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Blizzard to restore Classics: Diablo 2 Resurrected September 23rd!

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  • LucascraftLucascraft Registered User regular
    It feels like there's a competition going right now between Blizzard and Bethesda. Who can more brutally alienate their dedicated fanbases the fastest?

    I honestly can't tell who's winning. Or losing.

  • Undead ScottsmanUndead Scottsman Registered User regular
    edited February 2019
    Oh god, it gets worse.

    http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/336501/Following_Activision_Blizzard_layoffs_King_shuts_down_mobile_studio_Z2Live.php
    Following the Activision Blizzard layoffs hitting employees today, VentureBeat reports that King’s mobile game studio Z2Live is shutting down, resulting in the loss of 78 jobs.

    King, best known for Candy Crush Saga, was acquired by Activision Blizzard for ~$6 billion in 2015, the same year it acquired Seattle-based Z2Live for $45 million.

    Z2Live was known for developing the mobile games MetalStorm: Online and Battle Nations.

    The publisher didn't comment on any specific layoffs during its earnings call with investors, saying instead that it expects around 800 (8 percent) of its staff to be laid off.

    The studio was likely shut down for the same reason that Activision Blizzard is laying off so many people: the company says it must focus on its core franchises, despite the fact that Z2Live generated an estimated $200 million over the last few years.

    In case your wondering, 200 million divided by 78 is over 2.5 million per person. They could have paid those people for the rest of their lives of what they made "in the last few years" from their employees output.

    I'd say eat rich, but at this point they might taste too foul.

    Undead Scottsman on
  • 3cl1ps33cl1ps3 I will build a labyrinth to house the cheese Registered User regular
    This week's Jimquisition is turning out to have been unbelievably timely.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmW0GhdDOvw

  • FencingsaxFencingsax It is difficult to get a man to understand, when his salary depends upon his not understanding GNU Terry PratchettRegistered User regular
    3clipse wrote: »
    This week's Jimquisition is turning out to have been unbelievably timely.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmW0GhdDOvw

    The big problem with what Activision did is that it absolutely was not particularly a surprise or against any corporate norm

  • DonnictonDonnicton Registered User regular
    https://www.fanbyte.com/trending/kiss-my-ass-activision-blizzard/

    Holy shit.
    Kiss My Ass, Activision Blizzard

    As a former Activision Blizzard employee, allow me to congratulate you all on posting a record $7.5 billion net revenue for the calendar year 2018, and on upending the lives of some 800 human beings that helped make that incredible feat possible.

    I was working as an In-Game Support Representative (also known as a “Game Master”) in Blizzard’s World of Warcraft customer support department when the Activision/Vivendi merger finalized in the summer of 2008. While many of us were concerned about Activision’s potential influence on Blizzard’s sacred creative freedom, many fears were assuaged by management’s generous gift of a free copy of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith for the Wii.

    Of course, the hundreds of us who were considered temporary full-time employees did not receive any “perks” like free Aerosmith games, despite doing the same work as full-time regular employees, just at $9 an hour instead of $11. Don’t you worry, though! I persevered and eventually earned my place as a full-time Blizzard employee — $11 an hour and everything — and was even allowed to attend the annual Blizzard Christmas party, which temporary full-time employees were barred from. Trading in my purple employee badge for a red one was one of the proudest moments of my young life.

    Now, more than 10 years later, Activision Blizzard’s strength in the video game industry is unquestionable, and Blizzard has gone on to release some of its best games ever. How foolish we were to be so worried! Even when 600 of my former coworkers and friends were laid off in 2012, many of them were hired back on as temps, and were allowed to continue doing their jobs at a lower wage and without benefits. It’s shrewd business decisions like these, which embraced Blizzard’s core values of “Play Nice; Play Fair” and “Lead Responsibly,” that enabled today’s record earnings, a nine percent dividend increase for shareholders, and catastrophic layoffs.

    As Bobby so eloquently put it in the earnings report, Activision Blizzard is capable of reaching its “full potential” thanks to the company’s “powerful owned franchises, our strong commercial capabilities, our direct digital connections to hundreds of millions of players, and our extraordinarily talented employees.”

    Indeed, it’s clear that the senior executive staff at Activision Blizzard ranks its owned IPs chiefly among its assets. Although it considers the human labor that created those IPs to be the least valuable. Thus, today’s layoffs focused on “non-development roles,” according to Bobby, which means that the 800-or-so people liquidated were likely among the company’s lowest earners — contractors and temporary full-time employees striving without insurance (but with plenty of free soda!) to achieve full-time regular status, as I once did. People who are the most vulnerable to economic change; who have the least financial resources; who are the least secure of anyone in Activision Blizzard.

    I am grateful, at least, that you are not in a similarly precarious financial situation, Bobby. The $28.6 million you made in 2017 (which just happens to be 29 times greater than what my 40-year lifetime earnings would have been as a Game Master for $11 an hour) should help keep your portfolio well insulated.

    Never mind the fact that you continue to show the strength of character necessary to upend hundreds and hundreds of human lives, repeatedly, in order to ensure that Activision Blizzard’s shareholders continue to see dividend increases year after year. On today’s earnings call, during which your company announced its historic $7.5 billion in net revenue, you said that today’s layoffs were among your “top-five career-difficult moment(s),” and I believe you. Figuring out just how many people to axe in order to maintain income levels for the chief executive staff and shareholders must have been a logistical nightmare.

    Of course, Activision Blizzard is not a one-man show. Today’s record proceeds and layoffs are a badge on the lapel of everyone in senior corporate management. I’m sure you all worked tirelessly to ensure that the immeasurable chain reaction of human suffering caused by today’s events is only as big as was necessary… to meet a completely arbitrary profit goal. After all, something had to be done in order to counteract the “weaker than anticipated retail demand” that President/COO Coddy Johnson mentioned on today’s call.

    This is a business, as I’m sure you’re aware. And while the leaders of some corporations may halve their own pay multiple times in order to indemnify the consequences of their own decisions, those leaders run foreign companies, operating under cultural ideals diametric to our own. This is America, and you all are exploring the possibilities enabled and encouraged by the capitalist teachings that underscore every moment of our lives. Each and every one of you stands as a first-rate example of what capitalism enables, as do the hundreds of families that no longer know where their next meal is coming from. In this way, are we not all truly equal?

    Again, congratulations on your monumental achievement and the hugely successful blood sacrifice that enabled it.

    All my best,

    Jordan Mallory, aka Game Master Airuvol

    P.S. Based on his performance in today’s call, Dennis definitely seems worth the $15 million. Good get!

  • The Zombie PenguinThe Zombie Penguin Eternal Hungry Corpse Registered User regular
    Aweosmining that feels very wrong, but i cant see what other reaction there is. Fuck Activison Blizzard for all of this.

    Ideas hate it when you anthropomorphize them
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  • LucascraftLucascraft Registered User regular
    I did not realize Sekiro is being published by Activision until someone mentioned that yesterday.

    Guess I'm gonna have to give some money to Gamestop (which also hurts my soul) to buy a used copy so that Activision doesn't get any of my money.

  • urahonkyurahonky Registered User regular
    Alright yeah I'm done with anything Activision-Blizzard. I'm sad to say that because ever since Diablo 1 came out on PC I've been a huge fan of theirs. I'm glad I haven't pre-ordered Warcraft 3 Reforged. It's going to be painful to skip that but I cannot in good conscious support this company any more.

  • DhalphirDhalphir don't you open that trapdoor you're a fool if you dareRegistered User regular
    I feel like maybe Activision might have gone too far with this. For their own good, I mean. The community tends to collectively shrug their shoulders when this type of thing happens since it happens so often, but Blizzard might be just that bit too popular for this to go away in a few weeks the way Activision wants it to.

  • BucketmanBucketman Call me SkraggRegistered User regular
    As a WoW playing seeing some of the best community managers who have been helpful and actually communicate to players get axed really hits me. Fuck this decision by senior management

  • PreacherPreacher Registered User regular
    The recent Call of Duty's management fuck ups seem to be a great example of the stupid at acti blizz. They had a hit with the black out mode but they couldn't help but load a 60 dollar game with f2p micros and now they are in pubg town while a new hotness eats their lunch as a true f2p.

    That's all on activision's "fuck you pay me" system of adding micros to their 60 dollar games everytime.

    I would like some money because these are artisanal nuggets of wisdom philistine.

    pleasepaypreacher.net
  • Zombie HeroZombie Hero Registered User regular
    Another example of trickle down economics at work.

    I skipped BFA, but I had continued to keep my eye on how things were going in case I wanted to return to WoW. I can't see any reason to return now.

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  • EspantaPajaroEspantaPajaro Registered User regular
    edited February 2019
    Bucketman wrote: »
    As a WoW playing seeing some of the best community managers who have been helpful and actually communicate to players get axed really hits me. Fuck this decision by senior management

    I’m amazed lore still has a job . Can’t wait for the next q and a where ion says improve communication and people ask him why the helpful cms are gone.

    EspantaPajaro on
  • shrykeshryke Member of the Beast Registered User regular
    Preacher wrote: »
    The recent Call of Duty's management fuck ups seem to be a great example of the stupid at acti blizz. They had a hit with the black out mode but they couldn't help but load a 60 dollar game with f2p micros and now they are in pubg town while a new hotness eats their lunch as a true f2p.

    That's all on activision's "fuck you pay me" system of adding micros to their 60 dollar games everytime.

    Microtransactions are where all the money is right now so that goes in everything.

    And getting your lunch eaten by a f2p game just encourages more of that since now your box price is a liability.

  • BucketmanBucketman Call me SkraggRegistered User regular
    Bucketman wrote: »
    As a WoW playing seeing some of the best community managers who have been helpful and actually communicate to players get axed really hits me. Fuck this decision by senior management

    I’m amazed lore still has a job . Can’t wait for the next q and a where ion says improve communication and people ask him why the helpful cms are gone.

    Yeah some of the CMs that we haven't heard from yet, I assume they still have a job, and a few of them are outright antagonistic or MIA. Like which one is the one who spends a ton of time streaming and has even said "If you want to contact me catch me on Twitch!"

  • Warlock82Warlock82 Never pet a burning dog Registered User regular
    edited February 2019
    Bucketman wrote: »
    As a WoW playing seeing some of the best community managers who have been helpful and actually communicate to players get axed really hits me. Fuck this decision by senior management

    I’m amazed lore still has a job . Can’t wait for the next q and a where ion says improve communication and people ask him why the helpful cms are gone.

    I would legit be amazed if they had the gall to do a Q&A anytime soon. (or you know, if there was anyone left to organize one...)

    But yeah, this sucks. You know Blizzard, when I found myself liking you less and less each year, you didn't have to try to top yourself...

    (I need to find a new avatar, this one has been making me sad...)

    Warlock82 on
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  • PreacherPreacher Registered User regular
    shryke wrote: »
    Preacher wrote: »
    The recent Call of Duty's management fuck ups seem to be a great example of the stupid at acti blizz. They had a hit with the black out mode but they couldn't help but load a 60 dollar game with f2p micros and now they are in pubg town while a new hotness eats their lunch as a true f2p.

    That's all on activision's "fuck you pay me" system of adding micros to their 60 dollar games everytime.

    Microtransactions are where all the money is right now so that goes in everything.

    And getting your lunch eaten by a f2p game just encourages more of that since now your box price is a liability.

    Micros are a hotness. But like activision keeping a box price and regressive micros is beyond bullshit. Like people put up with it for fortnite because again its f2p, but expecting full price and then putting f2ps on top is the bullshit of bullshit.

    I would like some money because these are artisanal nuggets of wisdom philistine.

    pleasepaypreacher.net
  • DonnictonDonnicton Registered User regular
    Bucketman wrote: »
    As a WoW playing seeing some of the best community managers who have been helpful and actually communicate to players get axed really hits me. Fuck this decision by senior management

    I’m amazed lore still has a job . Can’t wait for the next q and a where ion says improve communication and people ask him why the helpful cms are gone.

    Lore is the Nathanos to Ion's Sylvanas, there's no way he wouldn't have thrown one of the other CMs under the bus to save his own job even if there was a risk he'd lose it.

  • shrykeshryke Member of the Beast Registered User regular
    Preacher wrote: »
    shryke wrote: »
    Preacher wrote: »
    The recent Call of Duty's management fuck ups seem to be a great example of the stupid at acti blizz. They had a hit with the black out mode but they couldn't help but load a 60 dollar game with f2p micros and now they are in pubg town while a new hotness eats their lunch as a true f2p.

    That's all on activision's "fuck you pay me" system of adding micros to their 60 dollar games everytime.

    Microtransactions are where all the money is right now so that goes in everything.

    And getting your lunch eaten by a f2p game just encourages more of that since now your box price is a liability.

    Micros are a hotness. But like activision keeping a box price and regressive micros is beyond bullshit. Like people put up with it for fortnite because again its f2p, but expecting full price and then putting f2ps on top is the bullshit of bullshit.

    Right but what gives there is not micros, it's the box price. And only maybe. Then it's just even more micros for everyone.

  • rahkeesh2000rahkeesh2000 Registered User regular
    edited February 2019
    Dhalphir wrote: »
    I feel like maybe Activision might have gone too far with this. For their own good, I mean. The community tends to collectively shrug their shoulders when this type of thing happens since it happens so often, but Blizzard might be just that bit too popular for this to go away in a few weeks the way Activision wants it to.

    They already announced they aren't releasing any new big games this year. Given that this move is to tide over their stock price and when we finally see something new and shiny next year, most will have forgotten by then.

    rahkeesh2000 on
  • Undead ScottsmanUndead Scottsman Registered User regular
    edited February 2019
    Warlock82 wrote: »
    Bucketman wrote: »
    As a WoW playing seeing some of the best community managers who have been helpful and actually communicate to players get axed really hits me. Fuck this decision by senior management

    I’m amazed lore still has a job . Can’t wait for the next q and a where ion says improve communication and people ask him why the helpful cms are gone.

    I would legit be amazed if they had the gall to do a Q&A anytime soon. (or you know, if there was anyone left to organize one...)

    But yeah, this sucks. You know Blizzard, when I found myself liking you less and less each year, you didn't have to try to top yourself...

    (I need to find a new avatar, this one has been making me sad...)

    Everyone at Blizzard (aside from the tippy top leadership) has the "These layoffs came down from above and there wasn't much we could do." excuse. Like, I imagine if it had been put to a vote, the majority of Blizzard would have voted to not layoff their fellow employees.

    They're as much at the whims of Activision as the people who got fired.

    Undead Scottsman on
  • Warlock82Warlock82 Never pet a burning dog Registered User regular
    edited February 2019
    Warlock82 wrote: »
    Bucketman wrote: »
    As a WoW playing seeing some of the best community managers who have been helpful and actually communicate to players get axed really hits me. Fuck this decision by senior management

    I’m amazed lore still has a job . Can’t wait for the next q and a where ion says improve communication and people ask him why the helpful cms are gone.

    I would legit be amazed if they had the gall to do a Q&A anytime soon. (or you know, if there was anyone left to organize one...)

    But yeah, this sucks. You know Blizzard, when I found myself liking you less and less each year, you didn't have to try to top yourself...

    (I need to find a new avatar, this one has been making me sad...)

    Everyone at Blizzard (aside from the tippy top leadership) has the "These layoffs came down from above and there wasn't much we could do." excuse. Like, I imagine if it had been put to a vote, the majority of Blizzard would have voted to not layoff their fellow employees.

    They're as much at the whims of Activision as the people who got fired.

    Right, and I'm not saying Ion and Lore (etc) are responsible, but I mean, it doesn't take a PR expert to know a Q&A would be a shitty idea right now. (and certainly there are a lot of people out there that don't know that, and would blame them, etc)

    Warlock82 on
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  • see317see317 Registered User regular
    Warlock82 wrote: »
    Warlock82 wrote: »
    Bucketman wrote: »
    As a WoW playing seeing some of the best community managers who have been helpful and actually communicate to players get axed really hits me. Fuck this decision by senior management

    I’m amazed lore still has a job . Can’t wait for the next q and a where ion says improve communication and people ask him why the helpful cms are gone.

    I would legit be amazed if they had the gall to do a Q&A anytime soon. (or you know, if there was anyone left to organize one...)

    But yeah, this sucks. You know Blizzard, when I found myself liking you less and less each year, you didn't have to try to top yourself...

    (I need to find a new avatar, this one has been making me sad...)

    Everyone at Blizzard (aside from the tippy top leadership) has the "These layoffs came down from above and there wasn't much we could do." excuse. Like, I imagine if it had been put to a vote, the majority of Blizzard would have voted to not layoff their fellow employees.

    They're as much at the whims of Activision as the people who got fired.

    Right, and I'm not saying Ion and Lore (etc) are responsible, but I mean, it doesn't take a PR expert to know a Q&A would be a shitty idea right now.

    Do they still have PR experts?
    Because judging from the recent news to come out of BlizzardVision, even a PR Experienced, or a PR Intermediate or a PR "I looked what PR means up on wikipedia last night" might be a good investment.

  • Warlock82Warlock82 Never pet a burning dog Registered User regular
    see317 wrote: »
    Warlock82 wrote: »
    Warlock82 wrote: »
    Bucketman wrote: »
    As a WoW playing seeing some of the best community managers who have been helpful and actually communicate to players get axed really hits me. Fuck this decision by senior management

    I’m amazed lore still has a job . Can’t wait for the next q and a where ion says improve communication and people ask him why the helpful cms are gone.

    I would legit be amazed if they had the gall to do a Q&A anytime soon. (or you know, if there was anyone left to organize one...)

    But yeah, this sucks. You know Blizzard, when I found myself liking you less and less each year, you didn't have to try to top yourself...

    (I need to find a new avatar, this one has been making me sad...)

    Everyone at Blizzard (aside from the tippy top leadership) has the "These layoffs came down from above and there wasn't much we could do." excuse. Like, I imagine if it had been put to a vote, the majority of Blizzard would have voted to not layoff their fellow employees.

    They're as much at the whims of Activision as the people who got fired.

    Right, and I'm not saying Ion and Lore (etc) are responsible, but I mean, it doesn't take a PR expert to know a Q&A would be a shitty idea right now.

    Do they still have PR experts?
    Because judging from the recent news to come out of BlizzardVision, even a PR Experienced, or a PR Intermediate or a PR "I looked what PR means up on wikipedia last night" might be a good investment.

    Yeah this I don't know. They seem to be making a lot of bad PR moves lately. Though again that goes to how much of that is dictated by Kotack and the shareholders and the grunts at the bottom have no choice but to comply and thus make themselves look stupid.

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  • EspantaPajaroEspantaPajaro Registered User regular
    see317 wrote: »
    Warlock82 wrote: »
    Warlock82 wrote: »
    Bucketman wrote: »
    As a WoW playing seeing some of the best community managers who have been helpful and actually communicate to players get axed really hits me. Fuck this decision by senior management

    I’m amazed lore still has a job . Can’t wait for the next q and a where ion says improve communication and people ask him why the helpful cms are gone.

    I would legit be amazed if they had the gall to do a Q&A anytime soon. (or you know, if there was anyone left to organize one...)

    But yeah, this sucks. You know Blizzard, when I found myself liking you less and less each year, you didn't have to try to top yourself...

    (I need to find a new avatar, this one has been making me sad...)

    Everyone at Blizzard (aside from the tippy top leadership) has the "These layoffs came down from above and there wasn't much we could do." excuse. Like, I imagine if it had been put to a vote, the majority of Blizzard would have voted to not layoff their fellow employees.

    They're as much at the whims of Activision as the people who got fired.

    Right, and I'm not saying Ion and Lore (etc) are responsible, but I mean, it doesn't take a PR expert to know a Q&A would be a shitty idea right now.

    Do they still have PR experts?
    Because judging from the recent news to come out of BlizzardVision, even a PR Experienced, or a PR Intermediate or a PR "I looked what PR means up on wikipedia last night" might be a good investment.

    They probably do but I imagine they get ignored.

  • DonnictonDonnicton Registered User regular
    Warlock82 wrote: »
    Warlock82 wrote: »
    Bucketman wrote: »
    As a WoW playing seeing some of the best community managers who have been helpful and actually communicate to players get axed really hits me. Fuck this decision by senior management

    I’m amazed lore still has a job . Can’t wait for the next q and a where ion says improve communication and people ask him why the helpful cms are gone.

    I would legit be amazed if they had the gall to do a Q&A anytime soon. (or you know, if there was anyone left to organize one...)

    But yeah, this sucks. You know Blizzard, when I found myself liking you less and less each year, you didn't have to try to top yourself...

    (I need to find a new avatar, this one has been making me sad...)

    Everyone at Blizzard (aside from the tippy top leadership) has the "These layoffs came down from above and there wasn't much we could do." excuse. Like, I imagine if it had been put to a vote, the majority of Blizzard would have voted to not layoff their fellow employees.

    They're as much at the whims of Activision as the people who got fired.

    Right, and I'm not saying Ion and Lore (etc) are responsible, but I mean, it doesn't take a PR expert to know a Q&A would be a shitty idea right now. (and certainly there are a lot of people out there that don't know that, and would blame them, etc)

    It doesn't matter really, the dev QAs are kind of a meme in the WoW community for heavily curating out anything that's not a softball well in advance, so even if people proposed questions related to it, they'd never make it to the devs much less the devs having to come up with an answer.

  • kimekime Queen of Blades Registered User regular
    edited February 2019
    I mean, honestly, the biggest thing I get from that message is that Blizzard has secretly been a crappy employer since before the Activision merge. "Temporary full-time employee" where you don't have to give them benefits and pay them less for the same job and don't even let them attend company events, with the promise/hope that they'll become "real" full-time employees?

    Bogus

    Probably common in the video game industry though :(

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  • 38thDoe38thDoe lets never be stupid again wait lets always be stupid foreverRegistered User regular
    A lot of industries actually.

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  • kimekime Queen of Blades Registered User regular
    38thDoe wrote: »
    A lot of industries actually.

    Cool, cool. :(

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  • SyphonBlueSyphonBlue The studying beaver That beaver sure loves studying!Registered User regular
    38thDoe wrote: »
    A lot of industries actually.

    Yeah it's pretty standard for Late Stage Capitalism. Eat the rich. Or at least tax them a hell of a lot more than we are now.

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  • LucascraftLucascraft Registered User regular
    Yeah, a lot of businesses use the "Temp to Hire" method. I did that for a while, back in 2009, and I first-hand experienced getting cut as a Temp to Hire employee during a merger. When I joined that company they were a small, locally owned company. And they got bought out by a big international firm. And one of the very first things that happened after the big corp took over was to let go all of their Temp to Hire staff. It really sucked.

  • shrykeshryke Member of the Beast Registered User regular
    Having a ton of contract employees because that means you pay less in benefits and can more easily upsize and downsize your workforce with the vagaries of the economy has been a major thing in a lot of industries for like 20 years now at least. I remember it starting to become a big thing in places I knew and worked at in programming jobs back in the early 2000s.

  • kimekime Queen of Blades Registered User regular
    edited February 2019
    Contractors typically get paid more, though, right? That's what I've heard before in tech jobs. So this "temporary full-time" seemed different.

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  • shrykeshryke Member of the Beast Registered User regular
    kime wrote: »
    Contractors typically get paid more, though, right? That's what I've heard before in tech jobs. So this "temporary full-time" seemed different.

    Depends on the contractor. If you have valuable skills to leverage, sure. If you don't then you take what you get.

    Sometimes (not applicable to this situation obviously) the contractors are just salaried employees of another company and thus getting paid the same or less.

  • DonnictonDonnicton Registered User regular
    kime wrote: »
    Contractors typically get paid more, though, right? That's what I've heard before in tech jobs. So this "temporary full-time" seemed different.

    It reallllllllly depends on your role and the industry. Software/database devs, electricians and HVAC techs for example usually make bank(provided they're working), but low/mid-level IT support are industry whipping boys who usually have the "we can replace you with an Indian, you know" sword of Damocles hanging over them at all times.

  • AxenAxen My avatar is Excalibur. Yes, the sword.Registered User regular
    edited February 2019
    I had been in a similar situation as the ex Activision employees.

    The studio (TV/Radio) I worked for had announced their best year ever in terms of financials. It was a big celebration and bonuses were handed out to everyone (including janitorial staff). Which was pretty awesome.

    Two weeks later they laid off 600 employees nation wide, including myself (and about 30 others at my studio) because while my studio was doing very well most of the others were not.

    My own boss felt really, really bad about it and actually went out of his way to hook me up with a job at a rival studio. So that was cool.

    Axen on
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  • LucascraftLucascraft Registered User regular
    shryke wrote: »
    kime wrote: »
    Contractors typically get paid more, though, right? That's what I've heard before in tech jobs. So this "temporary full-time" seemed different.

    Depends on the contractor. If you have valuable skills to leverage, sure. If you don't then you take what you get.

    Sometimes (not applicable to this situation obviously) the contractors are just salaried employees of another company and thus getting paid the same or less.

    That was my specific situation.

    I was technically an employee of a company that basically just served as an intermediary. So I worked for them on paper, but I worked for the other company in my actual day to day job. But then when the buyout/merger happened, since I wasn't on their payroll I was gone. Like instantly.

  • see317see317 Registered User regular
    kime wrote: »
    Contractors typically get paid more, though, right? That's what I've heard before in tech jobs. So this "temporary full-time" seemed different.

    Contractors do tend to make more, if they're skilled in their industry and are contracting for themselves. They have to because being a contractor means you have to provided your own healthcare and other benefits.
    If the contractor is working through an agency, they cost more, but the agency takes it's pound of flesh up front and from each paycheck you get, so they tend to make roughly what a normal employee does, though they cost the company that's hiring them more.
    In this case, I'm guessing most of the "Temp full time" employees didn't fit into either of those categories, but into the third category "I really want to work in video games, so will happily eat my shit sandwich", and the upper management is more than happy to shovel out a fresh load of sandwiches. Naturally anyone that asks for some mustard on their sandwich gets replaced with yet another person from that third category.

  • AxenAxen My avatar is Excalibur. Yes, the sword.Registered User regular
    edited February 2019
    Donnicton wrote: »
    kime wrote: »
    Contractors typically get paid more, though, right? That's what I've heard before in tech jobs. So this "temporary full-time" seemed different.

    It reallllllllly depends on your role and the industry. Software/database devs, electricians and HVAC techs for example usually make bank(provided they're working), but low/mid-level IT support are industry whipping boys who usually have the "we can replace you with an Indian, you know" sword of Damocles hanging over them at all times.

    I often tell my nieces and nephews to pick up a Welding Cert. They're relatively easy to get and you'll never be hard pressed to find work.

    You don't need to make welding your profession forever and ever, but if you ever find yourself suddenly unemployed from your chosen career field I can just about guarantee you can pick up a welding gig that pays real nice on probably the same day you lost your former job. You'll have a solid income while you search for another position in your preferred career.


    Some way, some how the idea that Trade Skill jobs are "beneath" people has really rooted itself in the collective (American at least) conscience. I was guilty of it too, but now I'm like, "Dude! Do you have any idea how much a plumber makes? Probably more than you do right now and for less hours and with way better benefits."

    Axen on
    A Capellan's favorite sheath for any blade is your back.
  • see317see317 Registered User regular
    Axen wrote: »
    Donnicton wrote: »
    kime wrote: »
    Contractors typically get paid more, though, right? That's what I've heard before in tech jobs. So this "temporary full-time" seemed different.

    It reallllllllly depends on your role and the industry. Software/database devs, electricians and HVAC techs for example usually make bank(provided they're working), but low/mid-level IT support are industry whipping boys who usually have the "we can replace you with an Indian, you know" sword of Damocles hanging over them at all times.

    I often tell my nieces and nephews to pick up a Welding Cert. They're relatively easy to get and you'll never be hard pressed to find work.

    You don't need to make welding your profession forever and ever, but if you ever find yourself suddenly unemployed from your chosen career field I can just about guarantee you can pick up a welding gig that pays real nice on probably the same day you lost your former job. You'll have a solid income while you search for another position in your preferred career.


    Some way, some how the idea that Trade Skill jobs are "beneath" people has really rooted itself in the collective (American at least) conscience. I was guilty of it too, but now I'm like, "Dude! Do you have any idea how much a plumber makes? Probably more than you do right now and for less hours and with way better benefits."

    And nobody questions paying a plumber when their basement is full of sewage.

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