A First In The Company’s History
Change has been in the works at Blizzard for a while now, and a new report from Kotaku only confirms this fact. It seems like the company’s financial department is now making major decisions, a move that’s clearly influenced by Activision.
It never used to be like this. Once upon a time, Blizzard’s money people were a quiet, almost invisible force. Then the company got a new chief financial officer, Amrita Ahuja, who has been making speeches every month about cutting spending. Their previous work experience involved many years working for Activision, if you could believe it. Suddenly money seems to matter a lot more.
One could dismiss this as heresay and hogwash if not for a couple of recent developments. Loot boxes in Overwatch for one. Diablo Immortal for another. Things like this make it obvious that money talks a lot more than it used to at Blizzard. Once a truly fan-centric, idea-driven company, Blizzard and Activision are slowly becoming two sides of the same coin. Unfortunately, Blizzard’s fans are some of the most passionate people in the entire industry. They aren’t shy about making themselves heard, and moves like these will have immense and immediate repercussions throughout Blizzard’s bottom line.