Joystiq:
As you may have heard earlier this week, a developer named Ryan Winzen had created a StarCraft 2 mod called World of StarCraft. The mod would change the RTS based game to more like an MMO like World of Warcraft.
The videos of the game started to appear on YouTube and were removed by Blizzard promptly and a phone call was made to the developer by Blizzard lawyers. It looked as if Blizzard was worried that another developer was stealing their product.
Well today Blizzard has cleared up the misunderstandings across the internet by issuing at statement regarding the matter.
Microsoft's legal counsel has responded to the accusations leveled yesterday by the FTC within the legal battle for the acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
Microsoft thinks they did right thing did they? Imo you could've merge Activision into other sectors.
Apparently the layoffs were going to happen either way, and I'm inclined to believe it because Activision is beyond scummy. I'm instead wondering why Acti hired so many people in the first place.
i dont believe that for a second.
activision had their hands full with upcoming cod titles and current ones before the merger.
and mobile games ha
“Jason and Vince just got fired!” A lead artist shouted, as he rode in on one of the many small kick-push scooters that would typically lay around the studio. He quickly scooted away to some other part of the office space to spread that shocking message.
A friend worked there in production and was miserable due to working with IW and with ATVI. When he complained to his VP about it, he was told...be glad you have a job and are making games.
Sounds about right, but is also sounds like something Infinity Ward would say. They made their own bed and cashed in hard to do it. F em.
That sucks, but that’s corporate America. I mean, they could’ve turned down the money and leave to Respawn too. At least they got something, my corporation would’ve probably expected everyone to go back to normal.
daaaym
"oh we're running ur life? pff get over it, like honestly"
scum
Senator Elizabeth Warren has urged the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to "unwind" Microsoft's purchase of Activision Blizzard after layoffs.
Oh look, the thing that we knew was going to happen is happing. Yes MS is the giant pile of **** we knew it was and now you've handed a huge part of the industry to them workers are paying the price.
Gamers got screwed with the sale of these publishers and now the workers are too, but hey a handful of very, very, very, rich people got stacks more cash from this deal and shareholders will get a nice boost and that's the only thing that matters to MS. Isn't industry consolidation great!
"Senator Warren took to Twitter to criticize the downsizing, reminding followers of her previous warnings against the merger. “I warned that this deal would hurt workers,” she wrote. “These layoffs are a stark reminder that corporate mergers are bad for workers. The FTC should keep up the fight to unwind this merger.”
Activision Blizzard employees have described the layoffs as a “bloodbath” on social media. Reports have emerged that Call of Duty developer Sledgehammer Games has lost more than a quarter of its employees. CharlieINTEL puts the percentage of Sledgehammer layoffs at 25% whereas Tom Henderson of Insider Gaming has heard it’s somewhat close to 30%."
Like I said this wasn't really good imo because things haven't truly changed there yet but we'll wait.
Gamers: "What the hell are the FTC and CMA doing? They need to let this whole thing go and just approve it, how sad are they to get involved for this long, they just don't quit"
*deal goes through, people lose their jobs, the rich get richer*
Also Gamers: "Why did agencies like the FTC and CMA not do something about this? It's the whole point of their existence, that's what they are there for and they couldn't even do their jobs correctly. This shouldn't have happened"
Before acquisition, FTC must block this deal because it's bad for CONSUMERS.
After mass layoffs in the majority of the industry
We were told several times that this deal was bad for WORKERS.
Perhaps having consistency would help the credibility of FTC.
Undoing the merger will just cause ABK and Microsoft to cut more positions. Undoing the merger at this point will financially damage both companies. A more sensible thing would be to push MS and other game companies to have employee unions and increased job protections.
Or they could, you know, not be total dicks about something so trivial.
And yes I understand the significance of trademark infringement, but when you're a company that allegedly promotes creativity, this sort of corporate bullying is so stupid.
Why is this like the biggest deal ever on the internet? Who the hell cares what some random dude does. Making a shitty fanmade MMO based off a shitty real life MMO is the biggest waste of time I can think of. I can't believe the internet is exploding over this.
Lucky guy, bet he never saw this coming.
Awwwwww. He gets to go to Blizzard. Kran is Jealous :(
Blizzard have been real cool about it. An its completely understandable for Blizzard to take action over the use of the name 'World of Starcraft' or 'Starcraft MMO' Anyone who doesnt realize that, is an R-Tard.
For one its confusing for consumers who could think its an Official blizzard game and two, Blizzard need to have that name reserved for when They choose to create a Starcraft MMO which will msot likely eventually happen.
How do you think other companies would react if a guy used the name of their games 'God of War MMO' or 'World of Killzone'
No company would like their franchise names being used.