following actions:

Employee Support. We will continue to investigate each and every claim and will not hesitate to take decisive action. To strengthen our capabilities in this area we are adding additional senior staff and other resources to both the Compliance team and the Employee Relations team.

1. Listening Sessions. We know many of you have inspired ideas on how to improve our culture. We will be creating safe spaces, moderated by third parties, for you to speak out and share areas for improvement.

2. Personnel Changes. We are immediately evaluating managers and leaders across the Company. Anyone found to have impeded the integrity of our processes for evaluating claims and imposing appropriate consequences will be terminated.

3. Hiring Practices. Earlier this year I sent an email requiring all hiring managers to ensure they have diverse candidate slates for all open positions. We will be adding compliance resources to ensure that our hiring managers are in fact adhering to this directive.

4. In-game Changes. We have heard the input from employee and player communities that some of our in-game content is inappropriate. We are removing that content.

5. Your well-being remains my priority and I will spare no company resource ensuring that our company has the most welcoming, comfortable, and safe culture possible.

You have my unwavering commitment that we will improve our company together, and we will be the most inspiring, inclusive entertainment company in the world.

Yours sincerely,

Bobby

One may be pressing a firm "doubt", given how Activision operates normally (at least from an outside appearance, given some employee feedback, and a sense of 'money first and if the game was good that was a happy coincidence' vs 'we must make a good game, and as a consequence of that we're going to make money'), but it would be nice if Blizzard could turn this around (and maybe everything said above which sounds nice is exactly what is going to be done, cynicism is easy to have, so I hope all is done and meant well). After the required proper internal reflection, specifically emphasis on internal- seems like those obsessed with external reflection (stuff that is consistently akin to moral preaching) are the ones we should be avoid listening to because it is at this point seeming like a flare sign for a call for help rather than someone to lead an issue (other game companies, and companies in general, following this trend of shouting about an issue they're not practicing in even the vague slight essence- which isn't to say "don't reflect", far from that, more that leading by example is one of the most powerful ways to be a leader, and leading by shouting is just more of a nuisance and at this point a tell-tale sign of internal issues).

I don't think it's a good thing if Blizzard bites the dust, it would be nice for those employees that deserve to be there to have the work environment to thrive, and of course for gamers, in general such things can act as inspiration for other companies (like FFXIV might both be inspired by some of Blizzard's work, as Yoshida has said, and as FFXIV also inspire others, including probably Blizzard themselves).

In some ways it's like... yes... I hope FFXIV gobbles everything like a blackhole, muahaha, and then Yoshida and team (always important it's more than just one person lol) takes all that money to make more great games and particularly invest into bigger ideas / general employee comfort (not arguing for some top exec to make another mil on their mil), but it's not really that simple and overall only one thing in the sky is a relatively boring sky. It'd be better if we've more stars- successful happy stars (both player and employee) and not less.

[ItMe]

Anyone know how the strike is going?
Last I heard Blizzard was forcing the strikers to use up paid time off while striking.

Also, any WoW content creators that have started making compelling FF14 content?

[TeraRamis]

In some ways it's like... yes... I hope FFXIV gobbles everything hope like a blackhole, muahaha, and then Yoshida and team (always important it's more than just one person lol) takes all that money to make more great games and particularly invest into bigger ideas / general employee comfort (not arguing for some top exec to make another mil on their mil), but it's not really that simple and overall only one thing in the sky is a relatively boring sky. It'd be better if we've more stars- successful happy stars (both player and employee) and not less.

I think Blizzard is beyond saving - at least in a moral and creative sense - and has been for a while. They are simply bankrupt when it comes to spirit and soul.

I also don't think this will in any way be the end of either Actiblizzion or WoW - there are just too many people who can't seem to quit, despite the fact that the latter is an almost appallingly bad game at this point.

Either way, it's not keeping me up at night. I'm sorry the young woman took her own life - that is horrific. I'm sorry that the Blizzard that once was - from a creative standpoint only - is little but a desiccated corpse. I'm sorry that a number of MMORPGs that were probably better-designed than WoW - and certainly had much healthier work environments for their development teams - bit the dust for years while Blizzard wallowed in luxury and perversion. I'm sorry that a sinister snake like Bobby Kotick isn't rotting in some windowless cell. But, ultimately, I've washed my hands of the entire thing, and there's nothing else I can do but boycott... which is the exact same thing I'm doing with Coke, the NFL, the Olympics, and about a half dozen other prominent brands.

[Shougun]

I think Blizzard is beyond saving - at least in a moral and creative sense - and has been for a while. They are simply bankrupt when it comes to spirit and soul.

Minus the moral part, one might have said similar things about FFXIV on release.

Sometimes something wont get the energy it needs to revitalize, but it's not something I root for. Especially if some are willing to do the work, I'm sure many who work at Blizzard currently would love to continue working there but with an improved work environment. Part of what makes the FFXIV team so endearing is that legacy and way of going about it, FFXIV team generally sending a message of "I wont give up with you at my side" type of sentiment (which causes players not to want to give up on them and offer them good will, as long as it is reciprocated back and forth it's very heartwarming, one sided and spending good will of course turns it into a sad toxic relationship for either party). Moral issues for blizzard makes this a whole new type of issue to fix, than FFXIV's, but if they can do it then that's wonderful for the employees (and therefore for the players).

On boycott I've already the games and purchases I want from Blizzard at this moment (which is stuff Diablo 3 and previous), so .. there is no real boycott for me to have (and I don't subscribe to WoW), but I would follow and see how things are handled. It may impact Diablo 4 purchase depending. Their 5 step plan has the potential to make big changes, like I said in that post the internal reflection is key. Given the will of enough with power there seems to me to be a way. Again, sans moral problem, FFXIV had massive issues that one might just say "wow, that's unsave-able" but someone decided to give power to the will and found a way.

[Enla]

Also, any WoW content creators that have started making compelling FF14 content?

*Asmongold is making some decent content on the youtube front and basically made a bet recently to complete one of the Ultimates before EW is released. Given that he isn't finished with ARR yet that essentially means that unless he skips ever cutscene he's going to be playing FFXIV almost constantly for the next month or two.
*Richwcampbell has basically turned full on FFXIV devotee and just reached SB yesterday before trying T9. He's genuinely worth watching because the story has fully hooked him and he seems to show a huge level of appreciation for the community. There's some iffy people in his chat like Asmon, but overall it's been a fairly positive experience watching him play.
*On a smaller scale, Jesse Cox has been here for over a year and has made compelling content for awhile now. He recently put out a comparison video contrasting the two MMO's and streams FFXIV almost daily.
*There's multiple smaller creators putting out youtube videos as well. In fact there's a HUGE boom in reaction content now for the game from WoW Refugees over on youtube. Many are documenting their journey day by day like Medieval Marty.

Not very many of them have hit endgame after seeing the kerfuffle with that Quin guy, and thus not many are in a position to actually talk about current content. If you're looking for the chance to watch people enjoy the story and old raids though there's plenty to find. I expect about a fourth of them will likely keep up that momentum till endgame and potentially make the switch to being FFXIV content creators instead.

[Vipes]

Anyone know how the strike is going?
Last I heard Blizzard was forcing the strikers to use up paid time off while striking.

Can I get a source for that? Because if that’s happening then blizzard can screw off even moreso.

[Enla]

Can I get a source for that? Because if that’s happening then blizzard can screw off even moreso.

I can't find too much confirmation as to whether or not this eats up their existing PTO or not. But yeah it's been seen as them taking PTO.

[Shougun]

I can't find too much confirmation as to whether or not this eats up their existing PTO or not. But yeah it's been seen as them taking PTO.

Probably not there when you first read it but in that post there is now:

Update: Blizzard senior software engineer Valentine Powell says the World of Warcraft leadership team will pay employees for the time they spend participating in Thursday's walkout.

"Our leadership on the WoW team has worked with us over the last week to respond and start taking action," Powell tweeted. "In addition to this message, crafted in large part by the non-men across our team, our leadership has also agreed to pay us for the time we are taking off for our walkout and committed to allowing leads and managers to participate in the strike without fear of recrimination. I see this as the first step toward them being willing to speak with their actions."

Additionally, Axios reports that Activision Blizzard as a whole will grant extended paid time off to employees participating in Thursday's walkout.