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On March 01 2012 05:23 Zaqwert wrote:Show nested quote +On March 01 2012 05:16 Chargelot wrote:On March 01 2012 05:07 RouaF wrote:And that's how today's worlds rolls  Make millions of profits ? Fire people. It's called capitalism. I know this is a difficult concept to understand, but companies exist to make money. That is the purpose of Blizzard, Apple, Microsoft, Starbucks, and every other place in the entire world that provides goods and services that come at some expense to the consumer. If you don't need 600 additional employees, you don't pay for them to sit in the office and not be utilized. You release them. Blizzard gave them all severance packages, and some other additional benefits. Knowing Blizzard, these were most likely wildly generous. tl;dr Companies don't make money by paying unnecessary people to fulfill unnecessary duties. This is actually the problem with public companies. Private companies can have a soul, if the owner(s) care more about quality and people than money, the company works that way. I've worked for some private companies who had very generous and wonderful owners. They would choose to make 100 million and have employees be happy and make wonderful products than make 120 million and have employees be miserably and churn out crap. However with a publicly traded company, everything is impersonal. The stockholders are the owners and people who buy ActivisionBlizzard stock dont' give a damn about anything other than wanting their stock to go higher. Once a company goes public they are a slave to the stock price, they exist only to make it go up or to increase dividends. Everyone should have seen Blizzard's soul departing the second they no longer were owned by a few guys who had hearts and souls and instead owned by millions of faceless people who just see numbers on a spreadsheet. Such is life. Give it another decade and things will get really bad. Blizz will be churning out a lot of uninspired crap I fear.
Blizzard hasn't been owned by a few guys since the middle 90s. They were bought by Davidson and Associates in 1994, before they even released Warcraft 1. The company was later acquired by CUC International, which became Cendant. CUC, in the late 90s, was the source of the biggest corporate accounting scandal in US history, at the time.
If you think Bobby Kotick is bad, Blizzard's parent company's CEO in the late 90s, during the time of Diablo 2 and SC:BW actually went to prison because of an accounting scandal. Their best games came with a criminal in charge of the company.
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I guess they are going to outsource their jobs to India.
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And I'm sure there will be a nice fat bonus/pay raise for the CEO/higher ups this year.... It sickens me that guys make 16million dollars a year to put in the same, or less hours, as your average employee and it's not like they are 100 times smarter than the average joe or something, usually they got their position through lucky timing or by being more ruthless than everyone else. No one is worth 100+ times more than another human being, in my opinion. Sigh, capitalism sucks sometimes. Heart goes out to all the people laid off in this shit economy while CEOs buy ferraris and their 5th vacation home etc.. disgusting world we live in where greed is a positive trait.
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On March 01 2012 06:45 darkest44 wrote:
And I'm sure there will be a nice fat bonus/pay raise for the CEO/higher ups this year.... It sickens me that guys make 16million dollars a year to put in the same, or less hours, as your average employee and it's not like they are 100 times smarter than the average joe or something, usually they got their position through lucky timing or by being more ruthless than everyone else. No one is worth 100+ times more than another human being, in my opinion. Sigh, capitalism sucks sometimes. Heart goes out to all the people laid off in this shit economy while CEOs buy ferraris and their 5th vacation home etc.. disgusting world we live in where greed is a positive trait.
people aren't just handed the title of CEO. they work their ass off to get it, and more often than not they were the ones there from the beginning when the company was nothing more than a startup.
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On March 01 2012 06:44 Sufficiency wrote:
I guess they are going to outsource their jobs to India.
They're not needed anymore; there's nothing to outsource.
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On March 01 2012 06:52 Terranist wrote:Show nested quote +On March 01 2012 06:45 darkest44 wrote:
And I'm sure there will be a nice fat bonus/pay raise for the CEO/higher ups this year.... It sickens me that guys make 16million dollars a year to put in the same, or less hours, as your average employee and it's not like they are 100 times smarter than the average joe or something, usually they got their position through lucky timing or by being more ruthless than everyone else. No one is worth 100+ times more than another human being, in my opinion. Sigh, capitalism sucks sometimes. Heart goes out to all the people laid off in this shit economy while CEOs buy ferraris and their 5th vacation home etc.. disgusting world we live in where greed is a positive trait. people aren't just handed the title of CEO. they work their ass off to get it, and more often than not they were the ones there from the beginning when the company was nothing more than a startup.
That changes nothing. Everyone "works their ass off". He did not work 300+ times harder or put in 300+ times more hours than the dude risking his very sanity doing customer support all day (people can be real big dicks) who might have been in the company just as long and still makes 40,000 max a year or something. But hey we're brainwashed in America to believe capitalism is all roses and rainbows and greed is a good thing. So go ahead and believe one human being is worth hundreds or sometimes thousands of times (in the case of billionaires) more than another human being, it's your right to believe whatever you want.
I'm fine with someone getting paid tens of times more than another person because there needs to be some incentive to get higher degrees and work hard etc, but not hundreds or thousands times as much. It's sad how all the benefits and stock bonuses etc go all to the guys who already get paid the most, while the average employees usually get diddly squat and then gets fired in mass lay offs so the stock holders/ceos/execs can make higher profits. I am not looking for arguments, I was simply stating my opinion and sending my thoughts out to those who are losing their jobs in the all consuming interest of more profits for the stockholders/owners.
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On March 01 2012 06:29 killerdog wrote:
I wonder what these "un-announced" projects are o.0,they already have an mmorpg, an rpg and an rts and a moba... blizzard fps?
There's a new MMORPG coming from Blizzard. It's codenamed "Titan" and it will be based on a new universe (so no WoW2, World of Starcraft or World of Diablo). That's pretty much all that has been announced.
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On March 01 2012 05:07 Silidons wrote:Show nested quote +On March 01 2012 05:06 iloveav wrote:
yeah... your right... 1.2 billion dollars anual income from WoW is too little to pay your workers... unnessecary spending is not how to run a successful business
if only someone had told MLG that
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On March 01 2012 05:57 Blasterion wrote:Show nested quote +On March 01 2012 05:54 Kennigit wrote:On March 01 2012 05:29 JimmyJRaynor wrote:
Has anyone heard from Dustin Browder or David Kim since this announcement? Possibilities 1) The have zero insight on the layoffs, because they aren't involved in Blizzard's business decisions at that level. They know some people who were laid off and obviously can't publicly comment on it. 2) They were both laid off One of these is very likely. One of these is very unlikely. OMG.... Browder and Kim were laid off!!! That must be it!!! Starcraft is.... Poll: Starcraft is....Saved (46) 68% Doomed (22) 32% 68 total votes Your vote: Starcraft is.... (Vote): Saved
(Vote): Doomed
WHOA...
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/XNf34.jpg)
The last time I checked Way more votes went to doomed!
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On March 01 2012 06:55 darkest44 wrote:Show nested quote +On March 01 2012 06:52 Terranist wrote:On March 01 2012 06:45 darkest44 wrote:
And I'm sure there will be a nice fat bonus/pay raise for the CEO/higher ups this year.... It sickens me that guys make 16million dollars a year to put in the same, or less hours, as your average employee and it's not like they are 100 times smarter than the average joe or something, usually they got their position through lucky timing or by being more ruthless than everyone else. No one is worth 100+ times more than another human being, in my opinion. Sigh, capitalism sucks sometimes. Heart goes out to all the people laid off in this shit economy while CEOs buy ferraris and their 5th vacation home etc.. disgusting world we live in where greed is a positive trait. people aren't just handed the title of CEO. they work their ass off to get it, and more often than not they were the ones there from the beginning when the company was nothing more than a startup. That changes nothing. Everyone "works their ass off". He did not work 100 times harder or put in 100 times more hours than the dude breaking his back scrubbing toilets all day or something. But hey we're brainwashed in America to believe capitalism is all roses and rainbows and greed is a good thing. So go ahead and believe one human being is worth 100 or sometimes thousands of times (in the case of billionaires) more than another human being. I'm fine with someone getting paid 10s of times more than another person maybe, but not 100s or thousands. It's sad how all the benefits and stock bonuses etc go all to the guys who already get paid the most, while the average employees usually get diddly squat. I am not looking for arguments, I was simply stating my opinion and sending my thoughts out to those who are losing their jobs in the all consuming interest of more profits for the stockholders/owners.
If the ceo was there from the start, he took the risk of starting a business and now it's paying off.
Those people more often than work nearly every hour they're awake compared to most 9-to-5ers(yes there are unfortunate souls who have to work just as much and hardly earn anything but that's a different topic).
edit: I do agree that the bonuses in top companies are way too high.
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On March 01 2012 06:55 darkest44 wrote:
That changes nothing. Everyone "works their ass off". He did not work 300+ times harder or put in 300+ times more hours than the dude risking his very sanity doing customer support all day (people can be real big dicks) who might have been in the company just as long and still makes 40,000 max a year or something. But hey we're brainwashed in America to believe capitalism is all roses and rainbows and greed is a good thing. So go ahead and believe one human being is worth hundreds or sometimes thousands of times (in the case of billionaires) more than another human being, it's your right to believe whatever you want.
He took the risk to start the company in the first place. If Blizzard fails back in the day, the employees may lose their jobs, but the founders lose *everything* because they need to declare bankruptcy. You can knock him all you want for making as much as he does, but he's the one who put it all on the line to start the company, not the employees.
Whether he makes 50 trillion dollars or 1 dollar doesn't matter, people would still be laid off, because in every company there is fat that needs to be trimmed, and they trimmed that fat. That's part of how business works.
If I have a problem with any CEO it's the serial CEO's that jump to established companies, ruin them, get the golden parachute and then jump to the next one. Those people are the scum. Mike Morhaime built this thing from the ground up and is still there. Give the guy some credit.
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much respect to the WoW GMs who are getting released, i've always appreciated your customer service in game. best of wishes to you.
it's definitely not an issue of simply being able to pay the employees, since their job listing page is still loaded with open positions. I'm glad that the company is still taking care of these employees getting released with what i hear to be rather generous severance packages and bonus benefits.
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Nowadays GM tickets take several hours or up to a day..... now it'll be so much longer >.<".
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On March 01 2012 06:55 darkest44 wrote:Show nested quote +On March 01 2012 06:52 Terranist wrote:On March 01 2012 06:45 darkest44 wrote:
And I'm sure there will be a nice fat bonus/pay raise for the CEO/higher ups this year.... It sickens me that guys make 16million dollars a year to put in the same, or less hours, as your average employee and it's not like they are 100 times smarter than the average joe or something, usually they got their position through lucky timing or by being more ruthless than everyone else. No one is worth 100+ times more than another human being, in my opinion. Sigh, capitalism sucks sometimes. Heart goes out to all the people laid off in this shit economy while CEOs buy ferraris and their 5th vacation home etc.. disgusting world we live in where greed is a positive trait. people aren't just handed the title of CEO. they work their ass off to get it, and more often than not they were the ones there from the beginning when the company was nothing more than a startup. That changes nothing. Everyone "works their ass off". He did not work 300+ times harder or put in 300+ times more hours than the dude risking his very sanity doing customer support all day (people can be real big dicks) who might have been in the company just as long and still makes 40,000 max a year or something. But hey we're brainwashed in America to believe capitalism is all roses and rainbows and greed is a good thing. So go ahead and believe one human being is worth hundreds or sometimes thousands of times (in the case of billionaires) more than another human being, it's your right to believe whatever you want. I'm fine with someone getting paid tens of times more than another person because there needs to be some incentive to get higher degrees and work hard etc, but not hundreds or thousands times as much. It's sad how all the benefits and stock bonuses etc go all to the guys who already get paid the most, while the average employees usually get diddly squat and then gets fired in mass lay offs so the stock holders/ceos/execs can make higher profits. I am not looking for arguments, I was simply stating my opinion and sending my thoughts out to those who are losing their jobs in the all consuming interest of more profits for the stockholders/owners.
Don't post a controversial opinion/whine if you're not looking for an argument. It's pretty annoying that people post their opinion and want other posters to treat it as sacrosanct.
And Mike Morhaime is a founder of the company. He was one of the people who started it. What he does is way more valuable than the positions that were laid off. Those positions, to be frank, are mostly used by people as stepping stones to get the positions they really want.
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On March 01 2012 06:29 killerdog wrote:
I wonder what these "un-announced" projects are o.0,they already have an mmorpg, an rpg and an rts and a moba... blizzard fps?
Titan, there replacement for wow.
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On March 01 2012 06:55 darkest44 wrote:Show nested quote +On March 01 2012 06:52 Terranist wrote:On March 01 2012 06:45 darkest44 wrote:
And I'm sure there will be a nice fat bonus/pay raise for the CEO/higher ups this year.... It sickens me that guys make 16million dollars a year to put in the same, or less hours, as your average employee and it's not like they are 100 times smarter than the average joe or something, usually they got their position through lucky timing or by being more ruthless than everyone else. No one is worth 100+ times more than another human being, in my opinion. Sigh, capitalism sucks sometimes. Heart goes out to all the people laid off in this shit economy while CEOs buy ferraris and their 5th vacation home etc.. disgusting world we live in where greed is a positive trait. people aren't just handed the title of CEO. they work their ass off to get it, and more often than not they were the ones there from the beginning when the company was nothing more than a startup. That changes nothing. Everyone "works their ass off". He did not work 300+ times harder or put in 300+ times more hours than the dude risking his very sanity doing customer support all day (people can be real big dicks) who might have been in the company just as long and still makes 40,000 max a year or something. But hey we're brainwashed in America to believe capitalism is all roses and rainbows and greed is a good thing. So go ahead and believe one human being is worth hundreds or sometimes thousands of times (in the case of billionaires) more than another human being, it's your right to believe whatever you want. I'm fine with someone getting paid tens of times more than another person because there needs to be some incentive to get higher degrees and work hard etc, but not hundreds or thousands times as much. It's sad how all the benefits and stock bonuses etc go all to the guys who already get paid the most, while the average employees usually get diddly squat and then gets fired in mass lay offs so the stock holders/ceos/execs can make higher profits. I am not looking for arguments, I was simply stating my opinion and sending my thoughts out to those who are losing their jobs in the all consuming interest of more profits for the stockholders/owners.
There are plenty of people that lines up to just "work" however there are very few who are ready to lead, give vision and to take responsibility of something goes wrong. The people who are working doesn't really lose that much if a company goes out of business as in they could had done a superb job and the company still died and they will simply go work for another company where as the CEO who has all responsibility not only failed his "work" by not leading a successful company, he also carries all the responsibility as in any economical consequences falls on him. By forming and being responsible for a company you take the risk, if the company fails, to be forced to payback whatever the financial drawback might be. And this could in worse case scenarios be severe where the person in question has to spend his lifetime trying to pay back the debts that the failed company left behind.
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I've had experience doing customer service and believe me, blizzard is doing these people a favor by firing them. Their soul is now saved. And I dealt with regular people. These guys are dealing with wow customers... lol. They should go on one of those reality shows that testifies surviving bear attacks and hurricanes. "I survived wrath of the wow fans".
Wow is clearly waning. Loss of subs and this. Doesn't mean end of wow just yet but you can't be on top forever. Doesn't seem all that surprising. They've been dealing with that game just expanding year after year and now are catching up to current situation. They'll consolidate and stay afloat as long as they can. Good for them.
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For all this Kotick bashing going on...
bottom line is he led the purchase of activision when it was worth almost nothing and on the verge of bankruptcy...
he brought activision back from the edge of a cliff and the only value he really had was the brand power of the name "Activision".
Kotick has a track record of burying IP fast with no more life left in it. (Guitar Hero, DJ Hero, .. Bizzare Creations...)
he cuts costs where needed in order for the healthy parts of the company to continue to grow.
The Activision brand is still one of the strongest brands in the minds of mainstream consumers...
burned in the memory of every middle aged american who now buys games for their kids are titles like Chopper Command and Pitfall.
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Hmm, sucks for those people i guess.
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On March 01 2012 06:55 darkest44 wrote:Show nested quote +On March 01 2012 06:52 Terranist wrote:On March 01 2012 06:45 darkest44 wrote:
And I'm sure there will be a nice fat bonus/pay raise for the CEO/higher ups this year.... It sickens me that guys make 16million dollars a year to put in the same, or less hours, as your average employee and it's not like they are 100 times smarter than the average joe or something, usually they got their position through lucky timing or by being more ruthless than everyone else. No one is worth 100+ times more than another human being, in my opinion. Sigh, capitalism sucks sometimes. Heart goes out to all the people laid off in this shit economy while CEOs buy ferraris and their 5th vacation home etc.. disgusting world we live in where greed is a positive trait. people aren't just handed the title of CEO. they work their ass off to get it, and more often than not they were the ones there from the beginning when the company was nothing more than a startup. That changes nothing. Everyone "works their ass off". He did not work 300+ times harder or put in 300+ times more hours than the dude risking his very sanity doing customer support all day (people can be real big dicks) who might have been in the company just as long and still makes 40,000 max a year or something. But hey we're brainwashed in America to believe capitalism is all roses and rainbows and greed is a good thing. So go ahead and believe one human being is worth hundreds or sometimes thousands of times (in the case of billionaires) more than another human being, it's your right to believe whatever you want. I'm fine with someone getting paid tens of times more than another person because there needs to be some incentive to get higher degrees and work hard etc, but not hundreds or thousands times as much. It's sad how all the benefits and stock bonuses etc go all to the guys who already get paid the most, while the average employees usually get diddly squat and then gets fired in mass lay offs so the stock holders/ceos/execs can make higher profits. I am not looking for arguments, I was simply stating my opinion and sending my thoughts out to those who are losing their jobs in the all consuming interest of more profits for the stockholders/owners.
If there's one thing I just can't stand is people who come in, give their uneducated opinion and say they're not looking for arguments.
Mike Morhaime has built and created more wealth and well-being for the general public than 99.9% of this world ever will, but that's not even the logic behind his compensation package.
What people need to understand is that Activision Blizzard generated 4.44 billion in revenues in 2010, and most probably even more in 2011.
Now how much do you think Mike's idea's contributed to that 4.44 billion ? How likely do you think it is that his ideas, his border-line genius and pioneer insight into the gaming industry, his management skills and his day to day activities had a lot to do with the profitability of the Blizzard subsidiary ?
Well I can tell you now, that according to the board of compensation, his contribution was far ahead of 16 million.
What people need to squeeze into their brains is that compensation is nothing more than a cost for a business, and how much would you pay to get the skills of a Mike Morhaime ? Well clearly you'd pay quite a lot.
It has nothing to do with working more hours, or being a better person, its about a return on investment, and that's the reason CEO's get obscene packages, its because more likely than not, the business got a good return on its investment by hiring them in the first place.
I'm sick of people criticising CEOs, its getting out of control, even Richard Fuld, CEO of Lehman Brothers, now considered the worst CEO of all time, turned a 1993 loss of $102 million into a 2007 profit of $4.2 billion. These people are extremely rare, valuable and key assets for a company, and executive pay is nothing more than the result of simple supply and demand.
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EPT
