Mastodawn

Sean Middleditch Apr 19, 2023

The more I think about it, I have to conclude that #Activision #Blizzard's mandatory #RTO is their attempt at a soft #layoff. It's a comical combo of unfair, stupid, and cruel.

https://twitter.com/Glaxigrav/status/1648116634463404032

"Being loud about it because I've lost yet *another* person this week.

Blizzard is losing amazing talent because someone in power doesn't listen to the game directors who make his products. DE&I also means diversity of thought, especially when it's backed by data and financials."

Adam 💙 #ABetterABK on Twitter

“Being loud about it because I've lost yet *another* person this week. Blizzard is losing amazing talent because someone in power doesn't listen to the game directors who make his products. DE&I also means diversity of thought, especially when it's backed by data and financials.”

Twitter

Dan Johnson Apr 19, 2023

Unfair because some people absolutely do and will get to continue to work remotely.

- the C-suite, of course. Fran used to work from her beach house in the Hamptons.

- the irreplaceable. Principals and Senior 2s, engineers, and other hard-to-hire roles, if they want it, will get it.

- the lucky. Team leadership willing to pull for you, a capable and empathetic manager, or just asking quickly enough (I have heard people say the teams are capped at 20% wfh).

#Activision #Blizzard

Dan Johnson Apr 19, 2023

Stupid because they won't offer it to everyone they should, and people will leave. Talented, not-irreplaceable-but-damn-hard-to-replace people who legitimately love working at #Activision #Blizzard and are worth their weight in gold will look at Bungie or the FLEET of new remote startups and decide it's time to move on.

Even some portion of those who get WFH will end up leaving, because "grudging allowance" means remote workers will be disadvantaged in career advancement vs in-office folks.

Dan Johnson Apr 19, 2023

And cruel to the people who #Activision #Blizzard has already long mistreated, like QA and CS employees across the country.

During covid, many new hires with disabilities & other complications were, maybe for the first time, able to live the dream of making video games because they could do it from home.

Now ABK, who had three profitable years, is forcing them out via the bare legal minimum of ADA compliance, short deadlines, poor communication, and open hostility.

It's offensive & shameful.

Dan Johnson Apr 19, 2023

The result is already a steady stream of departures (and that's just the small slice I see) at every level of the company - and while AB's RTO was this week, Blizzard's isn't till July.

Teams with dozens of openings are being stretched thinner every day. Scope will be cut. Bugs will get missed. Releases will be delayed.

But hey, maybe profits will go up, and Bobby can socket a few more gems onto his golden parachute as he hands Microsoft what's left of the biggest publisher in the industry.

Dan Johnson Apr 19, 2023

PS - if you can stomach Twitter, click through to Adam's full thread.

If you've never heard of "crisis mapping", it's the process of identifying resources, vulnerabilities, and critical infrastructure in the event of a catastrophe. For instance: hospitals, first responders, traffic arteries, etc during a hurricane.

In video games it's the members of a team who know how to execute a patch, the new features that have to ship (and those that can be cut...), QA test velocity, etc.

Victor Apr 19, 2023

@djdesign Thank you for sharing this. Also, I'm not on Twitter, but publicly criticizing your employer is really jarring to me. Do people commonly post stuff like Adam's post? Are they fired?

Dan Johnson Apr 19, 2023

@ElysianThus I think you see this kind of post from people who have exhausted their options for internal feedback, & gotten nowhere. Companies love ignoring their workers, but sometimes public opinion - or nervous investors - can move the needle.

Blizzard could perhaps claim NDA violation, but firing a talented employee for having a reasonable opinion is a bad look. Adam likely feels safe enough re his job performance to avoid or quickly recover from a retaliatory firing.

Sean Middleditch Apr 19, 2023

@djdesign @ElysianThus This.

We've been feeding this upward through "proper channels" at ABK since the beginning. They haven't listened.

Some of us are privileged and have a responsibility. Even if they did fire me, I could have a great job lined up by the end of the week; ABK management has no real power over me.

But they have a lot of power over many of my colleagues.

We speak up for those who cannot safely speak for themselves.

Dan Johnson Apr 19, 2023

@seanmiddleditch @ElysianThus

Victor Apr 19, 2023

@seanmiddleditch @djdesign Thank you both for the explanations. Sean, I think it's awesome that you're looking out for your colleagues. With this context, Adam's post makes more sense to me.

Insecurity Princess 🌈💖🔥Apr 19, 2023

@djdesign @RainofTerra What's up with that "diversity of thought" comment? Hard to distinguish whether that's a dog whistle, ignorance, or intentional

Terra Field Apr 19, 2023

@saraislet @djdesign I do not understand the question.

Dan Johnson Apr 19, 2023

@RainofTerra @saraislet From what I know of Adam, I would wager he just stumbled on dog whistle terminology he wasn't even aware of.

The "thought" in his statement is management's fervent belief that ABK can't make successful games from home. No amount of real life data (successfully shipping excellent games/expansions for 3 years while fully WFH) has been able to dent Bobby & Mike's *feeling* that working in the office is "better".

Terra Field Apr 19, 2023

@djdesign @saraislet I am also not aware of it. Is this some kind of “diversity of thought” == “letting morons say whatever they want” thing?

But yeah if that’s a thing it isn’t what Adam was saying.

Insecurity Princess 🌈💖🔥Apr 19, 2023

@RainofTerra @djdesign "diversity of thought" is a dog whistle that took root across tech a few years ago in backlash to DEI. Essentially, they propose that a group that appears homogenous (cisheteropastriarchal neurotypical white men of a certain pedigree) could have broader "diversity of thought" than, well, actual diverse teams

Dan Johnson Apr 19, 2023

@saraislet @RainofTerra Well explained.

Dan Johnson Apr 19, 2023

@RainofTerra @saraislet the right likes to insist that "diversity" must include diverse viewpoints -
often brought up in the context of ideological balance among college professors/students.

In other words, they want to claim that they're being discriminated against because of their political affiliation (when actually people just don't like them because said viewpoints are selfish, hateful, and bigoted).

Nicholas G Cameron Apr 19, 2023

@djdesign I absolutely agree. From the amount of WFH I’d heard had been approved they *had* to have known they would have huge attrition from this decision, and this has way less negative PR implications than a standard layoff

That aside, I also agree with you that it both seems stupid and cruel. Hard to see how this doesn’t just end up kneecapping the studio, even if it’s profitable for good old Bobby in the short term

Thinkaholic is 🐸 antifa Apr 19, 2023

@NGCameron @djdesign Thing is, with a standard layoff you usually identify your key team members and don't lay them off; you try to lay off the poorer performers.
With this sort of "managing out" layoff, the people who will leave are the ones who get another job, and many of those who stay will be the ones who couldn't.

Dan Johnson Apr 19, 2023

@pooserville @NGCameron yeah, that's the "stupid" part.

Phoenix Blue (they/them)Apr 19, 2023

@djdesign For context - I've only ever heard "diversity of thought" used to try and cover for folks with right-wing views that are incompatible with other diversity, equity and inclusion metrics. Who did Blizzard lose, and what's the background here?

Dan Johnson Apr 19, 2023

@PhoenixBlue I think he accidentally chose a phrase with baggage. My understanding is he was expressing frustration that ABK leadership refused to consider perspectives or evidence that ran counter to their opinion that in-office is the best way to make video games.

I don't know who he's specifically speaking about in this case; I left Blizzard last fall (for a fully remote studio, lol).

Phoenix Blue (they/them)Apr 19, 2023

@djdesign Ah! Yeah, checking the Twitter profile, that makes a bit more sense. And it looks like this is about forced return-to-office, which is an extremely unfortunate decision on Activision-Blizzard's part.