Blizzard

You'll work alongside industry veterans of an extremely high caliber, on meaningful projects that will be good for developing your skills.

Campus is full of awesome statues, artwork, and other artifacts from Blizzard's long history. There are some really cool places like the library, and dogs are welcome. Fun on-campus events for game launches, etc.

Campus cafeteria is subsidized to a pretty good level (though not entirely free). We also have an on-site Starbucks serving custom drinks.

Even after all the company has gone through in the last few years, I still felt proud saying that I worked for Blizzard, and it was always very rewarding to be able to show friends and family around the place, give out free WoW time, etc.

Some nice small perks since the Microsoft takeover:

• Free Xbox Game Pass
• Discounts on MS products (both physical and digital)
• Access to the MS employee merchandise store.

401k match is solid, and health benefits are generous. You get a free collector's edition of every new game, and swag giveaways are not infrequent.

Excellent work/life balance. My manager was happy to let me work remotely for short stretches from my home country when I was visiting family.

I joined just before the sexual harassment scandal broke in 2021, and since then it felt like a slow drip of one bad news story after the other until the merger was announced. Having worked so long and hard to get to this company, it was extremely demoralizing.

You're hardly on poverty wages at Blizzard, but compensation and other perks clearly drag behind the competition, and for a company of this prominence, that's simply not good enough.

Hopes that the Microsoft merger would bring more perks and better pay seem to have been misplaced. Little seemed to change for us since the merger was finalized.

Our team was halved overnight in the most recent round of layoffs. This came as a shock, as we had had no indication of the game doing poorly or that there was a reason measures would have to be taken imminently. One moment things seemed okay, and the next moment I didn't have a job.

All pros I mentioned about the Irvine HQ are still relevant; however, it's clear that the office space is quite old and many facilities really need a facelift, the gym and locker rooms in particular. Seoul and Taipei offices seem newer and a lot more modern; it almost looks more appealing to work there than in HQ.

Orange County can be a difficult place to live in, unless the suburban sprawl is something you're happy with.

Microsoft dispensing layoffs seemingly at random can't continue. Morale is going to suck if people feel like the company is going to undergo indefinite rounds of redundancies, especially if these decimate projects like mine, where we felt that we had a roadmap and exciting things in the pipeline. We need transparency, even if it's bad news.

Blizzard is, despite the last few years, still one of the biggest names in gaming and maker of some of the best titles in gaming history, including the most successful MMORPG. Please make your employees feel like that's the case with proper compensation and benefits.

Please give Irvine HQ a refresh.