Games Industry News and Discussion

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Games Industry News and Discussion

Looper: Mar 1, 2012

Boogle posted:

This just sounds like MAGA chuds on staff trying to sneak racist poo poo through again and hoping nobody will notice. They've been called out on this before with class abilities having questionable names.

Just purge the company to the bedrock.

thank you for your service

# ? Nov 22, 2021 23:04

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Apr 16, 2024 17:38

Looper: Mar 1, 2012

imweasel09 posted:

For the record the swastikas were an anthem thing not a destiny thing.

thanks

# ? Nov 22, 2021 23:05

Looper: Mar 1, 2012

Poil posted:

Like... from behind? I'm not an expert on making graphics for games but that seems like a camera angle that would come up at least once.

thank you

# ? Nov 22, 2021 23:06

cheetah7071: Oct 20, 2010; honk honk; College Slice

Looper posted:

thank you

you're welcome

# ? Nov 22, 2021 23:08

30.5 Days: Nov 19, 2006

Chasiubao posted:

Edit: my original response was a bit aggressive.

It�s not what I see on the usual salary comparison sites so I�m curious what the source is for this.

hobbesmaster posted:

https://www.levels.fyi/company/Riot-Games/salaries/Software-Engineer/
220ish for their level 3 (5ish years/experienced?) and 250ish for their level 4 (10ish years/senior?) so a modest hit from a MANGA but Blizzard was paying $100k less.

Theres a 350k up there for a staff/level5 distributed systems engineer, thats similar to amazon.

Google LA salaries are AWFULLY similar, especially for junior/mid positions.. In any case, Riot keys their pay to be competitive with amazon because there were some major engineering departures to amazon early in its life. Amazon recently increased their pay to be competitive to google - new packages for seniors in seattle are now 400-480. So I suspect you're going to see riot packages increase over the next year and a half.

EDIT: Also worth noting that since riot mostly does profit share instead of stock, there's a big chunk of (somewhat unreliable) pay not represented in an offer letter. Assume the bonus line for all those packages is 50-100% higher than listed.

30.5 Days fucked around with this message at 23:32 on Nov 22, 2021

# ? Nov 22, 2021 23:26

Kith: Sep 17, 2009; You never learn anything
by doing it right.

RagnarokZ posted:

Wait, the StarCraft Confederacy was the bad guys, as in comically bad guys, turned a planet into a nuclear wasteland bad guys.

yep, and the confederate flag is still all over the place in starcraft 2, unrelated to the faction.

# ? Nov 22, 2021 23:33

Dieting Hippo: Jan 5, 2006; THIS IS NOT A PROPER DIET FOR A HIPPO

Kith posted:

yep, and the confederate flag is still all over the place in starcraft 2, unrelated to the faction.

They can't take those flags out now, they're Starcraft heritage.

# ? Nov 22, 2021 23:49

HonorableTB: Dec 22, 2006

Dieting Hippo posted:

They can't take those flags out now, they're Starcraft heritage.

I do find it funny that the Confederacy has now gone 0 for 2 in that timeline since they got their asses kicked on Earth and in space too

# ? Nov 23, 2021 00:33

Abhorrence: Feb 5, 2010; A love that crushes like a mace.

Dick Burglar posted:

There are swastika buttons on the shoulders. How are you this loving credulous.

Do I need to mark it more clearly?

And just in case anyone was still willing to give this the benefit of the doubt, notice the same pattern a little to the right, but inverted. Meaning they would have had to deliberately rotate the pattern on the button to make it look like that.

# ? Nov 23, 2021 00:44

SilentChaz: Oct 5, 2011; Sorry, I'm quite busy at the moment.

https://twitter.com/FanbyteMedia/status/1462926552417538048

quote:

An email sent by Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser sent on Friday, November 19 addresses the Activision-Blizzard report. The email went out to all levels of Nintendo of America, including internal development houses like Retro Studios and the newly-acquired Next-Level Games.

�Along with all of you, I�ve been following the latest developments with Activision Blizzard and the ongoing reports of sexual harassment and toxicity at the company,� Bowser begins. �I find these accounts distressing and disturbing, They run counter to my values as well as Nintendo�s beliefs, values and policies.�

Bowser goes on in the letter to explain that Nintendo is committed to having an open and inclusive workplace where all are welcome. He remarks that the company holds itself to this standard and expects the same from the industry and their partners.

Though without detail, Bowser also says that representatives at Nintendo have been �in contact with Activision, have taken action and are assessing others.� It is not entirely clear what actions Bowser is referring to here or which ones they are still leaving on the table.

He does, however, make mention of the ESA: a lobbying organization of which both Nintendo and Activison-Blizzard are members. Bowser says Nintendo has been working with the ESA as of at least last week to strengthen stances on harassment and abuse in the workplace and that the ESA must hold its members to the highest standard.

�Every company in the industry must create an environment where everyone is respected and treated as equals, and where all understand the consequences of not doing so.�

# ? Nov 23, 2021 00:51

Cythereal: Nov 8, 2009; I love the potoo,
and the potoo loves you.

I'm not going to be impressed unless they actually *do* anything, personally. Talk is cheap when the cause is popular and wins you points. Good on them for saying it, and it's probably bad for Activision, but now that I've had time to cool down I'm not really impressed with just statements.

The way Activision's board has been acting, I'm skeptical that merely talking is going to change anything.

# ? Nov 23, 2021 00:57

30.5 Days: Nov 19, 2006

It seems like they're hoping that if they talk like they're going to do something, activision will get rid of kotick on their own, but of course if they don't, then all the platforms that have acted like they're going to do something to em will look like jerkoffs when they end up not doing anything at all. The plan for these sorts of things is always to have a bunch of statements and resolutions but not do anything- the PR value of these motions are reduced substantially if the ESA comes out with a bunch of anti-harrassment policies but everyone's still working with kotick.

# ? Nov 23, 2021 01:26

Studio: Jan 15, 2008

The ESA is extremely worthless and going to them is not a sign of uh, doing anything.

# ? Nov 23, 2021 02:02

Regalingualius: Jan 7, 2012; We gazed into the eyes of madness... And all we found was horny.

Yeah, I really doubt that they�d ever publicly declare that they�re done with ABK until they get their poo poo together, since it could have huge repercussions for the rest of the gaming industry.

# ? Nov 23, 2021 02:19

Clarste: Apr 15, 2013; Just how many mistakes have you suffered on the way here?

An uncountable number, to be sure.

I'm sorry, but I'm still just amused that the President of Nintendo of America is named Bowser.

# ? Nov 23, 2021 02:44

Moola: Aug 16, 2006

Clarste posted:

I'm sorry, but I'm still just amused that the President of Nintendo of America is named Bowser.

Nintendo are also currently suing the poo poo out of a completely separate man with the name Bowser

# ? Nov 23, 2021 04:01

ConanThe3rd: Mar 27, 2009

ActiBlizard got shunned hard from Smash (as in not even a trophy or a mii costume) so thats something, at least.

That said, is map exclusivity still a thing for sony? I could see that (and the liquid funds its brings) quietly getting dropped if so.

# ? Nov 23, 2021 05:40

30.5 Days: Nov 19, 2006

I foresee listening sessions in Activision's future

https://kotaku.com/activisions-damage-control-reaches-sad-new-low-1848107710

# ? Nov 23, 2021 09:10

Metis of the Chat Thread: Aug 1, 2014

https://twitter.com/Polygon/status/1463210625778266126

quote:

In the lawsuit, the former IT security analyst, Emma Majo, said women at the company were not paid equally to male employees with similar titles and roles, and were denied promotions and equal compensation. She alleged that Sony �tolerates and cultivates a work environment that discriminates against female employees.�

Majo�s suit says she told Sony of the discrimination with a signed statement in 2021. Her lawsuit alleges that �soon after,� the company fired her. The company attributed her dismissal to the elimination of a department, but Majo said she was not even a part of that department.

Majo detailed these and other allegations from a Sony career dating to 2015. She says that she saw bias against women regarding promotions; that she remained in the same position without a promotion for six years, despite frequently asking for one; and that some male supervisors, including security director Yuu Sugita, would not speak to women with the door closed. If another male colleague was present, Sugita would speak only to him.

Majo added that she frequently made requests through her male co-workers, feeling that they would be ignored if she made them. Likewise, Majo said she has �personally heard managers make gender-based comments about female workers.� Majo also said the company had a 60-40 split, men to women, when she started in 2015, and the company hired more men than women thereafter. As of a 2020 study, Sony�s executive committee was exclusively male.

Majo�s suit said she believes gender bias, and because she spoke up about it, caused her dismissal.

# ? Nov 23, 2021 22:47

Heran Bago: Aug 18, 2006

Yahoo finance says Kotic needs to step down. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/activision-blizzard-ceo-bobby-kotick-needs-to-resign-right-now-180019724.html?guccounter=1

For whatever reason, Yahoo! Finance is taken more seriously than their search engine or web portal. IMO this is a bigger deal for investors and board members than Nintendo finger-wagging them.

quote:

Activision Blizzard (ATVI) CEO Bobby Kotick needs to step down. The CEO of one of the country’s largest video game companies, Kotick has reportedly told executives at Activision Blizzard that he’ll resign if he can’t resolve the company’s myriad harassment scandals in short order.

But the problems at Activision Blizzard will require systemic changes, including Kotick’s removal right now — especially after The Wall Street Journal’s revelations last week that he knew about the company’s issues for years. Those problems include allegations of rape, sexual harassment, and sexual and racial discrimination.

If the company wants to move past these controversies, it needs to make a dramatic move. If not, Activision Blizzard risks losing the very people who make its games so successful: its software developers, testers, and engineers.

“People are leaving. I'm getting goodbye emails, like almost at least three a week,” explained Jessica Gonzalez, senior test analyst at Activision Blizzard’s Battle.net.

“I'm seeing people leaving the company, and high-level women, women that are in senior positions are just leaving the company because they have no faith in Kotick,” added Gonzalez, who helped organize an employee walkout after last week’s Journal report.

The exodus could get even worse, explained Colleen Ammerman, director of the Gender Initiative at Harvard Business School.

“This is something that is very bad for the health of your organization and ultimately for effectiveness,” she said. “You have people who are disengaged in the work. They don't trust leaders. They're more likely to look elsewhere. So you're going to lose talent, and the talent that you retain is probably not going to be performing at its true potential.”

Employees are calling for change
The Journal’s investigation into Activision Blizzard and Kotick kicked off a firestorm among employees who staged their second walkout of the year.

On Monday, Activision Blizzard announced that it’s launching a workplace responsibility committee that has the ultimate goal of eliminating harassment and discrimination. But that might not be enough to satisfy workers, who have been calling for change for months.

Activision Blizzard employees first walked out in July when the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing filed a suit claiming the “Call of Duty” and “World of Warcraft” maker allowed a culture of sexual harassment to fester unchecked for years.

The suit portrays a company as one that fostered a “fratboy culture” with men groping female colleagues and women being denied promotions and raises. One woman died by suicide due to a relationship with a male supervisor, the complaint alleged. The same woman was also allegedly harassed by other coworkers who shared a nude image of her at a holiday party.

According to the suit, one employee noted that “women on the Battle.net team were subjected to disparaging comments, the environment was akin to working in a frat house, and that women who were not ‘huge gamers’ or ‘core gamers’ and not into the party scene were excluded and treated as outsiders.”

New allegations have also surfaced, including one claim that Kotick left an assistant a voicemail in which he threatened to have her killed. That matter, according to The Journal, was later settled out of court. (A spokeswoman for the company told the Journal: “Mr. Kotick quickly apologized 16 years ago for the obviously hyperbolic and inappropriate voice mail, and he deeply regrets the exaggeration and tone in his voice mail to this day.”)

The Journal also reported that Kotick failed to tell the board that an employee alleged she'd been raped by her male supervisor. The allegations have increased pressure on Kotick to resign, with employees creating a Change.org petition seeking to build public pressure to oust him. As of Wednesday, the petition has received more than 28,000 signatures.

That petition likely received support from at least some game developers, who arguably have the most crucial roles at Activision Blizzard. And according to Jefferies analyst Andrew Uerkwitz, the longer Kotick stays in his position, the more difficult it will be for Activision Blizzard to retain or recruit star developers.

“The longer he stays, the more likely we'll see very high turnover, if not higher turnover than what we've seen the past couple of years. And that's going to make game development very difficult,” he said.

In an analyst note following the publication of The Journal’s story, Uerkwitz acknowledged that the CEO of a gaming company is more valuable to that company than any one developer. “However, collective development talent is the most important asset by a wide margin to a game company. Erosion of this talent is the biggest key risk to any creative business,” he added. “This risk is currently playing out and accelerating.”

It’s not just employees who are unhappy
The Big Three video game console makers have also come out against Activision Blizzard, telling their workers that they are disturbed by the allegations at the company.

According to Bloomberg, Sony's (SONY) PlayStation chief Jim Ryan wrote in an email to employees that he and the company’s leadership were “disheartened and frankly stunned” to learn that Activision Blizzard hadn’t done enough to address its problems with harassment and discrimination.

Microsoft’s (MSFT) Xbox head Phil Spencer, meanwhile, told employees via email that he was “disturbed” by the reporting in The Journal’s piece. And FanByte has confirmed that Nintendo of America (NTDOY) head Doug Bowser wrote in an email to staff that he found the accounts in The Journal’s article “distressing and disturbing.”

With some of Activision Blizzard’s biggest industry partners coming out against it, the firm could face serious consequences. Spencer in particular said that Xbox is evaluating all aspects of its relationship with Activision Blizzard in the wake of The Journal story.

According to Uerkwitz, a lack of change at Activision Blizzard could hurt the company’s ability to market its games at major events like Sony’s PlayStation Showcase and at the annual E3 conference. So far, Sony seems to have pulled the latest installment of “Call of Duty” from its featured games spot on its sales site.

“It's going to be harder to market games. It's going to be harder to make games. And ultimately, Blizzard fans are very passionate. They may choose not to buy games. Reviewers may choose not to review games. So they're potentially in a very precarious spot,” Uerkwitz explained.

Of course, Kotick’s removal as CEO wouldn’t change Activision Blizzard overnight. But it would go a long way in proving the company is actually serious about reinventing its broken culture.

# ? Nov 25, 2021 13:17

30.5 Days: Nov 19, 2006

It's staggering to imagine any CEO weathering a scandal that cut the company's stock price by a quarter in a month. Activision's board is insanely ineffectual.

# ? Nov 25, 2021 22:14

Itzena: Aug 2, 2006; Nothing will improve the way things currently are.; Slime TrainerS

I would imagine that the board is a carefully cultivated group of yes-men and empty suits that exists solely to rubber stamp whatever Kotick orders.

# ? Nov 26, 2021 09:56

thetoughestbean: Apr 27, 2013; Keep On Shroomin

30.5 Days posted:

It's staggering to imagine any CEO weathering a scandal that cut the company's stock price by a quarter in a month. Activision's board is insanely ineffectual.

From what I understand, Kotick has a clause in his contract that means they have to pay him a lot of money if they fire him so it�s cheaper to just keep him around

# ? Nov 26, 2021 11:07

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

A lot about the executive class makes sense when you realise their job is in effect indistinguishable from feudal nobility being assigned fiefdoms.

# ? Nov 26, 2021 11:27

Herstory Begins Now: Aug 5, 2003; SOME REALLY TEDIOUS DUMB SHIT THAT SUCKS ASS TO READ ->>

feudal lords were still accountable to kings, which is a key difference here

# ? Nov 26, 2021 11:37

The Gadfly: Sep 23, 2012

thetoughestbean posted:

From what I understand, Kotick has a clause in his contract that means they have to pay him a lot of money if they fire him so it’s cheaper to just keep him around

It's genius. As a CEO, you basically control the business, so just sign yourself a contract with an insane buyout to make yourself unfireable. If anyone opposes this, fire them immediately. Amazing.

# ? Nov 26, 2021 11:48

Splorange: Feb 23, 2011

The Gadfly posted:

It's genius. As a CEO, you basically control the business, so just sign yourself a contract with an insane buyout to make yourself unfireable. If anyone opposes this, fire them immediately. Amazing.

The board approves the appointment. AFAIK the one responsible for Kotick is filled with barely functional imbeciles. Case in point; Kotick's contract.

Even people with room temperature IQs seem like goddamn geniouses when numbers are going up. *waves towards the crypto bullshit*

Burn it all down.

# ? Nov 26, 2021 13:42

tithin: Nov 14, 2003; [Grandmaster Tactician]

thetoughestbean posted:

From what I understand, Kotick has a clause in his contract that means they have to pay him a lot of money if they fire him so it�s cheaper to just keep him around

yup

firing him without cause is $265~ mill
with cause is $265k

The Gadfly posted:

It's genius. As a CEO, you basically control the business, so just sign yourself a contract with an insane buyout to make yourself unfireable. If anyone opposes this, fire them immediately. Amazing.

Contract and CEO remuneration is set by the companies board which is supposed to govern and limit this poo poo but well, in activision's case..

# ? Nov 26, 2021 13:44

commando in tophat: Sep 5, 2019

tithin posted:

yup

firing him without cause is $265~ mill
with cause is $265k

Company wide sexual harassment with CEO himself being involved seems like a "cause" to me, but I'm not CEO so I dunno

# ? Nov 26, 2021 14:29

Clarste: Apr 15, 2013; Just how many mistakes have you suffered on the way here?

An uncountable number, to be sure.

The Board sees it as protecting one of their own, because they're also in the same social class and if something can happen to this guy who they go golfing with or whatever, then it can happen to them too. The value of the company overall is far less important to them than the value of making sure people at their level never have to face any consequences ever.

# ? Nov 26, 2021 15:25

Strategic Tea: Sep 1, 2012

Shareholders should control the company, and they have royally hosed up by not appointing independent non execs to reign in Bobby, an independent remuneration committee, and all the other bells and whistles that any entry level business class would recommend.

For all that they are self interested bastards, shareholders absolutely have no interest in losing money and paying legal fees to head off an employee uprising because HR couldn't do its basic job of ensuring the company wasn't vulnerable to massive lawsuits

# ? Nov 26, 2021 15:26

Poil: Mar 17, 2007

Does blizzard really care if they completely brain drain all of the programmers and artists etc? Couldn't they just restructure into only having management, marketing and sales to sit on the licenses and subcontract out all the actual work?

# ? Nov 26, 2021 15:54

Splorange: Feb 23, 2011

Poil posted:

Does blizzard really care if they completely brain drain all of the programmers and artists etc? Couldn't they just restructure into only having management, marketing and sales to sit on the licenses and subcontract out all the actual work?

I see you're familiar with publicly traded software companies.

# ? Nov 26, 2021 16:21

Kanos: Sep 6, 2006; was there a time when speedwagon didn't get trolled

Poil posted:

Does blizzard really care if they completely brain drain all of the programmers and artists etc? Couldn't they just restructure into only having management, marketing and sales to sit on the licenses and subcontract out all the actual work?

The idea is that if they allow every scrap of talent that actually built up the inherent value of those IPs to run away screaming, the value of those IPs will fade and become worthless as it becomes increasingly difficult to produce new entries with that IP that live up to or exceed previous entries. Blizzard in particular already has a glaring example of how easy it is to horribly mismanage and gently caress up a slam dunk with subcontracting with War3 Reforged(which, to be fair, was entirely on Blizzard because the subcontractors they hired were not incompetent).

The present definition of "good business" doesn't give a poo poo about long term investments because they involve sometimes not making zoinks profits every quarter, so yeah they could just turn them into an IP farm house for a few years to squeeze some money out of people who are desperate for Diablo 4 or whatever until people stop caring about the new stuff they're making. For another example of this process, see Bioware!

Kanos fucked around with this message at 16:38 on Nov 26, 2021

# ? Nov 26, 2021 16:32

Eej: Jun 17, 2007; HEAVYARMS

Herstory Begins Now posted:

feudal lords were still accountable to kings, which is a key difference here

Also we don't have a pretender to the throne of Activision Blizzard King being violently installed in Bobby Kotick's place after losing the confidence of the court

Well, not yet anyway

# ? Nov 26, 2021 17:41

stev: Jan 22, 2013; Please be excited.

tithin posted:

firing him without cause is $265~ mill
with cause is $265k

How on earth can you justify a payout if he's fired with cause? He could murder twenty employees in the company cafeteria and be paid for it.

# ? Nov 26, 2021 17:48

30.5 Days: Nov 19, 2006

Poil posted:

Does blizzard really care if they completely brain drain all of the programmers and artists etc? Couldn't they just restructure into only having management, marketing and sales to sit on the licenses and subcontract out all the actual work?

Thanks to Karl Marx and his terrible invention of the TRPF, this is not a great way to make big money and hasn't been so for a little while. The best way to make money is to have people make something really valuable and then not pay them a commensurate wage, and video game companies are the masters of this. Activision pays companies who do what you're describing and keeps the lions share of the cash.

# ? Nov 26, 2021 17:58

Gwaihir: Dec 8, 2009; Hair Elf

stev posted:

How on earth can you justify a payout if he's fired with cause? He could murder twenty employees in the company cafeteria and be paid for it.

Reading the actual contract posted a while back, that's not a monetary payout of he's fired for cause, it's a money value of health insurance that doesn't immediately cancel.

# ? Nov 26, 2021 18:01

Gucci Loafers: May 20, 2006; Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?

Poil posted:

Does blizzard really care if they completely brain drain all of the programmers and artists etc? Couldn't they just restructure into only having management, marketing and sales to sit on the licenses and subcontract out all the actual work?

In theory, they could and I bet the company could last decades simply sitting on existing IP however the value of company would continue to plummet and eventually become worth even less than it is today. I can't imagine any shareholders being happy about that at all.

# ? Nov 26, 2021 18:27

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Apr 16, 2024 17:38

Natural 20: Sep 17, 2007; Wearer of Compasses. Slayer of Gods. Champion of the Colosseum. Heart of the Void.
Saviour of Hallownest.

Strategic Tea posted:

Shareholders should control the company, and they have royally hosed up by not appointing independent non execs to reign in Bobby, an independent remuneration committee, and all the other bells and whistles that any entry level business class would recommend.

For all that they are self interested bastards, shareholders absolutely have no interest in losing money and paying legal fees to head off an employee uprising because HR couldn't do its basic job of ensuring the company wasn't vulnerable to massive lawsuits

The problem is that Kotick was making them money hand over loving fist for years with no oversight. Why employee all of these things and cut into your bottom line when the man running the company seems competent and keeps making you gigantic stacks of cash?

# ? Nov 26, 2021 18:29

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Games Industry News and Discussion

«‹›143 »