Following the allegations surrounding Blizzard’s toxic work culture, a new report also reveals that its projects began to suffer following the Activision acquisition. Warcraft 3 Reforged launched early last year to poor reception, and now it’s understood to be from serious mismanagement, budget cuts, and a premature release.
In a new report from Bloomberg, the internal strife at Blizzard points to earlier beginnings around the Activision acquisition and with the departure of co-founder Mike Morhaime. The report indicates that growing pressures from Activision to reduce costs, talent departures, and wage disputes led to growing discontent within the company. These allegations come just a day after the state of California filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard for its “pervasive frat boy workplace culture.”
As Bloomberg reported, morale on the team took a harsh nose dive as the project began to flounder. Reforged’s team began “worrying that they had promised more than they could deliver.” Problems led back to head of the Classic Games team Rob Bridenbecker, who was “known for his aggressive managerial style,” and often held expectations that the team could not deliver on.
The small team continued to struggle as its budget was cut, forcing employees to take on multiple job roles and fall into crunch. That’s when the Bloomberg report suggests that the project began to see cuts to features and trashed work that was already completed. Instead of adding new cinematics and voice-over like Blizzard had promised, they were forced to use materials from the original.
The developers voiced their frustrations with leadership, noting that senior members of the team sounded the alarm on unrealistic expectations several times and flagging the project as something that was in trouble. It was not until the very end that Blizzard finally brought in help, but it still didn’t save the project. Ultimately, Reforged launched far too early, held to a tight deadline that wasn’t typical of older leadership, and the company offered refunds to those who were upset with the project.
In 2021, Reforged remains mostly in the same messy state it launched in. Bloomberg's report mentions Blizzard has brought on a new team to helm changes to the game after Classic Games was dismantled, but we've yet to see the results of that work.