Okay Place to Work Made Better by Solid, Kind Teammates
Pros
There are several reasons why Blizzard is a great place to work: - Blizzard is a stable company within the game industry. They develop and publish their own products. - Employees are able to enjoy the games the company makes during breaks and sometimes during company paid time. - There are also some passionate, respectful people that are enthusiastic about the company and the things they do for the company. It can be infectious to be around these types of people when the opportunities arise. - The core values are some of the best of any company around. - Team events within some departments and teams is an important part of life at Blizzard. - I was blessed to work in a forward-thinking department that valued transparency, trying things, and pushing for high goals while staying humble. My team allowed for some remote work opportunities, and my manager was one of the best managers I have ever had. This changed as leadership changed and some teammates left to go to other teams. - Blizzard is a respected and recognized company with beloved franchises. Working here and doing well can do a lot of your career. - If you are blessed to be on a good team, you can learn a lot here. If you’re not on a good team, you can still learn a lot but it is very difficult.
Cons
Cons: There are several issues that don't seem to get properly mentioned: - Game and product development opportunities outside main campus (Irvine) are very small, which is disheartening for a company of this size. All other offices seem to be treated more as support locations. - Blizzard feels like a company frozen in time. There seems to be a hesitation to try new things when creating experiences for players. - Lack of salary transparency. - Career mobility is limited in areas outside of Irvine. - Lack of diversity in terms of race, age, discipline, and gender; it's especially noticeable on development teams. Vast majority of the company are white men. And the diversity goes beyond gender or race here; age is also an issue. Vast majority of people I work with are very senior in experience level and over 35. We make games that are consumed by a wide audience, a lot of whom are individuals in their 20s with great ideas and energy. - Heavy emphasis on shipping; less emphasis on quality. Game teams seem to be the teams that have an emphasis for quality; less so on some support teams. - Crunch is a real thing here. It exists and is not acknowledged as an issue. - Employees below "Senior Level" are hourly. While this seems okay at the surface, when "crunch" and large workloads exist and working overtime is limited by managers, many employees are forced to lie on their timesheets to avoid getting in trouble from their manager for "working too much" but also still need to get the work done. So they overwork without logging that time. Essentially working for free some hours so they avoid creating friction. - Compensation is less than other companies of similar size. It is actually comical in comparison, and this is one reason for the high attrition rate. - Pay gaps exist. I discovered my female colleague was getting paid $30,000-$40,000 less than me at base salary - after she had received 1-2 promotions before. She never received a proper compensation bump associated with said promotions. That’s shameful. Embarrassing. - Discrimination and harassment are prevelant in the company, but it is kept under wraps and not discussed internally or publicaly. - Leadership does not put emphasis on core values; so individual contributors will take short cuts. - Lack of education opportunities in locations outside Irvine. Very easy to get stuck in your discipline because you're not able to learn and grow as a professional--especially if you're seeking to learn in the creative disciplines. - Long term outlook for the company is muddy and difficult to gauge. Where are we going? What's the direction? What types of games do we want to make going forward? What types of products do we want to make? Things like "Epic experiences" are a bit vague and subjective. - Transparency is nonexistent. New products and incubation projects are shared only to high level management and departments at a need-to-know basis. There is a massive fear that anything will leak because past information has leaked. - There is no "default to trust" at this company. Trust has to be earned. So many employees can quickly find themselves on the fringes of things because they are not in the "know." - Game teams seem to be in their own world. They seem less empathetic towards the support teams that help (and in some ways, empower) them to do the great things they do. They also show less trust towards those support teams and are a bit too controlling of the components of the IPs they make games for. In other words, non-game teams are treated a bit like second class citizens and a lot of people, especially in leadership, seem to accept this potentially unfair balance--or their hands are tied for whatever reasons. It may have something to do with budgets and how they may be allocated--"accept directions and play nice to get the money you want for your team." - Game teams can be aggressive towards support teams. So much so that they can hijack and take projects from teams they partner with because the game teams give a fraction of their budget to support teams that directly support them. - Facilities are lacking a bit for a company of this size. No cafeteria. Gym is lacking. If you work in Irvine, you have more facilities. Though, those are limited when compared to other companies of similar size. - Those with dietary restrictions can have a difficult time finding food options when there is provided food for events and other activities. - Cost of living is increasing at all the locations Blizzard has dedicated employees at, and there is no sign of compensation being adjusted whether it be with pay/salary, better facilities, education, subsidized food, etc. - Internal mobility is a bit of a nightmare and a joke. Teams, especially on some development and game teams seem to approach internal candidates in a condescending way. Recruiters are very slow and auto reject internal candidates without providing feedback. Also, the lack of opportunity at some sites leads to unhealthy competition among employees as they fight for the rare opportunities that appear in their respective locations. Politics seem to play a role in internal hires and organization changes. - Many of these cons are overlooked or dismissed by employees and leadership because "We work at Blizzard, it's an honor, and we work on games we love." -and/or- "Other places don't have half the things we have." - There is some gaming tribalism. Playing and enjoying games from "rival" companies is looked down upon by some senior members of teams. - Some teams within game teams seem to shy away from learning from research and players---some senior designers look at that as wasted effort or pointless exercise. - Some teams are horizontal; some are not. This can create tricky expectations for employees that may be moving from team to team due to company-wide changes (like project cancellations or budget cuts). - The company doesn't participate as much in internal and external knowledge sharing. - Remote work is shunned upon and outright banned for a vast majority of the workforce. Employees are forced to negotiate with their teams individually to get some remote flexibility in very limited capacities.