![Blizzard President Quits Microsoft, In-Development Survival Game Also Cancelled](https://images.purexbox.com/866bb126becf9/blizzard-president-quits-microsoft-in-development-survival-game-also-cancelled.900x.jpg)
After today's megaton news of almost 2,000 job losses over at Team Xbox, we have even more disruption amongst the ranks. Long-time Blizzard president and ex-Microsoft executive Mike Ybarra has announced his departure from the studio - and with it the cancellation of Blizzard's in-development survival game.
Ybarra has taken to Twitter to post a heartfelt message about his departure - focusing intently on the swathe of other job losses happening at the Overwatch developer. You can read through his full statement down below.
"I want to thank everyone who is impacted today for their meaningful contributions to their teams, to Blizzard, and to players’ lives. It’s an incredibly hard day and my energy and support will be focused on all those amazing individuals impacted – this is in no way a reflection on your amazing work. If there’s anything I can help with, connections, recommendations, etc., DM me."
"To the Blizzard community: I also want to let you all know today is my last day at Blizzard. Leading Blizzard through an incredible time and being part of the team, shaping it for the future ahead, was an absolute honor. Having already spent 20+ years at Microsoft and with the acquisition of Activision Blizzard behind us, it’s time for me to (once again) become Blizzard’s biggest fan from the outside."
"To the incredible teams at Blizzard - thank you. Words can’t express how I feel about all of you. You are amazing. Continue to do incredible things and always keep Blizzard blue and the player at the forefront of every decision."
"To all of those impacted today - I am always available to you and understand how challenging today’s news is. My heart is with each one of you."
As shared by The Verge, Xbox's Matt Booty has also commented on this huge Blizzard move. The Xbox exec had this to say on Ybarra's decision:
"As many of you know, Mike previously spent more than 20 years at Microsoft. Now that he has seen the acquisition through as Blizzard’s president, he has decided to leave the company,"
The shakeup at Blizzard has resulted in a game cancellation — which Booty also commented on — stating that Microsoft is "shifting some of the people working on it to one of several promising new projects Blizzard has in the early stages of development".
Where things go from here is anyone's guess, but clearly, Microsoft has a new vision for Blizzard - and indeed all of Xbox's recently acquired teams. Let's hope we see some of these 'promising new projects' come to Xbox one day in the future.
What would you like to see next from Blizzard? Drop your thoughts down in the comments below.
Comments 52
Wow. Bombshell after bombshell today.
I figured if anyone was going to stick around, it was an ex-Microsoft guy like Yara. Unless he wasn't happy to be back under his old employer and hit the exit (his exit statement seems to suggest this).
This weirdly feels like the death of the old Blizzard and the end of an era. Going to be curious to see what the next chapter holds.
@EvenStephen7 I kind of feel like 'old Blizzard' died when they were bought by Activision. However, I completely agree that this is the end of a chapter. Hopefully Blizzard can get back its former glory in the years to come.
Don't know why this would be a suprise to anyone ,I dont know how ms treats there employees, but every time they take over a company, people seem to leave in there droves.
@GhanaViking That's a good point about the Activision purchase, and agreed. But yea, this feels weirdly like a closing of the book. Here's hoping to brighter days ahead again.
Kind of happy a survival game is being cancelled - that just screams "Publisher chasing trends" decision.
Always bad PR when job losses are being reported - especially when execs are also reported leaving ("AHHH! The ship is sinking!!" and all that).
I hope all who are affected land on their feet - maybe even start a new studio or two (or three) to chase their passions.
Not a great look, as this almost reads like, "I've spent 20+ years at Microsoft before... Not doing that again."
Yikes.
He did go from basically the number 2 guy at ABK to a long string of people above him. I can see why he might want to go back to the top somewhere else.
Honestly, this kind of feels like he was forced out. Basically, leave or be fired. It sounds like the game that was canceled wasn't anywhere near being ready, so Xbox is clearing house and starting fresh.
@Mephisto2869 take it you forgot about the lay off's & studio closures at Sony. Then you have Embracer group. Lay off's are terrible but hopefully some good will come from it & they get new jobs at other studios or we may see the creation of new ones.
The survival game seemed pretty soulless so no loss there for me. But hey so long as WoW keeps trucking on as it is (Or ideally better) I'm happy.
Not surprising, this is what big business does when they purchase either big business, fire a selection of the workforce, lay off high ranking members (they retire with huge pay outs when really they are fired), and change their focus and pathway to one they want them on as the parent company.
@MattWithoutFear yeah that's what I was thinking.. he's thought nah not again!
@InvaderFromSpace yes they could have took a look at this survival game and thought nope we're not doing another Redfall again just cancel it.
Allen Adham one of the founders of Blizzard is also out.
The survival game that is cancelled "Odyssey" had been in development for 6+ years!
@Kaloudz i agree with everything you said except the freedom to pursue other projects that might have remained dormant otherwise. With almost 2000 devs now gone, who's going to be able to do that now? I hope I'm wrong but to me this reads that their use of the word "focused" means that they plan to just stay with the current hits and not stray from the already established path.
Now I could easily be overreacting and this could very well just be Microsoft getting rid of all the hiring bloat left over from COVID. These things also tend to happen after buyouts. However the bigger issue to me is Mike Ybarra leaving. I'm not a Blizzard fan but people always spoke of this guy as some sort of mastermind wizard. What does this REALLY mean over their? Are things about to get really bad or did he just leave cuz he doesn't want to go from being #2 to the bottom of the Totem Pole?
@JokerBoy422 It's not going to be entirely developers. A lot of it will be overlap and redundancy in departments like IT, Finance, marketing - whenever you have big acquisitions like this, those are the areas that always get cut because you don't need that many people all doing the same job.
Sounds like he didn't take the layoffs of his staff well?
@EvenStephen7 I felt like the old Blizzard died when Activision acquired them. If anything we are looking at the death of THAT Blizzard, the Activision Blizzard, and if that's the case I will play the world's smallest violin for it.
@MattWithoutFear Lets face it, ActiBliz was a mess and it doesn't surprise me how Microsoft decided to clean house with a lot of it and restructure the brand.
@JokerBoy422 “ I'm not a Blizzard fan but people always spoke of this guy as some sort of mastermind wizard. ”
Who spoke of him as some mastermind wizard? He was only at blizzard since 2019, and was only in he current role since 2021. He was hired along with Jen Oneal just please people during the sexual harassment lawsuit. Jen O’Neal left 3 months later… But now has her own studio.
@Kaloudz bit more than just one guy ,he said after the acquisition he would be with blizzard until the day he dies,or words to that affect,and another founder of blizzard has left also I see,seems people don't like working for ms ,I know in your eyes they can't do no wrong ,but hey maybe time to take those blinkers off.
@cragis0001 so they lay off nearly 2000 people and you believe theyre gonna create new studios ,don't know how it works in the US, but thats illegal in the UK
@Kaloudz 😂😂😂
@Kaloudz well *****. I think you're on point here. I completely agree and never thought of those aspects.
@Mephisto2869 You like everyone else have no idea of Microsofts plans going forward, but of course you still try and put a negative spin on it.
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@Kaloudz youre not though 😂😂
@Belkan they make a mess of everything they touch ,so why wouldn't they say that ,they been doin this since the 80s,their whole business is based on Windows, thats how they made their money ,they seem to come last place in everything but an operating system.
Good that Matt Booty commented because you read Mike Ybarra's comment and it looks like he's sad because he has been fired.
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@GamingFan4Lyf Besides the "I have been fired" vibes until I read Matt Booty's response, I find Mike Ybarra's comment contradictory. On the one hand, he seems to scatter sympathy for the people made redundant. On the other hand, the "ship is sinking" vibes are like a bomb dropped over his beloved company and workmates.
@MattWithoutFear ""I've spent 20+ years at Microsoft before... Not doing that again."
It certainly looks like it but considering that everybody knows how hands-off Xbox Game Studios management has become (unfortunately), I think that it's more likely that he just wants to go back to the top somewhere else like @BacklogBrad says.
@JokerBoy422 "With almost 2000 devs now gone"
Where did you get that from? All sources say customer service (the whole team of ABK), community managers, HR... Microsoft wouldn't spend a fortune to acquire developments studios and then fire the developers! 🤣 The talent and the IPs is what they care for, not so much for redundant jobs that somebody in their team already does or that they decided to outsource.
@Mephisto2869 new studios open in the UK all the time. 😂😂😂 when Microsoft closed Lionheads Studios & Bizarre Creations many of the staff got other jobs but at the same time many new studios were created including 22cans, Media Molecule, Two Point Studios, PixelCount Studios & Lucid Games.
Again you are using this to bash Microsoft when it's an industry problem. I live in Scotland & work for Argos in a stand alone store lol. Look up what Sainsbury's has been doing since they acquired the business.
this is depressing, not because i care about corporate affairs , but because there’s not enough news about new games anymore
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@Kaloudz needless expense ? They're running a competition where you can get your own spacesuit built 😂😂
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Let's keep the discussion here civil please, no need to flame each other. Thanks 💚
@Kaloudz bingo! All we can do is wait and see. Glad to hear it's not developers getting cut then.
@Banjo- yup after I posted that I had other people tell me the same and I must've just misunderstood or misread. No, you're definitely right and it's good to hear they didn't axe the devs.
@Kaloudz Crash 4 would be amazing. I never even thought of that on Game Pass for some reason. Between that and Diablo 4 i will definitely be resubscribing once they're added lol.
@JokerBoy422 Cool, thanks for the reply.
@Mephisto2869 yeah unfortunately in the US an employer can fire someone with no notice and no reason. Not like in UK.
@Kaloudz oh man, exciting times ahead
@Kaloudz looking at some of your comments ,nothing I can say will convince you otherwise so I'm not gonna bother,you love xbox long time.
@jedinite that's shocking ,land of the free indeed
@Kaloudz and thats why ,publishers prefer playstation to xbox
@Mephisto2869 I noticed your comment got deleted. But I Still don't understand how it's illegal in the UK for a group of people who get made redundant. Can't come up with a business plan, get funding & create a new studio 🤔.
@Mephisto2869 heard the news that Microsoft helped create Shapeshifter Games. Inxile arranged a meeting after Embracer shut down Volition & are now helping with Clockwork Revolution. Arkane Lyon are also looking at also helping ABK & other staff recently payed off as they have seven job vacancies.
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