A Formal Thread about Activision/Blizzard

[BrawlMan]

Fuck off.

Embattled Activision Blizzard to employees: 'consider the consequences' of unionizing

Union supporters say the companywide email to employees of the video game giant is an effort to intimidate workers into dropping the union push amid a sexual harassment and equal pay controversy.

www.npr.org

https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2021/12/09/activision-union-strike-fund/

Activision Blizzard Releases First-Ever Representation Report, Says They Must Do Better | MMORPG.com

Activision Blizzard has released the company's employment representation report for the first time ever. They cite current numbers, outline goals for change, and COO Daniel Alegre notes they have a lot of work to do.

www.mmorpg.com

Activision Blizzard makes diversity promises

Activision Blizzard makes promises for pay equity and greater diversity, hedges against expectations.

www.vg247.com

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Fuck off.

Embattled Activision Blizzard to employees: 'consider the consequences' of unionizing

Union supporters say the companywide email to employees of the video game giant is an effort to intimidate workers into dropping the union push amid a sexual harassment and equal pay controversy.

www.npr.org

"A union will take away your right to fight alone against a giant corporation with far more resources than you could ever hope to have. Don't let that happen!"

 

[BrawlMan]

I wouldn't make Halo Infinite multiplayer a shiny beacon. It only looks better in comparison to Vanguard. Take away Vanguard, and Halo infinite has its many own set of issues.

“Halo might help Call of Duty get our s**t together”: Fans unhappy with competitive state of Activision’s shooter

The Halo Infinite Championship Series 2021 at Raleigh has set records for the franchise, making it one of the more successful events in Halo history.

www.sportskeeda.com

Also, Halo ain't helping with shit; especially your shit.

Inside The Revolt That Led To Activision Blizzard Workers' Historic Unionization Push

Bosses could have forestalled unionization if they'd been communicative about Raven

kotaku.com

Activision Blizzard Devs Announce Strike Fund To Support Work Stoppage

The ABK Worker's Alliance is raising money as members walk off the job until their demands are met

kotaku.com

 

[Fallen Soldier]

Bobby Kotick is still in charge? Nothing will change until he resigns.

 

[BrawlMan]

Activision Blizzard: The Gaming Industry Giant (NASDAQ:ATVI)

Activision Blizzard is one of the giants of the industry, with a steady growth of key indicators. See why we rate ATVI stock a buy.

seekingalpha.com

Killing Raven Software won't change damn thing. Plus, show your respect you ungrateful shit heads. If you wanna get rid of someone, remove the snake by the head. Eliminate Bobby and his dick sucker board of directors.
https://gamingintel.com/warzone-fans-want-raven-software-replaced-new-developer/

Call Of Duty Fans Exasperated As Games See Big Problems For Days

Modern Warfare and Warzone players report crashes, bugs, and endless queues

kotaku.com

Call of Duty developer Treyarch responds to harassment problems at Activision Blizzard

"Our culture has no room for sexism, harassment, racism, bigotry, discrimination, or bullying."

www.axios.com

 

[bluegate]

Bobby Kotick is still in charge? Nothing will change until he resigns.

Nothing will change even if he resigns.

 

[BrawlMan]

Cut their guts open and bleed them out for everything they got.

Court denies DFEH objection to Activision Blizzard lawsuit settlement

Interestingly, though, the DFEH was invited to submit a "friend of the court" filing on Activision Blizzard's proposed settlement with the EEOC.

www.pcgamer.com

Fight. Keep fighting. Never stop.

Call of Duty studio issues statement following ongoing Activision Blizzard allegations

Treyarch pledges to be better.

ftw.usatoday.com

 

[BrawlMan]

Activision Blizzard Inc. stock rises Monday, still underperforms market

Shares of Activision Blizzard Inc. inched 0.45% higher to $65.45 Monday, on what proved to be an all-around favorable trading session for the stock market,...

www.marketwatch.com

 

[BrawlMan]

Well, that's not good. That rabbit hole just keeps getting deeper. The company is just full of assholes on the payroll.

Longtime Blizzard Employee Spouted Hateful Garbage On Discord Server

Geoff Fraizer expressed his disdain for LGBTQ+ folks, disabled people, and others on The Right Wing of Gaming Discord server

kotaku.com

https://www.thegamer.com/blizzard-veteran-geoff-frazier-sexist-transphobic-remarks-discord-server/amp/

 

[Buyetyen]

Well, that's not good. That rabbit hole just keeps getting deeper. The company is just full of assholes on the payroll.

Longtime Blizzard Employee Spouted Hateful Garbage On Discord Server

Geoff Fraizer expressed his disdain for LGBTQ+ folks, disabled people, and others on The Right Wing of Gaming Discord server

kotaku.com

https://www.thegamer.com/blizzard-veteran-geoff-frazier-sexist-transphobic-remarks-discord-server/amp/

Toxic work culture is never just isolated incidents.

 

[BrawlMan]

If it dies, it dies. I won't miss COD.

Warzone & competitive CoD are being killed by Activision’s obsession with money - Dexerto

Call of Duty: Warzone and multiplayer are dying a slow, but accelerating death due to Activision’s misaligned focus on short-term profits.

www.dexerto.com

Quit the league dude, and I find something better.

Nadeshot slams Activision’s handling of competitive COD: “I’m the fool” for entering CDL - Dexerto

100 Thieves founder Nadeshot put Activision on blast for its handling of the competitive CoD scene leading up to CDL in February.

www.dexerto.com

 

[Agema]

If it dies, it dies. I won't miss COD.

Maybe. But I used to play World of Tanks, and my experience that suggests to me many games are impressively resilient to even gross incompetence. Sure, I and many others depart. But evidently there were enough new players that they didn't miss us.

 

[BrawlMan]

Maybe. But I used to play World of Tanks, and my experience that suggests to me many games are impressively resilient to even gross incompetence. Sure, I and many others depart. But evidently there were enough new players that they didn't miss us.

I mainly wanted to paraphrase Drago as a joke, but COD can live or die, and I could not give much of a rat's ass. Though I prefer dead. Regardless, dead or alive, I find the franchise useless and not worth my time.

 

[Agema]

I mainly wanted to paraphrase Drago as a joke, but COD could live or die, I could not give much of a rat's ass. Though I prefer dead. Regardless, dead or alive, I find the franchise useless and not worth my time.

I might have played one years ago, but I'm not sure as I can't meaningfully distinguish it from Battlefield, Medal of Honor, or any of the other generic shootery things.

 

[BrawlMan]

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

 

[Samtemdo8]

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

And now we wait and see the long term effectiveness of this. Especially with the Microsoft situation

 

[Buyetyen]

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

A positive step forward, but there's still more work to be done. And the devs are going to have to fight tooth and nail just to protect these gains as is.

 

[BrawlMan]

Activision Blizzard lawsuit inches closer to trial with judge's decision to include temp workers

Activision Blizzard's lawyers had argued that the DFEH would have to file a separate claim for temporary workers.

www.pcgamer.com

 

[XsjadoBlayde]

It's genuinely impressive, well done ActiBlizz

Activision Blizzard sued by shareholders over Microsoft's buyout

UPDATE 9/3/22: Four more Activision Blizzard shareholders have filed lawsuits against the company over its planned acqu…

www.eurogamer.net

UPDATE 9/3/22: Four more Activision Blizzard shareholders have filed lawsuits against the company over its planned acquisition by Microsoft, bringing the total now to six.

Polygon reported that these legal notices take a similar stance as the original two filings - that Activision Blizzard's deal violates the Securities and Exchange Act (more on all that below).

In related news, three potential Activision Blizzard stockholders were today revealed as under investigation by US authorities for possible insider trading related to the deal itself.

Hold up, what's that sneaky lil' footnote there?

In related news, three potential Activision Blizzard stockholders were today revealed as under investigation by US authorities for possible insider trading related to the deal itself.

The grifts a keep a coming!

The US Justice Department and SEC are investigating potential insider trading connected to Microsoft's $69bn buyout Activision, the Wall St Journal has reported, and specifically the large bets placed on stock by three men, just days prior to the deal becoming public.

On 14th January, the men spent more than $100m on Activision stock options priced at just $40/share, underneath the company's then $63 price. In effect, they were already making a profit.

Four days later, on 18th February, Activision announced it was being bought in a deal worth $95/share. If and when this deal is ratified, the men stand to make more than $100m in profit.

Who are these men? There's former chairman and CEO of 20th Century Fox Barry Diller, music mogul and Dreamworks co-founder David Geffen, and socialite Alexander von Furstenberg, son of German Prince Egon von Fürstenberg. The trio are now being investigated as to how they knew each other, and what they may have known of Activision being acquired.

Barry Diller. Image credit: CNBC.

However, various details are already public. For example, it's interesting to note that billionaire Diller has served alongside controversial Activision Blizzard boss Bobby Kotick for years as a board member at Coca-Cola.

Diller and Geffen have been lifelong friends, the WSJ reported, and previously worked together. As for von Fürstenberg - well, Diller is now married to his mum.

"It was simply a lucky bet," Diller told WSJ. "We acted on no information of any kind from anyone. It is one of those coincidences."

Microsoft and Activision declined to comment.

Genuinely. Impressive.

[If you see another post that looks exactly like this one here, don't approach it, don't feed it, don't even make eye contact...it's not the real post, this one is. ]

 

[Eacaraxe]

Maybe. But I used to play World of Tanks, and my experience that suggests to me many games are impressively resilient to even gross incompetence. Sure, I and many others depart. But evidently there were enough new players that they didn't miss us.

Specific to WoT? And hell, you could say the same about any MOBA, but...it's more the case there are enough whales to keep the game profitable, and a "lively enough" competitive scene to keep a sustain the influx of seals to club. Even then, WoT's current player base is the smallest it's been since that major artillery nerf a few years ago that threw the entire game's balance out of whack.

I started around the time WG started offering premium ammo and consumables with silver. On one hand, you had the vets pissed that would wreck long-term game balance (which it didn't), the seals pissed premium ammo/consumables were ludicrously expensive and therefore not usable every round if you were buying with silver, and the whales pissed their advantages were no longer exclusive to them. So naturally, WG's response to this all was...start introducing overpowered tanks that made premium ammo obsolete, which were only accessible through in-game purchases and/or premium subscriptions on a realistic time frame.

That's not so much gross incompetence, as it is Wargaming knows who pays their bills...and that ain't the average F2P seal. WG's game balance and marketing decisions are hardly a recipe for good sustainment and population growth, sure, but that doesn't mean they're stupid. It means their business intent isn't sustainment.