Blizzard workers share salaries in revolt over wage disparities

In internal messages reviewed by Bloomberg News, Blizzard employees said they were struggling to make ends meet while watching Activision Blizzard revenue grow year after year. Some producers and engineers at Blizzard can make well over US$100,000 (RM419,000) a year, but others, such as video game testers and customer-service reps, are often paid minimum wage or close to it. — Blizzard

Employees at Blizzard Entertainment, a division of Activision Blizzard Inc, began circulating a spreadsheet on July 31 to anonymously share salaries and recent pay increases, the latest example of rising tension in the video game industry over wage disparities and executive compensation.

Blizzard, based in Irvine, California, makes popular games including Diablo and World Of Warcraft. In 2019, after an internal survey revealed that more than half of Blizzard workers were unhappy with their compensation, the company told staff it would perform a study to ensure fair pay, according to people familiar with the situation. Blizzard implemented the results of that study last month, which led to an outcry on the company’s internal Slack messaging boards.