Blizzard's reputation has taken a pummelling over the last few years. In 2021, horrifying descriptions of the company's toxic workplace culture spilled onto the Internet, after a lawsuit was filed by California's Department of Fair Employment regarding «unlawful harassment, discrimination, and retaliation». Following the lawsuit, Blizzard made extensive promises about how they were going to address these problems. In an article published in January 2022, former President Mike Ybarra explained the company had established clear internal guidelines as to appropriate conduct, and had made multiple hires to improve culture leadership, human resources, and equality within the company.
Three years on from the initial fallout, you might be wondering how all that is going. Well, if recent statements made by former Overwatch 2 artist Chris Sayers are anything to go by, the answer is 'extremely badly.'
On Thursday evening, Sayers took social media to describe a shocking run of events that led to his departure from Blizzard. Sayers, who was promoted to lead VFX artist on Overwatch 2's cosmetics team in July 2023, says he spent «most of a year stressed out of my mind» due to an array of alleged mistreatment by Blizzard management that included lying to him, gaslighting him, and giving him a «fake promotion».
In a lengthy thread posted on Twitter, Sayers explains the trouble began with that promotion. «In July of 2023, I was invited to a meeting by Art Leadership and production, to let me know they were interested in promoting me to Lead VFX artist of the cosmetics team,» he writes. Sayers, who had only been at Blizzard for six months, accepted the role. Before doing so, however, he insisted everyone was «on the same page» regarding the details. «What it meant, what I would be doing, and also, what the 'promotion' would come with (pay increase, title change).»
so, enough time has passed now for me to talk about why i decided to leave Blizzard. a mixed year with great teammates,
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