Blizzard’s president on the studio’s “new era” under Xbox

The dust is finally starting to settle from Microsoft’s huge acquisition of Activision Blizzard, but even Blizzard president Mike Ybarra still isn’t exactly sure how things will change for the company. “I literally haven’t sat down with [Microsoft Gaming CEO] Phil [Spencer] and said, ‘So what does all this mean?’” Ybarra tells The Verge in an interview.

Ybarra doesn’t seem worried, though. As part of his opening remarks at Friday’s BlizzCon 2023 keynote, Ybarra said that the show was the start of a “new era” for the company.

“I think the way [Spencer] approaches building teams and focusing on culture and enabling creative freedom is going to give Blizzard a lot more of that sense of being an independent studio than ever before,” Ybarra says. “That’s what I really mean when I talk about a new era of possibilities, of empowerment, of serving players even better than we ever have.” (It probably also helps that Ybarra worked for Spencer for eight years before joining Blizzard.)

[Kaii]

*Prior to joining Blizzard, Mike spent 22 years at Microsoft.
The same guy that In February said the following, "Ybarra allegedly made a bizarre comparison to his and other executives' pay packages to those of rank-and-file employees, appeared to downplay the value of QA and customer service roles at the studio, and defended the company's decision to slash annual profit-sharing bonuses.

*According to several sources, Ybarra stated something to the effect of: "If you think that executives are making a lot of money and you aren't, you're living in a myth."

Sounds like a self-righteous prick living in looney toon land.

[shinoff2183]

Didn't ms come out and say something about reeling in bethesada more, why would they not with blizzard

[Lightning77]

Because Blizzard was operating semi independently before Acti reabsorbed them back into the fold.

Blizzard use to call there own shots back then.

The only thing that Phil is doing is letting Blizzard run and Manage themselves again.

[shinoff2183]

Lightning77 that just sounds like pure bs.

[darthv72]

@shin, why not try to be optimistic? If things turn out better... then it wasn't bs as you thought. Just have to let things play out first instead of assuming.

[Gamingsince1981]

@lightning

The team that was successful back before Activision took over isn't even there anymore, nothing blizzard or MS can do will fix the fact they have no talent anymore. Especially considering MS has no talent themselves. Unless you class ruining the industry as a talent.

[Lightning77]

@Shin You seriously didn't know that? They were operating semi independently from Activision where they called there own shots and generating a crap load of money. It wasn't until Activision came in and started meddling and nearly ruined them. Jobs being lost and strikes started happening.

This news means they're able to go back to what made them successful (hopefully)

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Why do I feel it's cap there man?

[Sgt_Slaughter]

Independent? Under Xbox?

Riiiiiight

[Jin_Sakai]

It’s coming from an ex Xbox employee “Mike Ybarra” what do you expect. He’s always been full of crap.

[gold_drake]

huh?
even from a outside perspective, being owned by someone instead of being your own boss, aint more independent.

the fk is he on about lol.

[Neonridr]

maybe read the article to see what he's saying.

just a thought.

[Gamingsince1981]

Yeah after reading it's all pure bs from an ex MS employee , I'm glad I wasted my time thanks 🙃

[Charlieboy333]

@Gaming Don't bother....his name is derived from the fact that he rides xbox and nintendo so much 'it' glows

[Neonridr]

Being owned by someone doesn't always mean you are restricted. Is Insomniac worse off now that Sony owns them? Sometimes you are afforded more freedom when you don't have to worry about dollars or shopping ideas around for approval.

Time will tell of course, but it's not always just cut and dry.

[Petebloodyonion]

Is Insomniac free?
What new IP or ideas have they been working on to satisfy that artistic craving?
As far I can tell Insomniac has been relegated to continue evolving the Spiderman formula.
You don't see them working on PSvr2 (as far as we know) or any side projects as they used to when they were independent.

I could ask the same for Naugty Dog, Santa Monica, etc.

[Fishy Fingers]

I doubt any 1st party studio is actively asking to make a PSVR game.

[Petebloodyonion]

And yet Insomniac was one of the few notorious Studios to have made some VR games in the past when they were independent.

[Einhander1972]

Microsoft plans to leave ZeniMax alone, according to Phil Spencer
https://www.pcgamer.com/mic...

Now Pete Hines had an unexpected departure and Zenimax reports directly to Microsoft

After 3 years of 'hands-off' management, Microsoft is making Bethesda and ZeniMax report directly to an Xbox bigwig
https://www.pcgamer.com/aft...

So yeah, keep thinking that, I expect your letter of resignation to be on Phil's desk by the end of next year.

[Petebloodyonion]

I'm no expert but I think the prob with Bethesda is that they basically dropped the ball with Redfall and in some aspect Starfield.
Let's not forget that MS basically gave them total freedom and an extra year to polish their games and it probably didn't meet MS expectations.
So having to report to MS makes them more accountable.
It doesn't mean that Bethesda won't call the shots
In a similar way, Rockstars do reports to Take2 yet still operate by themselves.

[Einhander1972]

Yeah, and I'm sure Microsoft and their history of releasing unfinished games had nothing to do with those problems, of course...

[Petebloodyonion]

So let me get this straight MS told Bethesda " Hey Guys we know you have been working for several years on Redfall but could you work 2 or 3 more years on the project and make sure the game is unfisnihed... We have a reputation to uphold"

[Einhander1972]

What you just said doesn't make sense.

Microsoft has a long history of rushing out unfinished games, this goes back way father than Redfall or Halo Infinite or even Sea of Thieves... That's just a short list of the most egregious recent offenders.

[Petebloodyonion]

"Microsoft has a long history of rushing out unfinished games, this goes back way father than Redfall or Halo Infinite or even Sea of Thieves..."

And they had no problem releasing the usuals games like Gears of War, Forza Horizon, Forza Motorsports, Age of Empire, Flight simulator or any Halo single-player campaigns without any issues.
Actually, the majority of publishers have no problem releasing their usuals single-players experience on console
DMC, Resident Evil, Plague Tales, Dark Soul, Dishonered, Final Fantasy.

So that leave us with the multiplayer part or the GAAS game and it's easy to say Sea of Thieves, States of Decay, Halo infinite Multiplayer was released unfinished but can you name the majority of GAAS game from Capcon, Square, Ubisoft, etc that released as a complete product?
Avengers? No Man Sky? FFXiV? Overwatch 1 or 2? Rust? DayZ? Dead by Daylight?, Payday?, Destiny? GTA online?

And just ask yourself how Come Bethesda had no problem releasing great games single-player experience Evil Within2, Dishonered, Pray, Deathloop, Doom, Wolfenstein but seems to fail the moment it become like Fallout 76?

[rippermcrip]

More independent than ever before? Even more than when they were on their own? And also the exact same thing was said when they merged with Activision.

[anast]

It's going to get worse.

[RAFTECH26]

Look at that…. MS is making sure studios are healthy.

Meanwhile Sony is collapsing

[Gamingsince1981]

In bizarro opposite world in another reality yeah, unless that was sarcasm, Sony are breaking records month on month, year on year, Xbox is spending all its Dads money and still getting trounced lmao. What world do you live in, this is insane 🤣

[RAFTECH26]

I don’t think u know how market share works…

Better yet, I bet you think sony is winning because of how many consoles sales they have…. Lol. Clearly u r lost

[Gamingsince1981]

Yeah xbox market share is about 20 percent so what are they winning ? I assume that is why Phil the liar Spencer says they are out of the console business by 2027 , because they have so much market share 🤣 you are a clown 🤡

[northpaws]

When China took Hong Kong back, they said HK would be independent too.

[Good-Smurf]

Care to give the source of where and when China said that?

[northpaws]

Ever heard of "No changes for 50 years" or "one country two systems"?

[mastershredder]

Actually, with as much as they have in common, these two sacks are made for one another.

[SimpleSlave]

lol...

[mastershredder]

I swear Phil's pant size goes up with each acquisition and "partnership".

“I think the way [Spencer] approaches building teams and focusing on culture and enabling creative freedom is going to give Blizzard a lot more of that sense of being an independent studio than ever before,” Ybarra says.

Oooooooh Reeeeeally? Ask Tim Scaffer and Doublefine about that one yo. Since they just be crap'n out creativity these days under good old MS. Such a snowjob.

[jznrpg]

Activision and Blizzard were independent already and look where that led them.

[The-VG-shamman]

Basically you guys are willing to lie to yourself in every way so that you can believe the
industry hasn’t been compromised with augmented intelligence economics that rely on your docile aptitudes.