600 people laid off
 

World of Warcraft developer and operator Blizzard has announced a MASSIVE layoff - 600 people took a hard one today.

Is this a reflection of the ever eroding WOW subscriber base?

According to forum responses, most of these are support staff/call center people.

http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/29/bl...taff-globally/

LOL that sucks. I welcome 15% of that 600 here to GFY.

probably just going to outsource it to some shithole like the philippines.

that sucks for those people...however i think there are always jobs to be had at other gaming companies

Cheer up people, it's not the end of the world...

...of warcraft.

Maybe all of their customers started playing Skyrim. I guess WoW was great for those who loved it, but nothing lasts forever. There's new shit out now, and even better stuff on the horizon. Wow was getting a little long in the tooth.

=(
sadface

Instead of working on expanding the game they should have been developing a new title and genre.

600 more tubes popping up:winkwink:

Why does a video game need that many people in the first place?

I hear they're going to outsource it to GFY users.

:thumbsup :thumbsup

Traditional video game companies like Activision and Electronic Arts have been trimming costs and releasing fewer games as the growth in the industry shifts to free games on the Internet made by younger companies like Zynga.

That's what happens when you milk a single property for a decade or so.

Yet those zynga games are boring as fuck. funny how so many people are entertained by click, click, invite friend(s), don't play with actual friend, click, click, out of energy. booooooooooooooooooooooring. At least the games made by REAL game companies have an end goal.

Shows the actual level of intelligence of a huge % of the population.

Depending on where you get the numbers they have between 8 and 12 million players world wide. That is potentially a hell of a lot of account issues, billing issues and gameplay issues to deal with.

Yep. 600 X $400 per month = starting next year they're going to save $240,000 every month in mandatory health insurance costs alone.

Agreed, everyone is following the outsource route!

right, like swtor or go work for Eric at Pit of War, the MMO!

Yup. No skill involved, and can be done in a 10 min break from your daily grind. Pretty much sums up the majority of people. Hence why its a winning combo.

umm this is sucks :)

Not even Chuck Norris can save that game now

600 seems a lot of staff for an online game.

Thats like the amount of staff a moile phone firm would have.

when the Panda shit comes out, expect the game to go Free to Play

stupid shit.

Well,seems model get free and pay from premium it's now spreading to other industries,not just porn.I wonder did those who started first with such games got inspiration from porn tubes :)

yeah there was no outsourcing before obama moron.

I see what you did there. :thumbsup :1orglaugh

it is also a great indicator of what the "Free" model is capable of producing= turds

Yeah sure we outsourced everything during the golden age of this country, that's not a new thing in recent years since we've become the most regulated and taxed developed nation. Ford, Intel, and Dell all built their very first factories in Taiwan, right, moron?

http://www.webguild.org/images/outsourcing-graph2.gif


Guess what, when you make it cost three times as much to hire Americans, people stop hiring Americans. Who'd have thought. Do that for a few years and you end up with 10% unemployment.

I've always hired Americans until late last year, when we started hiring from Costa Rica. We can pay higher wages to Costa Rica because we don't have to buy overpriced health insurance that covers aromatherapy and shit. Next year we have to start buying Obamasurance for any US employees we have left.

Sometimes you say some intelligent things. Other times, you REALLY ruin your credibility by being completly sarcastic with pointless ad hominem like "moron". It really makes you look much dumber than you actually are.

I suppose once you realize that outsourcing HAS tripled in the last few years with increased regulation in the US, "moron" is the best you can do. In such cases, your argument would be stronger if you said nothing and preserved your credibility for a thread where there are some facts in your favor.

This is just a rumor, but I heard (Blizzard is based down the street from us) they will be cutting management positions and relocating many personel to Texas.

Again just a rumor.

Wait,so health insurance was not mandatory before Obama?

Is this similar to the Jack Sparrow layoff?

Nope....not required by companies to give it to you....was just part of their benefits..

Blizzard has been working on new titles.....They have been working on Diablo 3 which will have a built in auction house....that is how they will make money on that game....and diablo has a huge following

Diablo 3 will be a huge seller for them. They recently made an offer to their World of Warcraft players that if you agreed to be a paying member of WOW for 12 months you will get Diablo 3 for free when it comes out. I know a lot of people did that.

Also, as you say, the auction house in the game will make them money. I have a friend that still makes several hundred dollars per month as a hobby selling WOW character accounts. He is chomping at the bit for diablo 3

You don't think a company like Blizzard already provided health insurance for their employees?


Fixed that for ya.

So you employ more than 50 people? If not then you're exempt from "pay or play,"

have a source for your claim obamacare increased outsourcing?

you have to realize not everyone poisons their brain all day with right wing propaganda so what may seen self-evident to you may not be to others. :2 cents:

Also, people only notice the jobs leaving. They don't notice the jobs being created in the US. It's all about comparative advantage. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_advantage

No doubt Diablo 3 will be huge. However, the money making potential for the AH was diminished by the latest update regarding runes. Runes used to be drops. This would have pushed people to the AH. Now, they are obtained as leveling rewards. There will still be a lot of AH activity but if the old rune system was kept, economic activity would be MASSIVE.

Regardless, I can see gold farmers from developing countries getting ready for Diablo 3 :thumbsup:thumbsup:thumbsup

We do too. Our plan, which we all happy with, isn't Obama approved because it doesn't cover shit like aromatherapy, and we don't buy male employees maternity coverage. We DO have dental, because for us covering dental made a lot more sense than spendung that money covering acupuncture. Similar coverage in Costa Rica is about 1/3rd the price.

Porno Jew, build a business, hire some people, and actually shop for Obama approved insurance, then talk. Compare the cost of Obamasurance to the cost of good coverage in a free market. You asked where I get my information, why I think there are certain reasons for jobs leaving the country? These are the facts of my day to day work. I know why the jobs went to Costa Rica because I sent them there. I have a stack of resumes from Americans wanting work. I know why they didn't get hired because I'm the one who made the decision. I founded RMEE in 1989. I know from day to day experience as an employer the rule of thumb in the US has that an employee costs you three times their wage. It has now become closer to four times. Hiring workers in central america, I profit if they produce only twice their wage. I can pay them higher wages because I'm not paying a dozen different taxes on each one.

Damn, but to be honest it's almost automated at this point. They probably where not needed and kept on this long as a nice gesture. I met the owners and they are really nice people.

What exactly is "Obama approved" insurance? Unless you employ more than 50 people full time you have the option of not providing any type of coverage at all without penalty. Is that some kind of moral decision you made, that you won't hire anyone unless you can provide them with insurance, so you hire Costa Ricans?

You should probably look into it. Your old healthcare plan would probably be grandfathered in under the new act. I know my health insurance hasn't changed at all.

Our old plan, like all Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas group plans, is not grandfathered because the special interests funding Obama's campaign aren't covered. (AKA not Obama approved). I did look for any Blue Cross plan that qualifies since we like the company but there are none. When you read the fine print, yours won't be grandfathered for long, either. ANY minor change to the plan causes it to lose it's grandfathered status and as you know plans have changes every year.

Since we do have fewer than fifty employees, for now we COULD stop offering any insurance as Blue Cross and other companies increase the scope and cost of their plans to keep up with the new requirements. We took a 45% premium increase this year. I would have loved to keep the old plan at the old rate, but Blue Cross has to change the plan to be compliant, covering "kids" to 26 years old, etc.

I strongly suspect the 50 employee exemption will go away soon, but it doesn't matter since insurers are starting to offer only Obama approved plans. So it's either pay twice as much for Obamasurance or have no insurance at all.