An insider report points to profound changes at Blizzard. The influence and austerity measures of Activision are said to significantly affect morale there. In particular, the Overwatch League seems to be under pressure and facing a difficult situation.
Where does the information come from? Season 3 of the Overwatch League starts in February. This is considered to be Overwatch’s “decisive season.” However, before the start of the season, it is evident that there are serious issues with the league. Two of the top casters have left the Overwatch League. Additionally, key executives have left throughout 2019.
The award-winning e-sports journalist Richard Lewis has conducted interviews with Blizzard employees and documented them in an insider report for dexerto .
Employees were laid off and replaced with cheaper ones
What is the problem at Blizzard? According to reports, the mood at Blizzard is “at rock bottom.” The tipping point came in February 2019: At that time, Activision Blizzard announced it would lay off 800 employees, while it was also stated that the company had achieved record revenues.
In the months since, new hires have been made, but at lower salaries. A Blizzard employee is quoted with this statement:
Everyone in the company knows exactly what is going on. Everyone with a cushy contract has been maneuvered out and replaced by a new hire who got the exact same job a few months later.
Anonymized Blizzard employee
Employees in Paris were offered to relocate to Ireland and work in Cork, knowing that hardly anyone would accept this offer. This way, they had a pretext to lay off employees without clashing with the unions.
Moreover, there was uncertainty among employees following the announcement that so many jobs would be cut: People knew that a third of the positions were being eliminated but did not know if their job was among them. This significantly affected morale.
Post-layoff personnel problems have led to employees
- having to fill various roles
- working across multiple projects
- having to fill the gaps
At the same time, Activision Blizzard has proven to be stingy. An employee says:
Activision has cut performance bonuses and perks. There’s no chance they can compete with the money Epic Games is spending. Simply put: They think everyone is replaceable, maybe except for Bobby Kotick.
Anonymized Blizzard employee
Activision aims for maximum profit from Overwatch League
These are the effects on the Overwatch League: The Overwatch League is about to start Season 3 on February 8. It is said that the pressure is high, as the league should now generate profits after high investment costs.
Companies have invested a lot of money into the league and now they want to see results.
It is said: The Overwatch League needs “big sponsors, large viewership numbers, and flawless broadcasts.”
This has led Activision Blizzard to view the Overwatch League as a “top priority” – only the executives have no idea about e-sports.
A member of the broadcast team says:
It’s telling that there’s no one who feels at home in e-sports, starting from the “Director” level or higher throughout Activision Blizzard.
Anonymized member of the Overwatch League broadcast team
The central figure here is identified as Pete Vlasetelica, who comes from traditional television. He was previously in leadership at Fox Sports. A source of the report says:
People are really tired of working for Pete Vlastelica. The focus is solely on commercializing e-sports rather than creating good programming for the community. Many people internally blame Pete for this and it has destroyed the morale of the teams in Overwatch and Call of Duty.
Anonymized employee
The loss of Nate Nanzer to Epic Games triggered a chain reaction at Blizzard that led to further e-sports experts leaving the company. He protected the Overwatch League from excessive interference from above becoming a problem.
Without Nanzer, this interference apparently intensified: As a result, prominent casters, the figureheads of the Overwatch League, left.
Activision’s austerity measures affect Blizzard’s culture
What’s behind this: All this information aligns with a trend that has been observed for several months. For example, in recent months, the European community managers working from France have announced their departure. The positions are apparently not being filled again.
There are rumors that Activision Blizzard is pursuing an austerity program on everything that is not directly related to the development of new games. Meanwhile, some of the top developers have left Blizzard.
This austerity program is particularly evident in e-sports:
- in December 2018, the “Heroes of the Storm” e-sports were scaled back
- throughout 2019, key “e-sports” experts left the company
- there were unfortunate shitstorms throughout 2019 that more experienced employees would likely have avoided
There are apparently high expectations for the Overwatch League to flourish in 2020, but the pressure from Activision meets increasingly poor conditions. Issues are emerging.
