Activision makes millions for executives as some employees struggle with ‘basic needs’

Activision Blizzard reports a record quarter amid growing wage dispute

Employees say they're struggling while executives make millions.

Activision Blizzard reported another quarter of record-setting financial results, with each of its core franchises delivering better-than-expected returns, including Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, Overwatch and Candy Crush. Activision had 125 million monthly active users in the second quarter, while Blizzard had 32 million, and the company overall reported GAAP net revenues of $1.93 billion, up from $1.4 billion in 2019. Growth across the company’s games was spurred by shelter-in-place orders amid the global pandemic.

It also happened amid upheaval at Activision Blizzard itself.

Activision Blizzard is facing growing pressure from employees and stockholders to address wage disparities at the company. CEO Bobby Kotick pulled in $40 million in compensation last year, while Blizzard employees such as testers and customer service representatives report struggling to meet basic needs, according to Bloomberg.

In the company’s Q2 2020 financial report, CEO Bobby Kotick said, “Our record engagement resulted in greater revenue and earnings per share than previously forecast.”

Executives have used the word “record” to describe other positive periods in the company’s financial operations. Like in February 2019, when Kotick called the previous year “the best in our history,” even as Activision Blizzard was laying off 800 employees, mainly in non-development and non-senior roles. In the wake of these layoffs, remaining employees did not receive additional pay for the extra work that fell to them, Bloomberg reported.

An internal Blizzard survey in 2019 found that more than 50 percent of employees were unhappy with their pay. On Friday, Blizzard employees circulated a spreadsheet to anonymously track and compare salaries and recent pay bumps, Bloomberg reported.

Kotick’s annual payout is tied to the company’s stock performance, a feature that has allowed him to earn significant amounts of money even when Activision Blizzard was enacting mass layoffs. At the company’s annual shareholder meeting, 43.2 percent of investors voted against its CEO pay policy, VentureBeat reported. A handful of shareholder activists have filed letters objecting to Kotick’s pay structure. In June, a pro-labor investment group urged shareholders to oppose Kotick’s pay package as well.

In Activision Blizzard’s quarterly investor call today, Kotick and other executives repeated phrases of support for their employees, calling out their adaptability amid a global pandemic that has shifted personal priorities and business models alike. The pandemic has led to a significant period of growth for the video game industry, including Activision Blizzard. The company raised its net-revenue outlook for the year to $7.28 billion.

“The full extent of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business, operations, and financial results will depend on numerous evolving factors that we are not able to fully predict at this time, and we remain mindful of risks and uncertainties related to global economic weakness, rising unemployment, pressures on the retail channel, pricing and other potential factors,” the company’s financial report read.

Executives didn’t address any wage-disparity issues on today’s investor call, and shareholders didn’t ask about them.

https://www.engadget.com/activision-bli ... 17321.html

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... hnology-vp

They should all get together and walk out.

Vile company to work at. Bobby Kotick need to strawberry float off completely. I thought he was either gone or died as he’s been a lot quieter in the last few years.

Capitalism bad

Industry needs to unionise

I think unionisation is part of it but is complicated - if not everyone unionises, the people who do just get penalised. Gaming is an industry which is seemingly full of people willing to be treated like crap to get their foot in the door.

I think as consumers we need to stop supporting companies like this, but gamers are manchildren who can’t handle not playing with a new toy.

Harry Bizzle wrote:I think unionisation is part of it but is complicated - if not everyone unionises, the people who do just get penalised. Gaming is an industry which is seemingly full of people willing to be treated like crap to get their foot in the door.

I think as consumers we need to stop supporting companies like this, but gamers are manchildren who can’t handle not playing with a new toy.

If profit is the only means of motivation then the system is fundamentally flawed.

Boycotts in general don't work, and where they do it's usually because of the reputational damage from them being highly publicised affecting the stock price - so I don't see how a boycott over essentially good business performance will persuade shareholders to create that kind of pressure.

The widespread problems across the industry (and just with products and companies in general across life) also makes boycotting in general not very practical - one essentially has to forgo most things (and yes, while videogames are a non-essential item that's still a hard thing to do if you enjoy playing videogames).

I don't think it's good to perpetuate the idea that boycotts are a viable means of redress. The market will not correct itself through consumer pressure alone, the industry needs unionisation and the system needs legislation e.g. in limits on pay disparity.

Sad thing is that this is basically normal for the industry. :dread:

OrangeRKN wrote:
Harry Bizzle wrote:I think unionisation is part of it but is complicated - if not everyone unionises, the people who do just get penalised. Gaming is an industry which is seemingly full of people willing to be treated like crap to get their foot in the door.

I think as consumers we need to stop supporting companies like this, but gamers are manchildren who can’t handle not playing with a new toy.

If profit is the only means of motivation then the system is fundamentally flawed.

Boycotts in general don't work, and where they do it's usually because of the reputational damage from them being highly publicised affecting the stock price - so I don't see how a boycott over essentially good business performance will persuade shareholders to create that kind of pressure.

The widespread problems across the industry (and just with products and companies in general across life) also makes boycotting in general not very practical - one essentially has to forgo most things (and yes, while videogames are a non-essential item that's still a hard thing to do if you enjoy playing videogames).

I don't think it's good to perpetuate the idea that boycotts are a viable means of redress. The market will not correct itself through consumer pressure alone, the industry needs unionisation and the system needs legislation e.g. in limits on pay disparity.

Do you have any evidence for the idea that boycotts do not work? As in, boycotts which actually happen, rather than gamers throwing their toys out of the pram and then buying the thing anyway?

Because the entire point of a boycott is to affect the company’s bottom line and financially pressure them to do something. The announcement of the Xbox One DRM, subsequent backlash and rapid changes are a good example of the effectiveness of consumer pressure. The more recent advertiser boycott on Facebook also put pressure on them to make (arguably token) changes.

The attempts of Israel to paint the BDS strategy as having links with terrorism also demonstrates how much of a threat they see it.

I agree, there are areas where it is difficult to find a truly ethical option, but I think where there are specific examples of unacceptably poor behaviour, consumer pressure is viable (in addition to workers unionising and legislation) - see Ubisoft and their continued attempts to make their current sexual harassment scandal disappear with as little fuss as possible.

Harry Bizzle wrote:Do you have any evidence for the idea that boycotts do not work? As in, boycotts which actually happen, rather than gamers throwing their toys out of the pram and then buying the thing anyway?

Because the entire point of a boycott is to affect the company’s bottom line and financially pressure them to do something. The announcement of the Xbox One DRM, subsequent backlash and rapid changes are a good example of the effectiveness of consumer pressure.

That xbox example is notable because it wasn't really a boycott (the console wasn't out yet), it was just general consumer and media pressure. I agree it was effective.

Couple of articles that generally conclude it's more about the media pressure than the sales impact:

https://www.ipr.northwestern.edu/news/2 ... cotts.html
https://www.theguardian.com/vital-signs ... -consumers

I don't think we are really disagreeing here, I think the point I was making was more that there needs to be all of those other things, and that consumer pressure is more effective in damage to brand and share price worries than in boycotts hurting the bottom line.

There's a terrible lack of the Bobby Kotick/Gold Homer Simpson laughing gif in here.

Is there not a Union already that sort of fits in & could take video gaming employees on? Seems like such a vast industry to not have any unionisation already.

gaminglegend wrote:Is there not a Union already that sort of fits in & could take video gaming employees on? Seems like such a vast industry to not have any unionisation already.

I imagine Unite probably has a matching catagory/wing/part they cover basically everything.

Unless you are NHS, Transport etc. it doesnt seem that obvious what union options there are and so people generally aren't in them as it would only be a few people in the workplace to all so its sort of a pointless expense.

The unions almost need to advertise or something to say "hey, do work in xxxxxx well we got your back" I imagine once people knew there was someone that could fight their corner they would join but I best most people just don't know that there is the option.

"Lootboxes and other microtransactions are necessary because they support the developers!"

:simper:

gaminglegend wrote:Is there not a Union already that sort of fits in & could take video gaming employees on? Seems like such a vast industry to not have any unionisation already.

Not in America

twitter.com/jasonschreier/status/1291112294026555392

Errkal wrote:
gaminglegend wrote:Is there not a Union already that sort of fits in & could take video gaming employees on? Seems like such a vast industry to not have any unionisation already.

I imagine Unite probably has a matching catagory/wing/part they cover basically everything.

Unless you are NHS, Transport etc. it doesnt seem that obvious what union options there are and so people generally aren't in them as it would only be a few people in the workplace to all so its sort of a pointless expense.

The unions almost need to advertise or something to say "hey, do work in xxxxxx well we got your back" I imagine once people knew there was someone that could fight their corner they would join but I best most people just don't know that there is the option.

Got to say all my years of working retail it was my final job that told me there was a union. Must of been a decade and I never knew

Errkal wrote:
gaminglegend wrote:Is there not a Union already that sort of fits in & could take video gaming employees on? Seems like such a vast industry to not have any unionisation already.

I imagine Unite probably has a matching catagory/wing/part they cover basically everything.

The relevant Unite sector for software developers is "Graphical, Paper, Media & Information Technology". It sounds really well positioned if you're a line worker in a 1930's printing press. For software developers, shoes and horns spring to mind. My experience of the sector/industry is that unionisation is mostly non-existent, and if people are members of anything it will be a "professional body" with accreditation rather than a union.

Activision makes millions for executives as some employees struggle with ‘basic needs’

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