Blizzard Workers Share Salaries in Revolt Over Wage Disparities

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erek

erek

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"One veteran Blizzard employee told Bloomberg News they received a raise of less than 50 cents an hour. They are making less now than they did almost a decade ago because they are working fewer overtime hours than they did back then. Several former Blizzard employees said they only received significant pay increases after leaving for other companies, such as nearby rival Riot Games Inc. in Los Angeles.

In 2018 messages on internal Blizzard communication channels reviewed by Bloomberg News, employees talked about money-saving measures they’ve taken to remain with the company. One employee wrote that they had to skip meals to pay rent and that they used the company’s free coffee as an appetite suppressant. Another said they would only eat oatmeal and bail on team lunches because they couldn’t afford to buy food at the company cafeteria. A third said they and their partner stopped talking about having kids because they knew they wouldn’t be able to afford it. That contrasted with pictures they saw of more senior Blizzard employees enjoying vacations to Disneyland with their families."

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...hare-salaries-in-revolt-over-wage-disparities
 
bigddybn said:
Agreed. Switching companies is how the rest of the real world gets a significant pay raise as well. Eventually the places with the reputation for taking care of their people are where the talent end up.
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Yeah, exactly. In engineering world you have to jump around too. Even if you get a promotion it's capped at 10% where I am now. If you leave and come back for the jump it's 30-40%.

It's really strange to be honest - it's like cable or phone companies. The more loyal and dedicated you are the more you get screwed.
 
Sounds like a bunch of whining trying to jump on the (rightfully deserved) Blizzard hate still going on.

Blizzards been crappy for many reasons the last few years, but game testers earning minimum wage and software engineers earning 100k is not at all Blizzard specific and is not news worthy.
 
Activision Blizzard Inc recorded a profit of $4.395B in 2018. The fact that employees are going hungry, and choosing not to have kids is disgusting ... and really should be criminal.

Just to add to this Activision Blizzard inc is an incredible tax dodger. Activision Blizzard paid out royalties to the Activision Blizzard outfits in tax havens, like ATVI C.V. ATVI C.V. The Bermuda-based outfit has no employees, but received €5 billion ($5.59 billion) in royalty payments between 2013 and 2017. In 2017, ATVI C.V. sold some of its intellectual property to the Barbados-based ATVI International SRL, information for which is not publicly available.
 
It's interesting now that Blizzard is no longer the golden child people are not willing to keep working for them for a pittance. A lot of developers and artists went to work for Blizzard because hell... it was Blizzard.

Thankfully many of them now have industry experience and a more jaded view of the companies that make games so if they want to remain in the industry they know what they need to ask for up front and not promises of "In 6 months well boost your pay to...."
 
Draax said:
Activision Blizzard Inc recorded a profit of $4.395B in 2018. The fact that employees are going hungry, and choosing not to have kids is disgusting ... and really should be criminal.

Just to add to this Activision Blizzard inc is an incredible tax dodger. Activision Blizzard paid out royalties to the Activision Blizzard outfits in tax havens, like ATVI C.V. ATVI C.V. The Bermuda-based outfit has no employees, but received €5 billion ($5.59 billion) in royalty payments between 2013 and 2017. In 2017, ATVI C.V. sold some of its intellectual property to the Barbados-based ATVI International SRL, information for which is not publicly available.
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Life choices. No one is forcing them to be there. Poor people have kids all the time.
If you're a halfway decent software developer, you should be able to transition to another company easily.
 
Draax said:
Activision Blizzard Inc recorded a profit of $4.395B in 2018. The fact that employees are going hungry, and choosing not to have kids is disgusting ... and really should be criminal.

Just to add to this Activision Blizzard inc is an incredible tax dodger. Activision Blizzard paid out royalties to the Activision Blizzard outfits in tax havens, like ATVI C.V. ATVI C.V. The Bermuda-based outfit has no employees, but received €5 billion ($5.59 billion) in royalty payments between 2013 and 2017. In 2017, ATVI C.V. sold some of its intellectual property to the Barbados-based ATVI International SRL, information for which is not publicly available.
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The first paragraph I disagree with. The second paragraph, I completely agree with. Tax haven's shouldn't exist.
 
The biggest tragedy of the current economic system is that corporations have convinced the general public to support unethical behavior like paying employees peanuts while they rake in billions and then they turn around and don't pay taxes on those billions.
 
Dayaks said:
Yeah, exactly. In engineering world you have to jump around too. Even if you get a promotion it's capped at 10% where I am now. If you leave and come back for the jump it's 30-40%.

It's really strange to be honest - it's like cable or phone companies. The more loyal and dedicated you are the more you get screwed.
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Academia is becoming increasingly like this, too. When many schools stopped providing tenure-track positions, they thought they'd become more 'economically flexible,' but all it's done is made professors more likely to move jobs more frequently - the talented profs end up at places that treat them well, and the places that don't treat profs well end up with vaguely adequate faculty. Moving every 4-5 years sucks but the salary increase, added up over 4-5 years, makes it absolutely worth it.
 
Gigantopithecus said:
Academia is becoming increasingly like this, too. When many schools stopped providing tenure-track positions, they thought they'd become more 'economically flexible,' but all it's done is made professors more likely to move jobs more frequently - the talented profs end up at places that treat them well, and the places that don't treat profs well end up with vaguely adequate faculty. Moving every 4-5 years sucks but the salary increase, added up over 4-5 years, makes it absolutely worth it.
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I could see a cool side effect as limiting academic inbreeding. More ideas (moving in and out) = more robust academic environment. Am I wrong?
 
Um, good for them, I'll keep my money to myself. ;)
If you don't like it, then find another company to work for that will pay you more.
 
Draax said:
Activision Blizzard Inc recorded a profit of $4.395B in 2018. The fact that employees are going hungry, and choosing not to have kids is disgusting ... and really should be criminal.

Just to add to this Activision Blizzard inc is an incredible tax dodger. Activision Blizzard paid out royalties to the Activision Blizzard outfits in tax havens, like ATVI C.V. ATVI C.V. The Bermuda-based outfit has no employees, but received €5 billion ($5.59 billion) in royalty payments between 2013 and 2017. In 2017, ATVI C.V. sold some of its intellectual property to the Barbados-based ATVI International SRL, information for which is not publicly available.
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The big part is... Choosing. They knew how much they werw getting paid when they took the job, now all the sudden they can't afford food? What changed that they could once afford food and now can't? These silly stories about people always make me laugh. I only got a small raise so now I can't eat. Wtf were you doing before you got the raise?!? I understand that pay disparity is sometimes stupid/rediculous but these sob stories take away from the actual issue. It should be about pay disparity, not why people can't live within their means. Find a company thats willing to pay what you feel your worthm. If you can't, then you need to adjust your expectations for the job/field you have.
 
sc5mu93 said:
I could see a cool side effect as limiting academic inbreeding. More ideas (moving in and out) = more robust academic environment. Am I wrong?
Click to expand...

No, you're not. Exposure to new ideas and disruption of the stupid decades-long feuds are major positives. There are also negatives (some major), but that's a can of worms I'd rather not open!
 
bigddybn said:
Agreed. Switching companies is how the rest of the real world gets a significant pay raise as well. Eventually the places with the reputation for taking care of their people are where the talent end up.
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For most of the rank and file yes. For some highly skilled individuals we are given compensation bumps to ensure we do not jump. And then there are the execs who get bumps for boinking their secretaries.
 
Like others said if you don't like it htfo then. You can't afford to eat? Them how about you stop going to places like Whole Foods, buying $7 coffees from Starbucks several times a day and spending hundreds of dollars on drinks a week? Some of these people are making six figures too? They get no sympathy from me.
 
A good developer might not be paid as well as a person with social skills. That is just how life works.
 
Draax said:
The biggest tragedy of the current economic system is that corporations have convinced the general public to support unethical behavior like paying employees peanuts while they rake in billions and then they turn around and don't pay taxes on those billions.
Click to expand...

That is not a tragedy, that is capitalism. Most states are "at will" employment. Nobody is making them work there and the company is under no obligation to make employees millionaire or rich enough to spit out more kids. I know freedom sucks sometimes but they have obligations to their share holders.

PS: Socialim does not work regardless of flaws in capitalism.
 
Its time like this where I'm happy my pay rate is based off only experience, not whether or not a supervisor liked me and whether or not I fit in the boys club.

But I'm curious how much we are talking about here, "I only make 95k a year, I cant afford to eat"?

They are making less now than they did almost a decade ago because they are working fewer overtime hours than they did back then
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so a decade ago they had to do 100 hour work weeks to hit deadlines because they were cranking out games, but now there is a slow period so 40 hr weeks arent cutting it?
 
Bowman15 said:
That is not a tragedy, that is capitalism. Most states are "at will" employment. Nobody is making them work there and the company is under no obligation to make employees millionaire or rich enough to spit out more kids. I know freedom sucks sometimes but they have obligations to their share holders.

PS: Socialim does not work regardless of flaws in capitalism.
Click to expand...


Socialism: The ruling class decides who's place youre going to eat dinner at and who's house your going to sleep in.
Democratic Socialism: You and your friends vote on whos house your going to sleep in and who's dinner to crash.

Either way you look at it you take something from someone so you can have it for "free". It works real well when you dont see the cost.
 
It's all about supply and demand.

There is a perceived fun factor in working in games development, because of this they get many more applicants. Supply and demand means they can, and will pay less.

This reminds me about professional photographers whining about hobbyists doing their jobs for free or little compensation.

When you choose to to a job people would do for free as a hobby or for fun, of course it is going to pay less.

Same happens in the medical industry. Hospitals associated with famous teaching institutions (Like Harvard Medical School for instance) pay their doctors less, because the prestige of being associated with the organization attracts people to the extent that they don't have to pay them as much to stay.

It's a free market and there is supply and demand. These employees are free to look for work elsewhere. Maybe it won't be as "fun" or relevant to their interests as working with games, but it will likely pay more.

The only thing that will convince Blizzard to increase pay is if they can no longer retain people at current pay rates, so by staying despite the low pay they are pretty much ensuring it continues to happen. It is in every companies best interest to pay as little as possible. Why would they pay a cent more than they absolutely have to to get the job done?

If you aren't at least checking what other jobs are out there, including in other industries, every couple of years, you are guaranteed to be missing out. This isn't Japan. Don't stay at the same company for years on a row. It only hurts you.

People seem to forget that "fun" and "work" are two different things and most people don't get paid to have fun.
 
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Dude, you guys are some cold motherfuckers. May I remind people that we're in a recession and getting a job isn't so easy? A lot of those employees live in California where the cost of living is basically your life savings. Also, Bobby Kotick is the CEO and he's one of the most overpaid CEO's in the gaming industry. Blizzard can keep paying their employee's shitty wages, but it has already reflected their games. Blizzard hasn't made a good game since 2008. Game creation is an art and if your developers are stressed from too much work and too little pay then that'll reflect the games they make. Which may explain why WoW Classic has more players than Battle for Azeroth, and why Warcraft 3 Remastered is getting a lot of negative press. Also the huge disconnect that Blizzard has with their players. The best things that came out of Blizzard recently is all the memes they indirectly helped created from their disconnect with the community.

You get what you pay for Blizzard.





 
Bowman15 said:
PS: Socialim does not work regardless of flaws in capitalism.
Click to expand...
Correct, but at least you acknowledge that there are flaws. For example, lets take the oldest profession in the world, prostitution. A street worker is doing 100% of the advertising, work, risk taking, etc., with almost no involvement, investment, or risk from the "manager", and yet the pimp will end up taking all of the money and making her feel like it rightfully belongs to him while giving her a few scraps here and there. The system is setup in such a way that she can't really just work for herself though, and one pimp is going to be about as bad as the next. A lot of other industries are like this, where there is often a huge divorce between contribution to the product/service and compensation, and capitalism hasn't really resolved this, especially when industries are consolidating into mega-corps where mobility options are often limited. Just look at the income of CEOs to their average employee in US companies compared to Japan for example, and you see that while both are capitalist, there is a cultural problem in some.

Capitalism is the best system we've invented to date, but it is definitely broken in many ways as well.
 
Bowman15 said:
That is not a tragedy, that is capitalism. Most states are "at will" employment. Nobody is making them work there and the company is under no obligation to make employees millionaire or rich enough to spit out more kids. I know freedom sucks sometimes but they have obligations to their share holders.

PS: Socialim does not work regardless of flaws in capitalism.
Click to expand...

Not paying taxes on billions of dollars by hiding money in off shore tax havens is capitalism?
 
Draax said:
Not paying taxes on billions of dollars by hiding money in off shore tax havens is capitalism?
Click to expand...

Actually yes it is, if its legal.

Regardless that has nothing to do with paying employees lower wages...supply and demand. If there was a shortage of workers they would have to pay more.
 
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If I was a developer at Blizzard I’d just quit and go make phone apps or something else more profitable. Even in a bad economy you can find other opportunities if you look hard enough. These guys want to live in the Bay Area and pay retarded prices for rent because they enjoy that environment. They could relocate to another state with a less prestigious company and have a higher quality of life.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
It's all about supply and demand.

There is a perceived fun factor in working in games development, because of this they get many more applicants. Supply and demand means they can, and will pay less.

This reminds me about professional photographers whining about hobbyists doing their jobs for free or little compensation.

When you choose to to a job people would do for free as a hobby or for fun, of course it is going to pay less.

Same happens in the medical industry. Hospitals associated with famous teaching institutions (Like Harvard Medical School for instance) pay their doctors less, because the prestige of being associated with the organization attracts people to the extent that they don't have to pay them as much to stay.

It's a free market and there is supply and demand. These employees are free to look for work elsewhere. Maybe it won't be as "fun" or relevant to their interests as working with games, but it will likely pay more.

The only thing that will convince Blizzard to increase pay is if they can no longer retain people at current pay rates, so by staying despite the low pay they are pretty much ensuring it continues to happen. It is in every companies best interest to pay as little as possible. Why would they pay a cent more than they absolutely have to to get the job done?

If you aren't at least checking what other jobs are out there, including in other industries, every couple of years, you are guaranteed to be missing out. This isn't Japan. Don't stay at the same company for years on a row. It only hurts you.

People seem to forget that "fun" and "work" are two different things and most people don't get paid to have fun.
Click to expand...
When going to Uni for software engineering the biggest thing the departments dean drove into us was don't drink the gaming companies kool-aid. They show up on their recruitment drives and they show all the fun work environments and yeah lots of people get into programming because they want to work in gaming, but he was very clear to all of us that it is a puppy mill, that they get so many applicants that it becomes a race to the bottom on wages. Took that seriously took a job designing accounting and warehouse management software, pay was better overall and while it wasn't a "fun, and exciting" work environment, I had an office and access to coffee and droughts (that became a problem onto itself but yeah...), I didn't need overtime to pay my bills and it wasn't ever needed it was very much a 8-4 job. When I finished there after a few years I ran into a number of my friends who went off with the gaming guys, none of them do development any more they were burnt out and had far less to show for it. Basically, they found that 1/2 their wages went to rent because the areas around their offices were expensive and if they lived out further the difference they saved was used up by the commute, and the other half went to take out and fast food because when you are working 12h a day 6 days a week you never have time for actual groceries and when you do they end up going bad because you have no time to cook it.
 
I personally would never make sacrifices like that just to work at a "cool" company. But if it makes you happy I say go for it.

If you want to complain about it to the world though... These people are idiots. It's like eating ice cream for every meal and complaining about your health. Refusing to change when it's 100% in your control to do so.
 
DukenukemX said:
Dude, you guys are some cold motherfuckers. May I remind people that we're in a recession and getting a job isn't so easy? A lot of those employees live in California where the cost of living is basically your life savings. Also, Bobby Kotick is the CEO and he's one of the most overpaid CEO's in the gaming industry. Blizzard can keep paying their employee's shitty wages, but it has already reflected their games. Blizzard hasn't made a good game since 2008. Game creation is an art and if your developers are stressed from too much work and too little pay then that'll reflect the games they make. Which may explain why WoW Classic has more players than Battle for Azeroth, and why Warcraft 3 Remastered is getting a lot of negative press. Also the huge disconnect that Blizzard has with their players. The best things that came out of Blizzard recently is all the memes they indirectly helped created from their disconnect with the community.

You get what you pay for Blizzard.





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Its not? Funny I seem to remember the media claiming that some employers were having trouble hiring. Also I see A LOT of open positions on various companies websites.

Living in CA is a bullshit excuse. Move somewhere else. Get a job in a cheaper area to live. I would rather make 100k/yr living in a cheap state than 800k/yr living in CA.

Ducman69 said:
Correct, but at least you acknowledge that there are flaws. For example, lets take the oldest profession in the world, prostitution. A street worker is doing 100% of the advertising, work, risk taking, etc., with almost no involvement, investment, or risk from the "manager", and yet the pimp will end up taking all of the money and making her feel like it rightfully belongs to him while giving her a few scraps here and there. The system is setup in such a way that she can't really just work for herself though, and one pimp is going to be about as bad as the next. A lot of other industries are like this, where there is often a huge divorce between contribution to the product/service and compensation, and capitalism hasn't really resolved this, especially when industries are consolidating into mega-corps where mobility options are often limited. Just look at the income of CEOs to their average employee in US companies compared to Japan for example, and you see that while both are capitalist, there is a cultural problem in some.

Capitalism is the best system we've invented to date, but it is definitely broken in many ways as well.
Click to expand...

In college many of the freshman girls I knew would trade sex for favors (and probably cash for some of them though I have no proof). They didn't have a pimp and got to keep it all. Maybe the working girls should go into business for themselves ;). I am told the Bunny Ranch in Nevada pays well? Never been there so I dont know lol.
 
5150Joker said:
If I was a developer at Blizzard I’d just quit and go make phone apps or something else more profitable. Even in a bad economy you can find other opportunities if you look hard enough. These guys want to live in the Bay Area and pay retarded prices for rent because they enjoy that environment. They could relocate to another state with a less prestigious company and have a higher quality of life.
Click to expand...
I can appreciate that they are stuck, can't afford to stay but can't afford to leave, it's a mindset thing after a few years like that you've got no energy left to even think about the possibilities and that's what they want, management at these sorts of places intentionally try to drive their employees to this point because once you have them here they are cheap and loyal and you can treat them like dirt and they will thank you for it. There are even cases where management will keep rumors going around that layoffs and downsizes, or outsourcing is a possibility, they won't say it but they keep rumors active because it keeps them on their toes with their heads down trying to show they are worth keeping around. Blizzard, and EA, and most of the others are more than happy to burn out low level coding positions by the dozens because they know they can replace them with fresh "eager" talent, and the ones who do get promoted through that are happy to stay because "They did their time, and you should too" and "That's how development works", it's just a bad culture and I am sad that attempts to unionize it have failed.
 
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Lakados said:
I can appreciate that they are stuck, can't afford to stay but can't afford to leave, it's a mindset thing after a few years like that you've got no energy left to even think about the possibilities and that's what they want, management at these sorts of places intentionally try to drive their employees to this point because once you have them here they are cheap and loyal and you can treat them like dirt and they will thank you for it. There are even cases where management will keep rumors going around that layoffs and downsizes, or outsourcing is a possibility, they won't say it but they keep rumors active because it keeps them on their toes with their heads down trying to show they are worth keeping around. Blizzard, and EA, and most of the others are more than happy to burn out low level coding positions by the dozens because they know they can replace them with fresh "eager" talent, and the ones who do get promoted through that are happy to stay because "They did their time, and you should too" and "That's how development works", it's just a bad culture and I am sad that attempts to unionize it have failed.
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You can always leave its a false assumption you cant afford to leave. You just might not be able to maintain the lifestyle you want to if you leave. But yes they are toxic places to work.
 
Lakados said:
I can appreciate that they are stuck, can't afford to stay but can't afford to leave, it's a mindset thing after a few years like that you've got no energy left to even think about the possibilities and that's what they want, management at these sorts of places intentionally try to drive their employees to this point because once you have them here they are cheap and loyal and you can treat them like dirt and they will thank you for it. There are even cases where management will keep rumors going around that layoffs and downsizes, or outsourcing is a possibility, they won't say it but they keep rumors active because it keeps them on their toes with their heads down trying to show they are worth keeping around. Blizzard, and EA, and most of the others are more than happy to burn out low level coding positions by the dozens because they know they can replace them with fresh "eager" talent, and the ones who do get promoted through that are happy to stay because "They did their time, and you should too" and "That's how development works", it's just a bad culture and I am sad that attempts to unionize it have failed.
Click to expand...

You don't need unionization to fix something that already has a solution. The solution is to stop being a pushover, ask for more money or find another job. Everyone that would be ballsy enough to start a union does this instead because it's way easier and better for them.
 
Bowman15 said:
That is not a tragedy, that is capitalism.
Click to expand...
That's not capitalism, that's a lack of democracy. Democracy is capitalism's long time more hated foe.

PS: Socialim does not work regardless of flaws in capitalism.
Click to expand...
Capitalism does not work, regardless of the flaws. We pretend Capitalism works, despite that we needed the New Deal and every 10 years the system falls apart and we give money to the wealthy because Capitalism loves Socialism for the wealthy.

Ducman69 said:
Capitalism is the best system we've invented to date, but it is definitely broken in many ways as well.
Click to expand...
Just want to point out that we don't really have a capitalist system. We have crony capitalism or socialism for the rich and hard capitalism for the poor. Capitalism works so well that the rich have socialism. The stuff Blizzard does here in the United States wouldn't fly in the UK. You can't just fire people and hire again for their position in the UK.

crony-capitalism.jpg
 
"Just move" and "You chose to work there" really shouldn't be the responses adults should give to this. That's the reaction I'd expect from a teenager. The fact that a company as rich as ActiBlizz, that pays no taxes and is given millions in tax payer dollars refuses to pay employees a decent living wage is fucking ridiculous. Yes, people can leave, but they shouldn't have to. They shouldn't have to pick between being able to buy food and working at a job they clearly enjoy. This shit isn't capitalism, it's not how the system was ever supposed to work.
 
DukenukemX said:
That's not capitalism, that's a lack of democracy. Democracy is capitalism's long time more hated foe.


Capitalism does not work, regardless of the flaws. We pretend Capitalism works, despite that we needed the New Deal and every 10 years the system falls apart and we give money to the wealthy because Capitalism loves Socialism for the wealthy.


Just want to point out that we don't really have a capitalist system. We have crony capitalism or socialism for the rich and hard capitalism for the poor. Capitalism works so well that the rich have socialism. The stuff Blizzard does here in the United States wouldn't fly in the UK. You can't just fire people and hire again for their position in the UK.

View attachment 267272
Click to expand...

So how exactly do we give money to the wealthy? Cuz I am looking at my tax bill and so far this year I have paid more in taxes than the average American makes in a year. Id like some of this so called free cash.
 
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