Funny you say that, a writer at Blizzard just got fired for writing a satirical "greedy CEO" character, after a high-level executive played that part of the game: https://twitter.com/covingtown/status/1663998815458951168
Actions to save face describe Blizzard pretty well nowadays. The Vivendi sale announcement on their classic battle.net page really was the beginning of the end. Even me in middle school felt bad reading that garbage.
You might argue that "those" folks are gone, yet apparently their culture has not really changed.
https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/bill-cosby-trial-comple...
A simpler explanation is that an aggrieved party is not giving us the whole story. General advice: Be wary taking sides in nasty breakups even if (especially if) you want to like/dislike one or the other.
It's naive to assume good intentions when one party has a well-documented, multi-sourced history of behaving poorly.
And a very simple explanation is that the people who got pissed at it weren't the people who worked on the ads, and even if they ultimately gave high-level approval for them, didn't notice the minutia at the time. Maybe the parts of it they had issue with weren't the parts used in the ad. "Back to the office" and "Another Yacht" could have been the trigger words, and they don't appear there.
'Blizzard' the company doesn't have feelings, but people making decisions in it do. I'm not sure why you're steering us into splitting hairs over this.
This is 2023 Activision/Blizzard, nobody expects them to revolutionize anything. They’ve got fans already and they/we (I like their games but am not a fan of their corporate culture, so, not sure if I count as a fan anymore—was really hoping they’d managed to root out the shitty behavior) know what the idea of a Diablo game is. A well mechanically decent Diablo is the bar, and it sounds like they’ve probably passed it.
Given this, it's unfortunate - even tragic - to witness this external drama potentially overshadowing what should be a momentous release. Instead of being able to focus purely on the merits of the game, we find ourselves intertwined in this larger narrative of corporate mismanagement and serious ethical failings.
> Any organization that designs a system (defined broadly) will produce a design whose structure is a copy of the organization's communication structure. [0]
But I think OP is implying the opposite, sort of a reverse-Conway. That the narrative of their product affected the structure of the company.
As the (slighly modified) quote from Alan Moore suggests "Artists use lies to tell the truth, while (corporate) politicians use them to cover the truth up.", the stories we tell have power. They shape our understanding and, in turn, our reality. In Blizzard's case, the mythology and narratives within their games may have started to mirror the internal dynamics of the company.
It's plausible that the leadership and upper management, continually immersing themselves in the game narratives they produce, might unconsciously influence their hiring and structural decisions. This could result in an organization where individuals who align with these narratives are more likely to rise through the ranks.
This might not be a negative thing, were it not for the obvious issues of thus who seek power in their stories having usually conflicted psychology. Rather than a healthy reflection of the company's product, we're seeing the darker aspects of their game's narrative permeating the company's culture.
It's a strong reminder that life imitates art and vice versa.
I have nothing but disdain for these greedy, incompetent, useless assholes. Just feel bad for the talented, hard-working staff who generate real value.
It's almost as if they've transposed their in-game narratives into their corporate affairs, with similar plot tension and dramatic arcs. One might argue that the corporate maneuvering is proving to be as engrossing as the impending battle against the Prime Evils.
This debacle could serve as a case study on how not to handle crisis communication during a major product launch. It’s like a redux of the 'Error 37' saga, but this time, the error is not just on the servers, it’s in the boardroom. The irony is almost poetic.
As a community, we should be preparing to discuss the game's groundbreaking mechanics or innovative design, but instead we're going to watch a real-time corporate soap opera unfold. It's a classic example of how mismanagement can detract from a company's core product and innovation. At the end of the day, let's remember to uphold our values and maintain a focus on fairness, diversity, and respect in our industry, as this scenario provides yet another potent reminder of how far we still have to go.