Former Overwatch 2 artist alleges shocking mistreatment by Blizzard management: 'I spent most of a year stressed out of my mind'

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mei overwatch 2

so, enough time has passed now for me to talk about why i decided to leave Blizzard. a mixed year with great teammates, but a management that mistreated, lied to me, gaslit me, gave me a fake promotion, and HR that refused to help. buckle up friendos. 💪February 8, 2024

Sayers states numerous management leads were present for these discussions, including “Lead VFX, Art Directors, Associate Art Directors, Production Directions and also HR.” He adds that everyone was “happy” with the agreements made, and that Sayers would “start the job “effective immediately, with the details to come at the end of the week.”

The first warning signs appeared days after Sayers commenced the role. “Friday of that week comes, nothing,” he writes. “But the Production Dir[ector] does announce my promotion to Lead to the whole team on the Thursday!”

Sayers didn’t worry about this too much at the time, though, as he was “so excited”. He was quickly brought back down to Earth, however, when one of his first jobs was to “fire one of my new reports because he won’t [return to the office]. Sayers pointed out the individual, one of his “closest friends” on the team, was “‘waiting for a medical accommodation because he is a carer for his parents’”. To this, Blizzard management allegedly responded “‘Yeah [laughing] we’re not gonna do that for a junior’”. Blizzard management then apparently refused to hire an intern to help with Sayers' workload, which now included the responsibilities of his previous role, his new role, and the role of the artist he had just fired.

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After a month, Sayers states he still had not heard about the pay increase and title change he was supposed to be receiving. Blizzard apparently told him he’d have to wait until August for details in writing. At this point, he also discovered that he was “earning less than 50% of every other Lead VFX Artist at Blizzard, so much so, that as a Lead, my salary is lower than every person I [was] managing.” Blizzard management allegedly told him it’s because he is UK based, and that the salary is based on “market value, not my value.” Sayers took the issue to HR, who responded “‘why would we pay you more than we have to? That doesn’t make any sense.”

and, you may be rightfully thinking “oh, so this is a paid 3 months, right? you cant stop someone from working at ALL for 3 months without paying the-…” INCORRECT that is exactly what they did, and unfortunately, completely legal, because get fucked, i guess???February 8, 2024

In other words, Blizzard prevented Sayers from working anywhere for three months, with no compensation to cover the Non-Compete clause. Sayers explained that he couldn’t survive without being paid for three months, to which Blizzard allegedly responded “‘well, you probably shouldn’t have signed the contract then.'”

Nonetheless, Sayers’ accusations are deeply concerning. Not only because these events allegedly took place after Blizzard made extensive promises about how it would fix the studio’s workplace culture, but because they relate specifically to structures that were supposedly put in place to prevent this kind of thing happening again. One of Ybarra’s key changes following the lawsuit scandal was to hire “a new organizational leader for Human Resources who will build trust”. The studio is also supposed to have an “upwards feedback program” for evaluating management, whereas it doesn’t sound like Sayers’ feedback was getting anywhere at all. Indeed, he says explicitly that “Blizzard had every opportunity to do the right thing, and they continually failed at that.”

Sayers now works as lead VFX Artist at Anchor Point Studios, which was founded in 2022 and is currently working on its unannounced debut project. You can see some of Sayers' previous work on his ArtStation pagehere.

TOPICSBlizzard Entertainment

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