The Activision Blizzard Situation ¿Any Thoughts?

[Maribo]

Don't think I saw anyone note this one, but some more repulsive revelations:

Link

Demotion for reporting harassment, unsanitary + privacy-disregarding breastfeeding areas, breast milk being stolen... what a disgusting circus of intentional malice and creep shit.

[Rudolph]

After witnessing several threads getting locked for featuring too much negativity, I am surprised this one is still going! :P

[Major Arlene]

45 minutes ago, Rudolph said:

After witnessing several threads getting locked for featuring too much negativity, I am surprised this one is still going! :P

Because people have had good, adult, respectful conversations about a topic that on some level will affect many of us in game development or even modding.

[Liberation]

It can be arranged :-)

[Rudolph]

@Major Arlene Fair enough!

[mrthejoshmon]

3 hours ago, Maribo said:

Don't think I saw anyone note this one, but some more repulsive revelations:

Link

Demotion for reporting harassment, unsanitary + privacy-disregarding breastfeeding areas, breast milk being stolen... what a disgusting circus of intentional malice and creep shit.

"Breast milk larceny" is not something I should ever be able to say in a serious situation.

 

The very thought makes my skin crawl.

[Yumheart]

Frankly, the whole AAA video game industry is just kinda garbage, imo. I don't think there's a single big company that doesn't have anything shady or gross going on in the background. The best thing to do is to support indie devolopers and play Doom.

[Rudolph]

20 minutes ago, Yumheart said:

Frankly, the whole AAA video game industry is just kinda garbage, imo. I don't think there's a single big company that doesn't have anything shady or gross going on in the background. The best thing to do is to support indie developers and play Doom.

Unfortunately, not even indie developers are immune to this kind of crap, as seemingly wholesome studios that I love like Fullbright and MidBoss were involved in scandals... And if Sandy Petersen is to be believed, even Id Software of old had its issues. :(

 

However, I do agree with you that we should keep playing Doom - or at the very least, Classic Doom!

 

As for Blizzard, they should seriously consider renaming their company after a different kind of storm...

[Rudolph]

TERRAN ADJUTANT

 

Union-Busting Tactic Detected

 

 

[Antkibo]

5 hours ago, Rudolph said:

After witnessing several threads getting locked for featuring too much negativity, I am surprised this one is still going! :P

Talking about a fundamentally negative situation != being negative

[HavoX]

Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard to Bring the Joy and Community of Gaming to Everyone, Across Every Device

 

Hopefully Microsoft will do something about this situation. If they don't, we're fucked.

[Biodegradable]

Fucking hell, Microsoft is quickly becoming the Disney of giant video game conglomerate gluttons!

[whatup876]

I won't be surprised if MicroSoft doesn't really solve the situation.

Besides that, i wonder if they get even more COD focused than Acti themselves, as they sent even more studios to the "COD mines".

In general, they now have more control over other FPS franchises, so i won't be surprised if they try and gamble on some crossover based on the genre, even if they didn't get their hands on Valve.

I guess some people will witness like Corvus being on Quake Champions or something.

I wonder if that could at least make a game like Wolfenstein 2009 being resold game, since Raven did work on some id properties and MachineGames' Wolf titles have Caroline Becker as a character.

 

Also, they even own Crash, so they might as well make an Xbox all stars with him just to fuck with Sony. (or wait long enough for a Smash 6 i guess)

[Maribo]

Absolutely disastrous sequence of events.

[Rudolph]

22 minutes ago, HavoX said:

Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard to Bring the Joy and Community of Gaming to Everyone, Across Every Device

 

Hopefully Microsoft will do something about this situation. If they don't, we're fucked.

Probably not. The fact that they were willing to buy a company that kept making the news for being utterly toxic does not bode well at all.

 

And I mean, it is Microsoft. Have we all forgotten about how shitty that company has been over the last decade alone?

[Major Arlene]

What this will mean is a change in leadership, with Phil Spencer to become CEO (edit: maybe. I'm seeing conflicting reports about this). This is a great opportunity for him to put his money where his mouth is, although it doesn't give me much hope for unionization efforts. 

[HavoX]

Well, even though Microsoft's got money signs for eyes, they should not fall for corporate greed and consider making a commitment for what is right for Activision Blizzard's employees, male and female.

 

21 minutes ago, whatup876 said:

Also, they even own Crash

...and let's not forget Spyro!

[BaileyTW]

A Microsoft-Activision-Blizzard. AMAB for short.

[ReaperAA]

7 minutes ago, BaileyTW said:

A Microsoft-Activision-Blizzard. AMAB for short.

 

Microsoft Owns Activision-Blizzard. MOAB for short.

[whatup876]

I wonder if this will affect addons for both the recent ports of Doom 1/2 and Quake in the sense that stuff using Heretic/Hexen related assets is okay.

[Domestic-Weirdo]

12 minutes ago, whatup876 said:

I wonder if this will affect addons for both the recent ports of Doom 1/2 and Quake in the sense that stuff using Heretic/Hexen related assets is okay.

Speaking of which, maybe Raven might get around to making a new Heretic or Hexen game, considering the ownership issues between id and Raven had kept the series in limbo.

Edited January 18, 2022 by Domestic-Weirdo : Context

[Altazimuth]

Have this meme I made in 2 minutes while talking to a friend, which is part of my take on the current situation.

[spd7693]

Just my two cents:

 

If I played the game and like it, I'll play it again.

If I listened the song and liked it, I'll listen to it again. 

If I read the book and liked it, I'll read it again. 

If I watched the movie and liked it, I'll watch it again. 

 

I don't f***ing care what sorts of douchebags create those things! Their indoors schenaningans are their indoors schenanigans. Of course, I'd like to be treated correctly by my bosses, but I doubt I'll be a game designer whatsoever. If you think their work ethics is bad, look at what the work ethics in BullS***Garia is! At least I'm lucky so far. But you don't tell me what games to play and what not! You don't tell me what music to listen to and what not! You don't tell me what books to read and what not! You don't tell me what movies to watch and what not! 

[yakfak]

no more money to big games companies from me, thanks
check itch.io

[DannyMan]

I heard Microsoft is planning on purchasing Activision-Blizzard.

[Dimon12321]

Whatever, since most people will still buy anything they release each year. The only difference is the income will be brought to different hands.
Activision doesn't release anything interesting since COD: MW3. 

Blizzard doesn't release anything interesting since Warcraft 3: Frozen Throne. Yeah, I don't like neither WoW, nor Overwatch!

 

So, I don't care about its fate. Both companies I used to love are dead already and whoever buys them will not bring them to a success they used to have.

[Cruduxy Pegg]

Honestly? Either this changes nothing since let's face it.. Activision/Blizzard has been farming bad feedback all year long aside from Diablo 2 resurrected. Or things get better. Hopefully Kotick's stench is removed forever from Raven/Blizzard though. No way they keep him around once the deal is finalized.

[Mr. Freeze]

Kind of hoping this is  a hostile takeover and Microsoft just wants the IPs. 

[ReaperAA]

28 minutes ago, Pegg said:

Honestly? Either this changes nothing since let's face it.. Activision/Blizzard has been farming bad feedback all year long aside from Diablo 2 resurrected. Or things get better. Hopefully Kotick's stench is removed forever from Raven/Blizzard though. No way they keep him around once the deal is finalized.

 

This honestly. I don't see Acti-blizzard getting worse than how bad it already is. If anything, if Kotick is kicked from his job, there might be a chance for things to improve.

 

1 hour ago, Altazimuth said:

Have this meme I made in 2 minutes while talking to a friend, which is part of my take on the current situation.

 

This kind of feels like the same situation as Gearbox and 3D Realms being under the umbrella of Embracer group, which made some people hopeful about Duke's future. Though pretty sure nothing is really gonna change about either Duke or Heretic/Hexen.

[Nine Inch Heels]

1 hour ago, spd7693 said:

I don't f***ing care what sorts of douchebags create those things! Their indoors schenaningans are their indoors schenanigans.

Not to cut in here too much, but you kinda, sorta, ish should care what types of douchebags make the games they expect you to pay good money for - not because of some sense of doing what's ethical or whatever - although that approach is certainly valid - but...

..The reason why you should care at least a little bit is that drunk workers, who are busy going after somebody else at their work place instead of having their mind focused on their work, are more likely to produce "faulty" products. Moreover, it takes them longer to finish the product in question while their per-hour-pay remains constant. In other words, if nothing else, this means that you get less value for your money, and I don't see why you should be okay with that.

 

What I also don't understand is why you're so upset... I still have copies of starcraft + broodwar as well as diablo 2 + Lord of Destruction on CD, and if I can be bothered to break out my external CD/DVD drive, I still play those games, because they're fun, and they are remnants of an era during which Blizzard was still "just blizzard" for the most part, and the fish wasn't rotting at the head...

 

I don't feel bad about enjoying those games that I've paid money for already anyway, but me personally, I'm not going to pick up anything new that is made by a company whose higher ups (as in those who get the biggest chunk of the money I'd lay down), haven't even the slightest concept of basic human dignity.

 

Having said that, if you want to keep buying what they sell, that's your choice, and I don't think anybody would actually, genuinely condemn you for it.. It doesn't make a difference at the bottom line anyway... Anybody who believes their couple hundred bucks they may or may not spend on games makes a difference in the world is delusional when it comes to multi-million, or rather multi-billion companies like that anyway...

 

The only way any money would be able to make any difference, however little it may be, is if somebody was a somewhat big shareholder who can throw a bit of weight around, and even then, if that supposed shareholder existed, the outcome could still be entirely marginal regardless...