Blizzard Highlights Future Plans Following Microsoft Acquisition

The past few days have proved to be a rather monumental period for video games and the gaming industry in general. This is due to the massive announcement that the big M has acquired yet another major publisher: Activision Blizzard. The massive acquisition has cost Microsoft an insane $71 Billion but it remains to be seen what Microsoft will bring out of all the talent that is present within the studios under their wing. Blizzard‘s head Mike Ybarra has recently issued out a statement in a blog post detailing the studio’s plans for the future. 

Future Plans to Improve Toxicity

Ybarra starts with addressing the workplace toxicity that has been widely rampant across the company for years now and has only recently come to light thanks to the lawsuit by the State of California filed earlier last year. Ybarra states that:

“We’re measuring our executive and management teams directly against culture improvement. This means their (and my own) success and compensation will directly depend on our overall success in creating a safe, inclusive, and creative work environment at Blizzard.” 

He further goes on in detail about the various steps which they are taking in order to eliminate workplace toxicity. On top of that, he also wants to improve the culture within the studio. This includes establishing key leadership positions for executive and management teams. Plus, he wants to ask staff members for feedback, and create a team focused on improving diversity within the studio.

Ybarra further goes on to mention that they plan to make content for both new and existing games. He also mentiones that we can at least expect some new information regarding their games in the coming week. He further writes:

“We also know we need to deliver content to our players on a more regular basis and innovate both in and beyond our existing games. We have some exciting things to announce, and I’ll be sharing more next week. I want to thank our communities and our incredible teams for your dedication and guidance. It will always be our north star.”

As many are already aware, 2021 was a disastrously bad year for Activision Blizzard. Following the incredible lawsuit, many of the staff have went on strikes or have since left the company. These include key Blizzard figures like their previous head J.Allen Brack. He was also associated with the harassment that was going within the company at the time. This also led to many of their games being indefinitely delayed. Games like Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4 are very unlikely to be released anytime soon. 

Here’s hoping that Blizzard can turn things around in 2022 and recover their severely tarnished reputation.