Blizzard developers who attended a recent virtual town hall meeting are outraged by comments made by Blizzard President Mike Ybarra, whose defense of controversial and unpopular policies like stack sorting and a return-to-office mandate allegedly dealt a heavy blow to morale at the studio.
As reported by Game Developer, a recent company-wide Q&A in which Ybarra answered pre-selected questions left employees baffled. Ybarra reportedly downplayed the news that employees would only receive 58% of their usual profit-sharing bonus, despite last quarter being a record for Blizzard that saw the “highest quarterly net bookings to date.” date” from the company, according to Activision Blizzard. Fourth quarter results report. Ybarra reportedly suggested that employees who thought executives weren’t affected by the bonus cut like regular employees are “living in a myth.” That statement did not go down well, as a bonus cut would obviously hit lower-earning employees more than executives earning higher salaries.
When asked how company leadership planned to retain talent once employees are forced to return to the office for at least three weekdays starting in July, Ybarra reportedly had no such plan. Instead, he simply said that, at the end of the day, people should do what makes them happy, and if the company goals and an employee’s personal goals don’t align, that employee should “do what will make them happy.” [them] happy.” Many employees saw his statement as an encouragement for people dissatisfied with Blizzard’s back-to-office mandate to simply leave the company.
In a statement provided to ., a Blizzard spokesperson said…
