Ashok Gupta
In a recent livestream on his “zackrawrr” Twitch channel, Zack “Asmongold” brought up an interesting topic of discussion when he reported Blizzard Entertainment lost several of its employees. This comes hot on the heels of Dragonflight, arguably Blizzard’s best expansion for World of Warcraft yet. Excitement is also boiling over for the upcoming Diablo 4.
The OTK co-founder reacted to a meme about Blizzard losing employees and then discussed the situation going forward. While the company has released some incredible content recently, Asmongold suggested that these talented people might be better off working at other companies like Riot Games or Square Enix. He did not hold back and said:
“Blizzard doesn’t pay for sex. Blizzard doesn’t pay a lot of money, and guess what? Well, you get what you pay for.
Blizzard Reportedly Loses Several Employees, Esmongold Gives His Thoughts
The discussion on Asmongold’s “zackrawrr” section started with a meme about “Blizzard’s 2023 playbook,” which shows the company making its best expansion since Legion, forcing everyone to return to the office. , and then losing all the employees. After seeing the meme appear on his stream, Zack remembered the reference and pulled up a thread in the World of Warcraft subreddit.
“Oh yeah! Let me show you guys this! There was a really big tweet.”
(clip starts at 5:18:30)
According to a Warcraft producer at Blizzard, the company is losing so many employees that teams need a “crisis map” to determine what they can and cannot do. They even have a literal schedule of doling out things as people hand in their notices.
In a thread on Twitter, the developer said that someone in power doesn’t listen to game directors, which has led to this problem. They just want to make great games but can’t do that if Blizzard gets rid of everyone who can do that.
Responding to the same, Esmongold mentioned Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick and said:
“So yeah, we’re not the rats in Bobby’s Labyrinth, it’s the employees. The point here is Riot largely got rid of its work from home staff. I think you have to return to the office in Riot as well.
However, even as Riot Games is bringing people back into the office, the makers of League of Legends aren’t seeing a mass exodus from the company. Asmongold addressed what could possibly be the distinguishing factor:
“If you work at Riot, you don’t have people on Twitter asking you how much bra* milk you drank today, or you don’t have people who are going to fuck up the next time an executive is upset. is done, or is arrested for some folly.
This was in reference to the many allegations made against Blizzard executives over the years. Esmongold said that these things are not happening at other companies, or at least, not to the same extent as they are at Blizzard.
“Basically, what I’m saying is it’s much better to work for a place like Riot or Square Enix than Blizzard. And it’s compounded by the fact that it’s so well known that even that people who know hardly anything about this stuff don’t pay for Blizzard. Blizzard doesn’t pay a lot of money, and guess what happens? Well, you get what you pay for you pay for.
The streamer said it was disappointing to see this happen and pointed out that the quality of Blizzard’s content could be affected due to tension and anxiety among team members. To conclude, he said that he is hopeful that the situation in the company will improve.
YouTube comments section reacts to Asmongold’s thoughts
Many commenters on YouTube weren’t particularly surprised by Blizzard’s poor treatment of its employees. This certainly isn’t the first time the company has been in the news for something incredibly negative. However, Blizzard’s games are still played by many people.
Some commenters pointed out that you can no longer treat employees poorly. Game developers will simply find another company that needs their services.
One person commented that it was shocking what some people would admit to in the workplace, highlighting Blizzard’s attacks in the past. However, some called the developers lazy as they wanted to work from home.
Not everyone in Asmongold’s comments section was convinced that people were only leaving to avoid “returning to the office.” Going back to the office just because of the lease, when work from home could be done, seemed wasteful to some. Some commentators were just glad that talented game developers are moving to other companies to make “better games” in the future.
Unfortunately, it seems that despite releasing a very popular and critically acclaimed expansion for World of Warcraft, Activision Blizzard has remained in the news for something negative.