A new teaser site on Battle.Net is teasing narrative elements for the campaign of Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm.
Microsoft's legal counsel has responded to the accusations leveled yesterday by the FTC within the legal battle for the acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
Replies(1)
Microsoft thinks they did right thing did they? Imo you could've merge Activision into other sectors.
When a mega corporation is more powerful than the federal agency. Who do we have left to fight against these practices?
Microsoft isn't more powerful than the government and that's why you see them giving so much money to politicians. It cliche, but it's up to us to select representation that won't cave to corporate donors.
But yeah Microsoft doesn't have any defense against layoffs. No one made them do it and the went ahead with the merger knowing quite clearly that it would impact employees.
Apparently the layoffs were going to happen either way, and I'm inclined to believe it because Activision is beyond scummy. I'm instead wondering why Acti hired so many people in the first place.
Same reason a lot of tech hired a lot during covid. People were staying home, consuming a lot of personal media (buying more games, watching more shows, etc.) Companies thought investing the increased revenue in more talent would reap benefits long term. Turns out, that wasn't the case. It just led to the companies being bloated. But in a lot of cases, they were bloated even before the covid hiring sprees. Activision had 13,000 employees this time last year. Nintendo has 7,000. Keep in mind this doesn't include contract or outsourced work, which I guarantee you Activision does a lot more of than Nintendo. Makes you wonder what the hell Activision needs so many people for. They don't even make a console like Nintendo does. It sucks that people are losing their jobs, but in my opinion, a lot of these companies are still bloated even after the layoffs.
i dont believe that for a second.
activision had their hands full with upcoming cod titles and current ones before the merger.
and mobile games ha
Yeah totally. In a year in which everyone's firing developers left and right, Activision *of all companies* was gonna avoid that.
My god.
what are u talking about ?
the merger proceedings went on for more than a year before it was actually over.
before that, there were no major layoffs. and activision was busy making games. not just one mind you.
maybe try and think for second before u comment something.
Imagine thinking that a company like Activision would not partake in this layoff fest. Do you miss Bobby Kotick perchance? 🙄
The only one who's not thinking is you. All the big companies doing layoffs are "busy making games." That doesn't mean they're not laying off people. Take-two announced today that they're gonna have a big cost reduction plan coming (IE: many more layoffs) and they have 52 games in development.
You really can't see past your console wars, can you? 🤨
“Jason and Vince just got fired!” A lead artist shouted, as he rode in on one of the many small kick-push scooters that would typically lay around the studio. He quickly scooted away to some other part of the office space to spread that shocking message.
A friend worked there in production and was miserable due to working with IW and with ATVI. When he complained to his VP about it, he was told...be glad you have a job and are making games.
Sounds about right, but is also sounds like something Infinity Ward would say. They made their own bed and cashed in hard to do it. F em.
That sucks, but that’s corporate America. I mean, they could’ve turned down the money and leave to Respawn too. At least they got something, my corporation would’ve probably expected everyone to go back to normal.
daaaym
"oh we're running ur life? pff get over it, like honestly"
scum
I mean, if my company wants to give me a bonus and raise my salary by 50%, I'd get over whatever the hell they wanted me to. 🤷♂️
Senator Elizabeth Warren has urged the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to "unwind" Microsoft's purchase of Activision Blizzard after layoffs.
Oh look, the thing that we knew was going to happen is happing. Yes MS is the giant pile of **** we knew it was and now you've handed a huge part of the industry to them workers are paying the price.
Gamers got screwed with the sale of these publishers and now the workers are too, but hey a handful of very, very, very, rich people got stacks more cash from this deal and shareholders will get a nice boost and that's the only thing that matters to MS. Isn't industry consolidation great!
"Senator Warren took to Twitter to criticize the downsizing, reminding followers of her previous warnings against the merger. “I warned that this deal would hurt workers,” she wrote. “These layoffs are a stark reminder that corporate mergers are bad for workers. The FTC should keep up the fight to unwind this merger.”
Activision Blizzard employees have described the layoffs as a “bloodbath” on social media. Reports have emerged that Call of Duty developer Sledgehammer Games has lost more than a quarter of its employees. CharlieINTEL puts the percentage of Sledgehammer layoffs at 25% whereas Tom Henderson of Insider Gaming has heard it’s somewhat close to 30%."
are you suggesting that had MS not bought these companies that no layoffs would have happened?
big time stretch here..
"are you suggesting that had MS not bought these companies that no layoffs would have happened?"
A US Senator is, I'm agreeing. "Senator Warren took to Twitter to criticize the downsizing, reminding followers of her previous warnings against the merger. “I warned that this deal would hurt workers,” she wrote. “These layoffs are a stark reminder that corporate mergers are bad for workers. The FTC should keep up the fight to unwind this merger.”
As for the devs "Activision Blizzard employees have described the layoffs as a “bloodbath” on social media."
"I really have no words right now, just feeling alot of trauma from the 2018 layoffs and we're here again. No idea if my position is impacted and just trying to hang out with my team while I can."
"There have now been posts from almost every Call of Duty studio about lay offs. Employees from Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer Games, Raven Software, Treyarch, High Moon Studios, and more laid off. Devastating."
Who do you suggest is to blame for this?
MS spent billions on developers and they didn't do a good job investing their money into their products. I barely saw any ads for starfield, redfall was a mess and there have been plenty of other sub-par experiences. Of course it's MS's fault.
It's only a stretch if you're unfamiliar with corporate behavior. Layoffs are incredibly common following an acquisition. It is unlikely these layoffs happen if Activision is still a separate entity. I don't even like Warren but she is correct to tie these events together.
@mr dead
You could alway blame activision for going on a hiring spree AFTER the announcement of the acquisition. But that wouldn't be as much fun, so let's put it all on Microsoft.
This merger proves one of the two things:
1- Law system is corrupt and closed eyes
2- Law system is amateur and didn’t foresee layoffs and increase in price due to digitalization where the gamer is owning nothing..
In both cases it’s a scandal
Huge stretch I would say. Especially with AI being used more and more in games. Going forward a lot of people will lose their job because of AI, and not just in the gaming industry.
And the Senator on MS’s payroll is coming to tell us MS needs to be left alone.
I thought the layouts were just in overlapping roles, such as HR and finance.
Now we find out 25% of sledgehammer is gone
That really is a bloodbath!!
Toys for Bob who made Crash Bandicoot 4 and Spyro Reignited Trilogy lost 30-40% of their staff, about 35 people.
This is before they were then were turned into Call of Duty support studio and after made that awful Crash Team Rumble GaaS title
Your downvotes are coming from people that dont understand late stage capitalism and monopolization and consolidation of industries. Probably 14 year olds who have no idea how the world works.
They’ll cheer for Microsoft because they were born in the XBox generation and dont know better.
This is for the young generation: mergers do make the rich richer, and the workers jobless. That’s why it isnt a good idea. Once somebody is rich, they have the golem obsession of money. It’s the temptation and corruption of the mind.
I'm not looking forward to my Cyberpunk-like future, you could see this coming from a mile away, but I guess there's no substitute for life experience.
This has less to do with Capitalism and more to do with simple greed.
Capitalism is an economic system.
Greed is the want of money.
The current global market including Communist markets and other economic systems are all plugged into the wider monetary trade which has NOTHING AT ALL TO DO WITH ANY ECONOMIC SYSTEM. You can blame Americans or the Western world at large for the utter ridiculousness of chasing endless growth of wealth. However the monetary trade has nothing to do with Capitalist, Communist, Socialist or any other economic platforms.
Capitalism is offering services for money. Microsoft does do that many companies do but their service used to be selling us operating systems and productivity software. Today MS leases us everything. You might own your PC hardware, but you're a half step away from renting Windows (the software that controls everything about your PC) these days.
In order to be successful in a Capitalist economy you need to offer something people want. If people really want something you can provide you can increase prices as a means to slow demand so you can keep up with supplying the goods. That is how Capitalism works.
MS doesn't work in that system anymore. Most companies traded publicly don't which is also how MS was able to capture ABK without a hostile takeover. Generally speaking, crashing a competitors stock value without a hostile takeover... well I think MS just broke ground there in acquiring ABK they way they did. Anywho... MS were able to do that not because the company purchased them at full price but because they helped tank their stock valuation to a price they could afford and ABK's leaders couldn't afford to pass up. That's not Capitalism and we know it isn't because Microsoft doesn't make good games which ABK used to and still could... before the acquisition.
The latest CoD campaign suffered in part due to the damage MS imparted on ABK (as well as several other projects) via the stock manipulation. We know this happened because MS leaked their past endeavors including actively manipulating ABK's stock value. How the FTC was unable to stop the merger when that information was part of discovery is baffling to me... but we're in clown world now.
Lol you big mad. Bet if anyone else would've purchased them they would all still have jobs. Get real and get bent
Get off your soapbox and stop with the faux indignation. Whenever there is a merger or acquisition between two companies there are always layoffs. ALWAYS. Stop pretending like this situation is an outlier.
I grew up in Massachusetts's. Elizabeth Warrern is one of the least respected politicians in this county, and that is saying a lot. She's an absolute idiot who does nothing but complain, without offering viable solutions, and jump on any hot button issue that passes her way. This comes from someone with political ties who grew up in Massachusetts.
"Whenever there is a merger or acquisition between two companies there are always layoffs. ALWAYS. Stop pretending like this situation is an outlier."
It's like the extremely simple minded can't read, then they cheer on the thing that's hurting them because that's what happens under a merger even when the merger doesn't need to happen... people lost their livelihoods because of nothing but greed and so a tax dodging mega corp can consolidate another industry, the idiotic things they get you to support because of brand loyalty is insane.
hmmm, actively supporting things that will end up hurting you, I'm not even in the US and I can tell you're a republican.
Why is this article being hidden? Its 850 and the top four max out at 360. Same thing happened to the “ Microsoft announces layoffs at gaming division” article, it’s 980 but completely hidden. Is there an MS defender on staff?
"I'm not even in the US and I can tell you're a republican"
You have the gall to call other people simple minded and then follow it up with that ignorant statement. It's obvious that you're one of those nitwits that only thinks in binary terms, Democrat vs Republican, PlayStation vs Xbox etc. Putting people in readily defined boxes makes it much easier for shortsighted individuals like yourself to understand complicated issues. The problem is that this type of behavior leads to a myopic viewpoint, bias and group think.
Why exactly are you bringing political matters (foreign to you) into this discussion? We can disregard anything that Elizabeth "Kooky Aunt" Warren has to say on the topic as she is simply jumping on the daily bandwagon. She's already forgot about it and has moved onto the next newsworthy topic.
Your primary argument is that Microsoft is "evil" because it laid off workers after the merger. As I stated this happens EVERY TIME there is a consolidation of companies. At no point did I say I supported or "cheer on" this action. I'm not even sure how a rational person would make that assumption. If I did say I was in favor of layoffs, then show me the evidence. Downsizing and layoffs are always an unfortunate circumstance for the workforce, but inevitable whenever there is a merger or acquisition.
BTW, I'm not a Republican. One would think that an "intelligent" person like yourself would know that Massachusetts is an overwhelmingly Democratic state. Stay in your lane, which appears to be hating on a rival video game company, you pathetic, immature fanboy.
Like I said this wasn't really good imo because things haven't truly changed there yet but we'll wait.
Quality of games don't historically improve over time under MS' wing. Quite consistently the opposite unfortunately
"Xbox players like diversity"
Sure they do. Worse Forza, Halo, Gears games and more Fables is so much variety. Playstation has more games available as there are more 3rd party exclusives filling up the gaps. There's no equivalent of FF7 on Xbox for example.
More games and higher quality over too. If Xbox has so much 'quality' then why is it got the least sales overall?
@Chevalier.
Sure there's no equivalent to FF7 on Xbox. Until it comes to Xbox lol.
Meanwhile:
There's no equivelant to Gears of War, Age of Empires, Flight Simulator, Grounded, Sea of Thieves, Starfield or Pentiment on Playstation.
These are off the top of my head and none of those are 3rd party.
And that's not even counting upcoming games like, Avowed, TowerBorne, Indiana Jones(thematically Uncharted is similar but gameplay wise it's completely different)
Meanwhile Playstations 1st party 2024 line-up has absolutely nothing on it 😭
Someone did a chart of the metacritic scores of all the games under Xbox studios over time.
@zerf, can you guess the trajectory of that tend line?
@Zeref
Crazy delusion you got going. Which Xbox 1st party game did they make that sold 20+ million like TLOU, Horizon Zero Dawn or 30+ million in the last decade?! Oh right NONE.
"Gears of War, Age of Empires, Flight Simulator, Grounded, Sea of Thieves, Starfield or Pentiment on Playstation."
None of which really compare to Playstation exclusives. Again if these exclusives are so damn good then why is it again that not only do Playstation and Nintendo exclusives sell more they also move more consoles too.
"Xbox players like diversity"
I was going to say something about this, but Chevalier beat me to it long ago, Microsoft is known for serving up the same types of games and constant sequels, more than Sony, or to a lesser degree Nintendo has (let's not argue over Mario, Donkey Kong, and to a lesser degree Zelda).
Gamers: "What the hell are the FTC and CMA doing? They need to let this whole thing go and just approve it, how sad are they to get involved for this long, they just don't quit"
*deal goes through, people lose their jobs, the rich get richer*
Also Gamers: "Why did agencies like the FTC and CMA not do something about this? It's the whole point of their existence, that's what they are there for and they couldn't even do their jobs correctly. This shouldn't have happened"
didn't Sony buy Bungie and then layoff a bunch of people? Did you feel the same way then?
Bungie is a separate entity to Sony and was actually paid to keep staff. Apples and oranges bud.
Source:
https://www.eurogamer.net/s...
https://gamerant.com/bungie...
Awful counter point, just awful
Like I'm going to repeat what Dicky has said enough but Sony literally paid extra to stop that from happening and Bungie still did it despite the extra money.
The fact people agree with you says something...
@Neonridr...whataboutisms: the act or practice of responding to an accusation of wrongdoing by claiming that an offense committed by another is similar or worse
No they didn't. Sony don't outright own Bungie. It was Bungie themselves that laid staff off, not Sony.
What are you guys talking about?
Sony completely own Bungie. They are not a "separate entity" They just aren't part of the PlayStation division iirc they fall under Sony Music for some reason but regardless Sony own them.
Before acquisition, FTC must block this deal because it's bad for CONSUMERS.
After mass layoffs in the majority of the industry
We were told several times that this deal was bad for WORKERS.
Perhaps having consistency would help the credibility of FTC.
It’s bad for consumers because of less games and bad for workers because of layoffs. Nothing here to troll about
Care to mention where and when the FTC mentioned in their statements that this deal was bad because MS would produce fewer games versus ABK current output?
The only potential resemblance of a similar would have been that MS would have the power to deny Playstation users access to ABK games. to wich MS replied that would continue to support Playstation and even port games to Nintendo and Mobile increasing the potential access.
But in no way shape or form was a statement about making fewer titles compared to the already asbissimal ABK current output
I get the impression you think those things are mutually exclusive. They are not. This merger is bad for both consumers and workers.
Not all I'm just saying that in no way shape or form did the FTC mention Worker before the merger and changing the tune would cause a loss of credibility.
Especially when the FTC has never had an issue with outsourcing jobs Outside of the USA when big acquisition happens.
Undoing the merger will just cause ABK and Microsoft to cut more positions. Undoing the merger at this point will financially damage both companies. A more sensible thing would be to push MS and other game companies to have employee unions and increased job protections.
I think the telling thing will be if Microsoft buys another publisher and it’s allowed to go through despite all of this.
This should be the point where the FTC and other agencies put their foot down in the future to say “enough”
Idk, ABK is already a mess as it is, and that's before Microsoft got to it, the point is it never should have been allowed to happen, obvious outcomes were obvious.
Can anyone explain why this hasn't been released already?
Starting to think Blizzard is just lazy.
If I got it wrong let me know.