Activision Blizzard Ending Work-From-Home Policies - Employees Expected to Return to Office This Summer

Blizzard Posted 2023/02/15 at 2:10 PM by Archimtiros

work-from-home policiesLeastMyHairIsOkconfirmed to Gamedeveloper
A spokesperson for Activision Blizzard confirmed to Game Developer that office work would resume on April 10 for Activision Publishing employees, and July 10 for Blizzard employees.

Employees for both divisions will be required to come to the office three days a week. The spokesperson added that the King portion of the publisher went back to the office in July 2022. The cadence of those in-office days are set by King's team leaders to fit the needs of each team.

"Activision Blizzard has been returning teams to the office over the past year," the spokesperson said. They continued by saying that the office days were created in partnership with the leadership of each team, and customized "based on what's best for the business and for the team."

"We look forward to the increased in-person collaboration and teamwork."
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Comment by nastywafflesxxxHopefully they have policies in place and inforce them this time.Comment by FrawtariusYikes. As if Blizzard needed more of a brain drain.Comment by Eternius00So dumb. My company stayed remote, sold the offices and gave everyone a raise. We had the best year over year in over a decade. Take care of your employees and they will take care of you.Comment by Happii"noting that Blizzard successfully launched Classic WoW, two retail expansions, and several game updates in the three years since shifting to remote work" if your best accomplishments are a rerelease of a 15+ year old game, arguably releasing the worst wow expansion, giving half of overwatch 1.5, any many more blunders.... I don't think you are making the work you did from home look good at all.

There are jobs that are fine to work from home, blizz showed game dev is not one of them.Comment by SquishyyOh no, Blizzard doing what many other companies have already done, how horrible. Truly they are the big baddy, instead we deserve massive raises so we can afford ferraris.
Complaining about not being able to buy a vehicle lmao, people have always done that in Sydney, you're too used to throwing away all your money. If you moved away thats your own faulr, it was obvious they wouldnt be remote forever.Comment by MagnaCartaNot sure I understand the necessity of this. I'm not a business mogul, and I can't claim to know any of the factors that go into sustaining a multi-billion dollar company, but it seems as if the paradigm that they were working with over the past couple of years was perfectly sustainable, and could better account for worker safety and improve morale. Especially for a game company. Although the 3/5 @work days is a huge boon.

Unless this is a proof of concept sort of thing that they're trying to use as a demonstration of their new worker policies to convince people that aren't just blowing hot air. Which itself would just be a theatrical PR stunt at the expense of hard working employees.

Curious to know others' opinions.Comment by AzrajinGiven game development is primarily a team job which requires extensive collaberation, hybrid working isn't such a bad thing.

3 days in the office and 2 days WFH isn't that bad. If they do say Friday - Monday WFH with weekend in between (You can have a long weekend) and then tuesday-thursday office time?

pre-covid it was all 5 days at the office. There will always be people who want your job if you don't want to commit to it.

Edit: As someone who does hybrid working 3 in office 2 WFH you actually get a lot more done! You focus your 3 office days as work intensive and then balance your less intensive tasks around more casual WFH unless the place is on fire then it's intensive day.Comment by Itacolomi"noting that Blizzard successfully launched Classic WoW, two retail expansions, and several game updates in the three years since shifting to remote work" if your best accomplishments are a rerelease of a 15+ year old game, arguably releasing the worst wow expansion, giving half of overwatch 1.5, any many more blunders.... I don't think you are making the work you did from home look good at all.

There are jobs that are fine to work from home, blizz showed game dev is not one of them.Comment by cokeboyswagBefore anyone trashes working from home, please take an unbiased look at the CoL argument. My company is a tech company also near Blizz HQ in Irvine, and they suspiciously announced the end of WFH this week as well, a few other companies also have announced similar policies this past week.

Because of the CoL here is so high, many folks decided to move AT LEAST an hour from the office. now we are being told to be here 3x a week to take zoom meetings all day. Nobody can afford to live near the office, unless they have been at the company for 10+ years when housing was more affordable throughout orange county.

its disgusting, workers need to rise up against leadership. Anyone who is "slacking while working from home" was already slacking in the office, people don't just magically go "im at home? time to not work".Comment by SheeneWait, they have not been at the campus all this time?Comment by ProfienHonestly if they sold their homes and/or moved away, then that is not Blizzard's problem. You knew damn well eventually everyone will go back to the offices.Comment by zomgzidk if work from home was the reason why SL sucked brothers, perhaps its bobby and his fellow vampiresComment by TeeffAnother crappy corporation commiting self harm.

As much as I love WoW, Blizzard as a company can eat a bag of $%^&s.Comment by cokeboyswagidk if work from home was the reason why SL sucked brothers, perhaps its bobby and his fellow vampiresComment by darkyxyzAnother crappy corporation commiting self harm.

As much as I love WoW, Blizzard as a company can eat a bag of $%^&s.Comment by ShadowlygerYeah people aren't going to come back to the office, they're gonna quit.Comment by SquishyyMaybe companies dont like paying substantial amounts of money on offices and other things people dont use because they're not in the office ever.Comment by Mardux11Trying to claim that ABK is responsible for making sure that person is unaffected by the global economy. Hilarious.Comment by silverdevilboy"noting that Blizzard successfully launched Classic WoW, two retail expansions, and several game updates in the three years since shifting to remote work" if your best accomplishments are a rerelease of a 15+ year old game, arguably releasing the worst wow expansion, giving half of overwatch 1.5, any many more blunders.... I don't think you are making the work you did from home look good at all.

There are jobs that are fine to work from home, blizz showed game dev is not one of them.Comment by Codered31Honestly if they sold their homes and/or moved away, then that is not Blizzard's problem. You knew damn well eventually everyone will go back to the offices.

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