• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Blizzard president J. Allen Brack leaving Activision Blizzard

strange headache

strange headache

Banned
Nobody_Important said:
Go read the lawsuit again. It was more than a simple "few insensitive remarks" so Brack could have and should have done more. He was in the position to actually do something and he had every right to given what was going on. And he didn't. That's on him. By all accounts he was not a bad person or anything. He just seemingly lacked the initiative and the backbone that someone in that kind of position requires. He didn't wanna be the "bad guy" by the sounds of it.
Click to expand...

I read it, the only accusations towards Brack was that he was too lenient. That may very well be the case, but firing leadership positions is not an easy task and oftentimes a lengthy process. Do you honestly expect such serious legal matters to be resolved swiftly, especially when people's jobs are on the line? It's probably not even something that Brack could have decided on his own. In the end Afrasiabi was fired, so what exactly are you accusing Brack of?

You have no insight into the company and you don't know what went down behind the doors. Maybe Brack did what he could but was held back by company hierarchy and legal issues. You don't know, you're just here cheering for the heads to roll, doesn't matter if innocent or not.

Nobody_Important said:
And it's not "moving goalposts" to mention the other stuff that has occurred under his watch since he got there while we are talking about him getting fired. Him being involved with the Afrasiabi situation is the biggest problem obviously, but it was not the only one. It would be shortsighted to ignore everything else.
Click to expand...

You're willfully conflating different issues here. You can dislike Brack's leadership style, but this has absolutely nothing to do with him being fired in the wake of this lawsuit.

Epic Sax CEO said:
Not sexually abusing your co-workers is "woke" now, sasuga gaf.
Click to expand...

Frikkin' knuckleheaded comment right there!
 
Last edited:
CGiRanger

CGiRanger

Banned
strange headache said:


- Brack was too nice and lacked leadership abilities
- Ybarra is a real gamer
- Seniority leadership didn't work out for Blizzard
- Kotick is a shark but investors love him
- Bobby emphasizes on the scandal to take over Blizzard
- Brack got shafted by Bobby
Click to expand...

Once again he gives a very objective overview and analysis even as a former(?) fan. Again, I don't think J Allen Brack was prepared to assume leadership roles after Mike Morhaime left, also it seems again that a lot of the allegations in this lawsuit happened during the time of Morhaime's watch. And of course there's being in a role trying to juggle the desires of Blizzard against what Activision/Bobby wants out of them, which he just probably overall did not have the chops for.

I've often thought how unfortunate it is that in most companies, the only way to get more money is to accept and take on managerial responsibilities. People who may excel as great creators or developers do not necessarily have the skills to be managers. That's not 100% true of course, and one prefers that someone who has had game development experience can make it as a managerial executive (Satoru Iwata being the best example of one). But oftentimes, the Peter Principle I feel comes into play.
 
Halo is Back

Halo is Back

Member
AV said:
johnnycash_hurt.mp3

3c56dfc2db1f8518b270fb9edbca25c6.png
Click to expand...
tenor.gif
 
Nobody_Important

Nobody_Important

“Aww, it’s so...average,” she said to him in a cold brick of passion
strange headache said:
I read it, the only accusations towards Brack was that he was too lenient. That may very well be the case, but firing leadership positions is not an easy task and oftentimes a lengthy process. Do you honestly expect such serious legal matters to be resolved swiftly, especially when people's jobs are on the line? It's probably not even something that Brack could have decided on his own. In the end Afrasiabi was fired, so what exactly are you accusing Brack of?

You have no insight into the company and you don't know what went down behind the doors. Maybe Brack did what he could but was held back by company hierarchy and legal issues. You don't know, you're just here cheering for the heads to roll, doesn't matter if innocent or not.
Click to expand...
If you read it then why try lying about it and saying what he did was just "insensitive comments" then? Afrasiabi was touching people and groping them it's right there on the same page that Brack is named on. That's not just "comments". You also brought up his service at the company as if it provides some measure of leniency or something. His length of time at the company does literally nothing to excuse that kind of behavior. Brack should have fired him on the spot once it was clear what was going on. Not give him "verbal counseling". If he had then he might have not been fired. He would have looked like the good guy in all this instead of the guy who let it go on too long.


You also have once again accused me of "cheering" on stuff when I have done nothing of the sort. My first post in here was that him being fired happened faster than I expected. And then I pointed out that due to his involvement (or lack thereof) in the Afrasiabi situation meant that he had to go in my opinion. That's also not me cheering anything on. You have this version of me in your head that I am just cackling my ass off at all of this and it is simply not true.
 
Last edited:
Coolwhhip

Coolwhhip

Neophyte
Foorbits said:
Lets be honest, Blizzard's trajectory for years has been shit... no doubt it can get worse but what exactly are we clinging to at this point? Let Kotick have it.
Click to expand...

Yeah the people that made Blizzard are long gone and the people there currently with Activision breathing down their neck will never even come close again to past greatness.

In the end even the greats that started Blizzard gave in to greed with the whole Activision merger though, but I understand that huge sums of money make it tempting.
 
Last edited:
Ellery

Ellery

Member
Foorbits said:
Lets be honest, Blizzard's trajectory for years has been shit... no doubt it can get worse but what exactly are we clinging to at this point? Let Kotick have it.
Click to expand...

Yeah I have been an adamant hater ever since Activision got in and introduced the first store mount to World of Warcraft in a matter of months. Then Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, Diablo 3 RMAH followed.

I think they went from 10/10 American PC Gaming gods that could rival the japanese console overlords to money greedy poopstains.
 
Warablo

Warablo

Member
I used to see Mike Ybarra playing games all the time. I think he helped push Microsoft into day one PC releases too.
 
Hari Seldon

Hari Seldon

Member
Two things:

1. What the fuck are co-leads? Pick a boss and stick with it. This seems like Bobby does not have confidence in either one.

2. JAB needed fired independently of this entire thing so I'm 1000% for this. Blizzard is the worst studio in all of Activision. They have a massive head count and produce nothing. Maybe it is because of the toxic work environment or maybe it is some other reason, but their output does not equal their headcount or what IPs they have access to. The only game they even have coming out for YEARS is not even being made by them.
 
Nobody_Important

Nobody_Important

“Aww, it’s so...average,” she said to him in a cold brick of passion
Hari Seldon said:
Two things:

1. What the fuck are co-leads? Pick a boss and stick with it. This seems like Bobby does not have confidence in either one.

2. JAB needed fired independently of this entire thing so I'm 1000% for this. Blizzard is the worst studio in all of Activision. They have a massive head count and produce nothing. Maybe it is because of the toxic work environment or maybe it is some other reason, but their output does not equal their headcount or what IPs they have access to. The only game they even have coming out for YEARS is not even being made by them.
Click to expand...
If you look into their backgrounds it is actually a really intelligent choice on the surface. The woman is an executive of Vicarious Visions. She knows how to run a company. The guy is a hardcore gamer in his own right (He actually plays WoW at a semi-high level according to his social media accounts). He is also a former employee of Microsoft's Xbox division and as a result is really plugged into the gaming side of things. I think the dynamic they are aiming for is that she handles the business side of things and he handles the gaming side. It could be a really inspired choice if it works out.


I am actually very optimistic. The employees really seem to want change and these two are not from the Blizzard family tree. So we could actually get a real change in outlook and culture with them.
 
Last edited:
Y

Yselacrey00

Banned
JCK75 said:
Leadership should be the ones that pay the price, if you let dudebros act like horny dudebros and never tell them they can't then you can't fire them for being horny dudebros..
The frat boys should not be let go but it should be made clear to this the behavior ends now or they will be gone.
Click to expand...
I'm sorry but what does the CEO of a company has to do with it?

Isnt this why we have RH departments? If the company had a bad culture I would fire HR head first.
 
Last edited:
Hari Seldon

Hari Seldon

Member
Nobody_Important said:
If you look into their backgrounds it is actually a really intelligent choice on the surface. The woman is an executive of Vicarious Visions. She knows how to run a company. The guy is a hardcore gamer in his own right (He actually plays WoW at a semi-high level according to his social media accounts). He is also a former employee of Microsoft's Xbox division and as a result is really plugged into the gaming side of things. I think the dynamic they are aiming for is that she handles the business side of things and he handles the gaming side. It could be a really inspired choice if it works out.


I am actually very optimistic. The employees really seem to want change and these two are not from the Blizzard family tree. So we could actually get a real change in outlook and culture with them.
Click to expand...
I get what you are saying but something about this rubs me the wrong way. You have a high quality female executive of a solid studio who is already working on the 1 big game that Blizzard has in the pipeline that is coming out anytime soon. Why attach some random former MS dude to her? I dunno, maybe there is some shit going on behind the scenes, but this just seems odd to me.
 
j0hnnix

j0hnnix

Member
With stocks tumbling, it's expected some heads will be wanted by the shareholders.. this might eventually also effect employees. Interesting choices for new executives. Mike Ybarra does show he is a big gamer and from tweets a good father, unsure of the second executive. We will see what these reorgs do for the company in the future.
 
Coolwhhip

Coolwhhip

Neophyte
j0hnnix said:
With stocks tumbling, it's expected some heads will be wanted by the shareholders.. this might eventually also effect employees. Interesting choices for new executives. Mike Ybarra does show he is a big gamer and from tweets a good father, unsure of the second executive. We will see what these reorgs do for the company in the future.
Click to expand...

You can tell if someone is a good father from social media? And what does that have to do with properly leading Blizzard anyway.
 
TheDreadLord

TheDreadLord

Member
Yselacrey00 said:
I'm sorry but what does the CEO of a company has to do with it?

Isnt this why we have RH departments? If the company had a bad culture I would fire HR head first.
Click to expand...
The CEO appoints people to the management team and sets the company’s strategic direction in all areas, so yeah, he is responsible even though indirectly. This goes back to this corporate culture with these closed management teams. It will be pretty much the same people moving around diferente positions unless the stockholders pressure and ask for changes.
 
Droxcy

Droxcy

Member
Mike Ybarra rebuild glad he’s got a good spot hopefully Blizzard can regain footing but that community is pretty tainted right now
 
Y

Yselacrey00

Banned
TheDreadLord said:
The CEO appoints people to the management team and sets the company’s strategic direction in all areas, so yeah, he is responsible even though indirectly. This goes back to this corporate culture with these closed management teams. It will be pretty much the same people moving around diferente positions unless the stockholders pressure and ask for changes.
Click to expand...

I agree. I thought the CEO was pushing for a safe workplace and this was just the case of some "bad apples"
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Blizzard cancels survival game. Mike Ybarra is Leaving Blizzard
News Game Dev 2 3
140
10K
rhodesianshepard replied
Bobby Kotick is leaving Activision Blizzard on December 29th
2 3 4
183
10K
HeisenbergFX4 replied
Ex-Blizzard leaders Jen Oneal and J. Allen Brack create startup studio Magic Soup Games
Business Game Dev
5
699
worldwithpyramids replied
Microsoft now says the CMA was ‘tough and fair’ over Activision Blizzard deal
Opinion Business Game Dev
17
2K
DaGwaphics replied
Blizzard’s bringing its PC games to Steam, starting with Overwatch 2
News 2 3
116
7K
BlackTron replied
Top Bottom