MeinMMO-Demon Cortyn cannot understand Microsoft. Because a WoW team has been laid off, which has worked hard in recent years.
Currently, it is a really good time for World of Warcraft. Even though there are still a few small bugs and issues, Blizzard’s MMORPG is on a good path. The latest expansion was well received, there is more content than one can even work through, and the future looks bright. Or does it?
In the context of over 9,000 layoffs at Microsoft, it has now become clear that World of Warcraft is also affected. A whole team was hired and the previous work is being outsourced to external agencies. This is confirmed by several (partially deleted) tweets from the now unemployed employees.
One of these employees in the social media team was Ratsel. The name won’t mean much to most of you, but Ratsel was not only responsible for many memes and the great preview videos for the trading post, but also the person who published the “roadmap” every few months so that we always knew what was coming next for World of Warcraft. I’ve sprinkled a few examples from Ratsel into this article.
An example of successful social media – the Sailor Moon
transformation when the trading post received this outfit:
A team whose success is not measurable, but palpable
That Blizzard – or rather Microsoft – had been continuously downsizing the social team of World of Warcraft in the months before was probably just half the way. With the last major wave of layoffs, the team was completely disbanded.
Activities on social media are now being outsourced – and this became evident almost immediately. Not only do you now find content that has, in some cases, been created by AI, but also the quality of the posts has declined.
In a more recent example, Mists of Pandaria Classic was promoted with the quote “The Timeless Isle calls” – only that it certainly does not, because the Timeless Isle is only available with the last patch of Mists of Pandaria, which is still many months away.
Even though many might now think: “What do I care about their social media, I just want the game to be good.” And yes, that is true. But the social media team of World of Warcraft produced good content with a wide reach and actively ensured that new players or old veterans found their way into the game.
When everyone on Instagram was sharing their absurd morning routines, WoW naturally had to parody that:
The YouTuber Bellular made a video about this, which I can mostly agree with:
The social media team is often one that receives little attention and is most likely seen as “unnecessary” during cutbacks. But it is exactly this team that provides many with access to World of Warcraft. It is the little clips on Instagram that remind people of WoW. It is the amusing memes on X, which are shared in Discord. It is the infographics about the roadmaps that friends show each other to see what is still coming this year in WoW.
Even if you look at the WoW subreddit, the team behind the social media posts has often been praised. Sometimes the memes are a bit “cringe”, sometimes very silly – but they remained memorable and made it clear: Someone is behind this who is well acquainted with World of Warcraft, its 20-year history, and the community.
Replaced by outsiders who have absolutely no idea
If the posts on social media are now completely “soulless”, written by some outsourced agency that is neither concerned with World of Warcraft nor the community, then this will harm the game in the long run. Because WoW relies on attention in social media.
To quote the laid-off Eric: Microsoft has really shot itself in the foot with a rocket launcher:
Of all times, it is when World of Warcraft has regained more attention and the social media team has proven that they understood the humor and meme culture of the community. Something that is now abruptly missing. Something that you immediately notice, as the posts are hardly distinguishable from any cheap free-to-play cash grab games.
Every tank has been in this situation:
This is neither what World of Warcraft, nor the community, nor the people who have now lost their jobs deserve. I can’t imagine for the life of me that anyone on the World of Warcraft development team thought this was a good idea, which is now being pushed through by Microsoft. In a world where you gain attention primarily through entertaining and informative content, to lay off exactly those people who have perfectly internalized that – a decision I cannot comprehend.
World of Warcraft has been around for 20 years and has been played by some people for that long. But if it is to grow again, it needs passionate people who understand Azeroth, the community, and WoW as a product.
