Almost every person I know that works at Blizzard hates their games. Like, can't stand them. They ALL think OWL is borderline absurd. One of my best friends operates in a "core" role currently at high level and for as long as I can remember he has had a massive hate boner for Blizzard. He just joined because Riot rejected him. We met in 2008, and he has hated them since I met him. In Riot, there's a few people (ranging from newbie non-tech to director-of-sector-level) I have known for a long time, before they worked at Riot, who have never once touched League or has any grasp of how the actual game is played. Some known people, who are revered/known by the community, have told me to my face how shit the game design is in various views, and that they view Riot as a stepping stone. "No idea why I stayed, but I'm still here." ??? It's nutty. I don't even work for Riot and it makes me a little angry. Me personally, I'm a massive fan of both companies. Have been a loyal customer for most of my life. It makes me wonder why they stay. It blows my mind. Sure each has their flaws and wounds, but I wouldn't bullshit a career at one of them. Seems very weird. I have asked my friend at Blizzard with the hate boner and he says it's more so he has a shit degree, he can brag about it to friends, and it'd be hard to pivot anywhere, and he makes good TC. This makes me kind of angry, since I know there's people who genuinely could replace him that would perform "more legit" per se. This is common with the others I talk to. The guys way high up, artists and whatnot who are famous/known show such polar opposite takes. They are so deeply invested, living and breathing the company's values/style. It's admirable almost, to know they have found their true passion, when many of us (for sure me) are still seeking that out/trying to make a career out of it. It's like two different worlds. I dunno, random rant/thoughts. I'd like to hear peeps at either company. Feel free to be honest, I'd like to hear all aspects. 10+ YOE here, in various positions in the gaming industry. It was never about the cash or "brag" for me, I genuinely always have loved video games. If I hated games at CompanyHere so much, I'd probably leave or go into tech. Makes logical sense.
TC in Blizzard? I heard they have huge culture break down and employees are treated worse now.
Heard less than Riot but higher than others.
But what are the numbers compare to FANG?
I call BS on people working at Blizzard hating the games they make. I have never seen a company allow so many people to sit around all day and play their games. I have heard Mercy down from within earshot it would make your head swim. People at Blizzard love their games. Rightfully so. OWL is maybe considered a money waste, but it’s no sillier than any other e-sport group. There’s just more money behind it.
Not everyone makes games in a game company. There are hundreds, even thousands, of people who are non-tech. Many very famous game artists never play the games of their company due to time. I know several personally that have never even touched the games they are famous for creating the art of. Others are daily players.
I’ll have to disagree with the note about Blizzard employees hating the games... Im not nearly as much of a die-hard fan as the gaming community, but I absolutely have immense respect for the beautiful work some of the teams create. You will definitely find plenty of team members that are super passionate about the games, and fully invested... HOWEVER, I will say that there are a few bad apples and egotistical douches that run some of the teams... From what I hear of almost EVERY company, it’s always the mid-tier managers that have a massive ego and spoil it for the troops in the trenches. (Typical corporate politics and bureaucracy). Unfortunately some folks stick around for the notoriety and the cushy work/life balance. It’s unfortunate, but you’ll find that almost everywhere to some degree. The best you can hope for is that you don’t find yourself working on one of the toxic teams.
Do you get matched to teams like FAANG? Do you have any say in that?
So what is FAANG? I’m relatively new here to blind, so I’m not familiar with that term yet :)
I like many others at Blizzard don’t bother with our games. It takes a super special nerd to enjoy wow.
Almost everyone I interact with genuinely loves our games.
What's so wrong with WoW or StarCraft? They're not the best thing to land on gamer machines, but I don't see why anyone would hate them... Both have their intricacies and have been great achievements for their respective genres. Blizzard did a good job
I think at Riot the people who work on dev teams for a game are going to be extremely likely to love the game they are working on. Or at least to have really strongly loved it at some time. People at Riot who don't seem to like the game I've noticed still tend to care about the players very strongly (or other people at Riot.) And then there are the people who are just so incredibly passionate about their games, I find that amazing because sometimes it has been a passion of theirs for 6+ years and it doesn't seem to have dulled even a little. Gets stronger if anything. But yes: we have HR, accounting and central services folks who probably don't love our games. But they generally like another type of games like Skyrim or board games or something like that.
+1 to this sentiment. I'm on some random game team. It's not my favorite type of game but it's still great to work on and I genuinely, deeply care about the players who play it. My coworkers feel the same way, too.
Probably why I was banned on LoL like 3 times
Pretty obvious this person is fishing for ammo to use in a Reddit “expose” about how the devs at Riot and Blizzard are lazy and hate their products.
Mineral nails it: there's a lot of manufactured noise in our industry.
How about Warcraft 3 Reforged
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I am starting to think Chinese interviewers currently fail non-Chinese candidates on purpose.
I get it if you're in FB and shill, but hate FB morally. The TC is insane, the WLB is great, etc. I think we all know TC in the gaming industry is pretty shit in comparison, so it makes me sort of wonder why this "self-imposed suffering" mindset of the people I talk to seems plausible to them. There's not really any "pros" for them. It's just so strange to ponder about. Maybe I'm just clouding my own judgement.
I was working at King and didn't like their games so I left
That’s smart and it’s also the right thing to do! Staying at a place you hate is mediocre and fills your life with misery.