Morale at Activision Blizzard took a hit this week, which is probably a lead we could have used for any This Week in Business column of the past year and a half.
This time the problems stemmed from a Blizzard Entertainment all-hands meeting that was reported on by Game Developer. The intent of the meeting was to discuss the results of an internal employee satisfaction survey, but whatever those results were, Blizzard president Mike Ybarra put on a performance that probably made them worse.
In the Q&A section of the meeting, Ybarra addressed the recent decision to cut employees' profit-sharing bonus by almost half, which couldn't have gone over well considering Blizzard had just finished one of its strongest quarters in years, nearly doubling its operating income thanks to the launch of Overwatch 2, the mobile hit Diablo Immortal, and recent World of Warcraft expansions.
source https://www.gamesindustry.biz/blizzard-president-sends-a-message-this-week-in-business
