25 votes

Activision Blizzard hires union-busting firm as workers start to come together

9 comments

  1. Muffin
    Link
    I really can't see myself in good conscience supporting this company financially or by engaging with their products. This latest move is just another one in a list of abhorrent decisions.

    I really can't see myself in good conscience supporting this company financially or by engaging with their products. This latest move is just another one in a list of abhorrent decisions.

    11 votes
  2. [2]
    Thrabalen
    Link
    If this is accurate, it's not a good look. I haven't really been a fan of Actizzard, and I don't see that changing, sadly.

    If this is accurate, it's not a good look. I haven't really been a fan of Actizzard, and I don't see that changing, sadly.

    9 votes
    1. raze2012
      Link Parent
      I don't see this as accurrate at all. No more accurate than calling Wal mart "a firearms company". Yes, they sell guns in some stores in some cities, but it's not their specialty. WilliamHale is...

      I don't see this as accurrate at all. No more accurate than calling Wal mart "a firearms company". Yes, they sell guns in some stores in some cities, but it's not their specialty.

      WilliamHale is the law equivalent and have touched pretty much every area of law for over a century. And looking at the people hired, they differ greatly from those who worked on the Amazon case. I don't see this as anything but "Big coprate hirers big lawyer for big case" until we get more news.

      10 votes
  3. [6]
    LukeZaz
    Link
    I've hated Activision for over half a decade now, and the incident with Blitzchung was the high-velocity iron bar that broke the camel's back for me in regards to Blizzard. Much as I wish I could...

    I've hated Activision for over half a decade now, and the incident with Blitzchung was the high-velocity iron bar that broke the camel's back for me in regards to Blizzard. Much as I wish I could be, I'm not surprised in the least by this move. If nothing else, hopefully these constant strings of abysmal behavior can finally lead to some actual improvements for once.

    I'm not terribly hopeful, since these things almost always die down before anything good can come of them, but there's a first for everything.

    7 votes
    1. [5]
      Bullmaestro
      Link Parent
      I stopped playing their games for roughly a year after Blitzchung. In retrospect, I genuinely think Blizzard were under political pressure to take action and would have been outright banned from...

      I stopped playing their games for roughly a year after Blitzchung.

      In retrospect, I genuinely think Blizzard were under political pressure to take action and would have been outright banned from China had they not suspended him. If Activision Blizzard were blackballed from that market, they would have lost about 20 - 30% of their revenues overnight.

      It's not just Blizz either. It would have impacted King and Activision hard too.

      5 votes
      1. [4]
        raze2012
        Link Parent
        Yeah, it's a tough call. You can take a stand and take a hit, but the people who may suffer worst from that aren't the people who should. Would it be just and fair if they were banned from china,...

        Yeah, it's a tough call. You can take a stand and take a hit, but the people who may suffer worst from that aren't the people who should. Would it be just and fair if they were banned from china, posted losses in revenue, and then held layoffs of various offices? People who lose their jobs over decisions they likely were apathetic and completely distant towards? Definitely a damned if you do/don't situation.

        Note: I haven't played a blizzard game longer than a year, so I like to pretend I'm impartial in terms of emotional investment.

        4 votes
        1. [3]
          LukeZaz
          Link Parent
          Personally, I disagree with this assessment, mostly because I firmly believe ActiBlizz had the resources in stock to take the hit and not fire anybody. I don't have numbers to back this up and I...

          Personally, I disagree with this assessment, mostly because I firmly believe ActiBlizz had the resources in stock to take the hit and not fire anybody. I don't have numbers to back this up and I never will, but given how much money they make, how big they are, and how much they dodge in taxes, I find believing otherwise to be difficult. This doesn't mean they wouldn't have fired anyone, but I think they easily could have.

          That all said, this is assuming they would've lost access to all of China as a result of taking a different course of action, which is not a given; they could have done something akin to "Alright, we won't punish you for it this once, but don't do it in the future, okay?" I doubt China would've necessarily been happy, per se, but they might've been able to keep doing business there.

          8 votes
          1. Bullmaestro
            Link Parent
            My point is... It made more financial sense for Blizzard to take the hit from the few disgusted enough to boycott them over Blitzchung than it did to risk burning bridges with a substantial and...

            My point is... It made more financial sense for Blizzard to take the hit from the few disgusted enough to boycott them over Blitzchung than it did to risk burning bridges with a substantial and still rapidly growing gaming market.

            That all said, this is assuming they would've lost access to all of China as a result of taking a different course of action, which is not a given; they could have done something akin to "Alright, we won't punish you for it this once, but don't do it in the future, okay?" I doubt China would've necessarily been happy, per se, but they might've been able to keep doing business there.

            China outright banned the NBA over a tweet supporting the Hong Kong protesters. They also blackballed a games publisher because the developers they worked with hid an easter egg in their game calling Xi Jinping Winnie the Pooh. That game (Devotion) has since been banned from sale on Steam and GOG.

            The CCP were obviously furious over Blitzchung's outburst and wanted him to be punished.

            4 votes
          2. raze2012
            Link Parent
            Yes, but they are a publicly traded company. while in a vacuum they could be on the red for 10 years and float off of "passive" revenue from ongoing services and their savings watches, the stock...

            Yes, but they are a publicly traded company. while in a vacuum they could be on the red for 10 years and float off of "passive" revenue from ongoing services and their savings watches, the stock drops from seeing their revenue reports would start to hurt a lot, lot more.

            I'm not a financial expert and don't even understand my own company stocks yet, so I won't pretend I can speak at length on the subject and know if this notion of laying off and refocusing is a 'best of the wprst" or simply a greedy power move. I'm just aware that companies like this don't care as much about their actual funds as they do about appealing to shareholders.

            1 vote