Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Microsoft lays off 1,900 Activision Blizzard and Xbox employees

theverge.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

251–260 of 322 posts

Re: Microsoft lays off 1,900 Activision Blizzard and Xbox employees

#251

Post by dgellow »

true_religion wrote: post #207
hipadev23 wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Skimming your comments: You deeply detest everything related to AI, cloud, and startups. It’s not age discrimination per-se, but it’s because you're actively dragging your heels on the technologies that companies are hiring for. You can probably find a job doing maintenance on some PHP or Rails app that hasn't been updated since Obama’s first term, but the pay is likely also going to come from that era.

Maybe they should try applying in the east coast. There is no AI, cloud or startups here. You will have to stomach finance or the military industrial complex though.

Plenty of startups in NYC

Re: Microsoft lays off 1,900 Activision Blizzard and Xbox employees

#252

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

JohnFen wrote: post #203
saos wrote: post #12

> It’s been a little over three months since the Activision, Blizzard, and King teams joined Microsoft Always on the table after an acquisition. Especially close to earnings I hope severance is nice for all impacted

Having been through a few acquisitions, I have learned the truth of this. Eventually, I learned that if a company I work for announces they're being acquired, the best course of action for me is to start looking for other opportunities. Even if I'm not laid off (which I haven't been yet in these situations), I'm effectively being hired by a new company that I haven't vetted. It's the perfect opportunity to reassess t…

> I'm effectively being hired by a new company that I haven't vetted

This is a great point. I've been through two acquisitions and both times the company was a noticeably less pleasant place a year later.

Re: Microsoft lays off 1,900 Activision Blizzard and Xbox employees

#253

Post by Arrath »

HideousKojima wrote: post #101
solardev wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Larian, FromSoftware, Gunfire, Grinding Gear... the smaller studios are putting out great games still, with much of that 90s magic. There's that new game Palworld too apparently making a stir (haven't tried it yet), from another small studio. It's the big ones that have jumped the shark and gone full-in capitalist. I mostly just ignore them and haven't felt like I've missed much. So many good indie titles coming out…

Palworld is basically Ark: Survival Evolved with Pokemon plus some elements from Breath of the Wild. That said, it's less buggy (and better performing) at launch than Ark is 9 years after release, and unlike Ark it isn't designed to require you to quit your job and have a full guild with set work schedules just to get some cool pets.

> and unlike Ark it isn't designed to require you to quit your job and have a full guild with set work schedules just to get some cool pets.

This is a very important point, Palworld is much more respectful of you the player's time. Gone is the tedious tending of Ark's taming and breeding, or Conan's arduous process of dragging a captured thrall back to your base to throw on the wheel of pain.

On top of that it has a number of handy QoL upgrades over most survival crafters I've played, like all chests in your base sharing their inventory with all crafting stations at the base. No more hunting through all the storage in your base schlepping things into your own inventory just to craft junk.

Re: Microsoft lays off 1,900 Activision Blizzard and Xbox employees

#256

Post by ericbarrett »

nebula8804 wrote: post #196
solardev wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same, in 20+ years doing this, I've never seen it this bad.

Were you around for the dot com crash? You said 20 years so it sounds like you started when the wave began right after the crash.

Not GP but I was just starting my career back then. I remember commute traffic on 101 through San Jose and Sunnyvale going from bumper-to-bumper to smooth sailing, where you never even had to touch your brakes.

From the crash of April-ish 2000, it was 6-9 months before the best of the best could even get an interview, and about 36 to something approaching normality.

Re: Microsoft lays off 1,900 Activision Blizzard and Xbox employees

#257

Post by bravetraveler »

CoastalCoder wrote: post #223
bravetraveler wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My first three SysAd gigs got acquired, all three were for the worse. I'll disclose one long enough ago: HostGator 100% start looking, the company will fundamentally change Sure, hopefully for the better, but I'm batting 0

Glass half full perspective: you're pretty good at picking new employers :) I.e., the post-merger companies aren't as good as your own picks.

Hah, I appreciate that :) I never felt that were true, personally, having mostly joined places without much consideration!

For some perspective: it was often more important to get out of somewhere bad than in somewhere nice

Re: Microsoft lays off 1,900 Activision Blizzard and Xbox employees

#258

Post by nozzlegear »

swarnie wrote: post #36
mikeortman wrote: post #19

It blows my mind that many people worked there, only 8% of Microsoft Gaming?

Its amazing how many staff you can support with $39.99 wow mounts and a selection of gaudy hats.

Hey, I happen to like my Luxurious Niffen Hat! [1]

[1] https://ironstorage.blob.core.windows.net/public-images/luxu...

Re: Microsoft lays off 1,900 Activision Blizzard and Xbox employees

#259

Post by CoastalCoder »

bravetraveler wrote: post #257
CoastalCoder wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Glass half full perspective: you're pretty good at picking new employers :) I.e., the post-merger companies aren't as good as your own picks.

Hah, I appreciate that :) I never felt that were true, personally, having mostly joined places without much consideration! For some perspective: it was often more important to get out of somewhere bad than in somewhere nice

Ok, glass 3/4 full!

#1 You have an innate talent for avoiding bad workplaces, and

#2 you're a lucky person!

Re: Microsoft lays off 1,900 Activision Blizzard and Xbox employees

#260

Post by lo_stronzo »

bravetraveler wrote: post #221
JohnFen wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having been through a few acquisitions, I have learned the truth of this. Eventually, I learned that if a company I work for announces they're being acquired, the best course of action for me is to start looking for other opportunities. Even if I'm not laid off (which I haven't been yet in these situations), I'm effectively being hired by a new company that I haven't vetted. It's the perfect opportunity to reassess t…

My first three SysAd gigs got acquired, all three were for the worse. I'll disclose one long enough ago: HostGator 100% start looking, the company will fundamentally change Sure, hopefully for the better, but I'm batting 0

> I'll disclose one long enough ago: HostGator

I was offered a job by them long enough ago, too. When I tried to negotiate a salary I was ghosted by H.R. Looks like I dodged a bullet though!

Post reply on HN