Started off well, ended poorly - Management Blizzard Entertainment Employee Review

2.0
Apr 28, 2013
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

It's fun to work on titles that everyone has heard of and knows about. For the first year, it seems like a honeymoon for most people. It used to be a fun, rapidly growing company that gave tons of opportunities to anyone who had the initiative to grab them.

Cons

Blizzard is an old boys' club that favors the people that have been there forever, even if they're horrible at their job. There is a huge compensation difference between the people that were there pre-WoW versus post-WoW... often orders of magnitude difference 3x, 4x, 5x) for the same role. The base salaries don't have a huge difference, but the twice-per-year bonuses vary extremely widely. It's not common for a new hire (Sr. level or above) to have a bonus target of 20% their base salary, whereas a pre-WoW employee at the same level may have that target at 100% or more of their base. Blizzard now also suffers from a ton of red tape that makes it difficult to innovate and be creative. It seems like everyone who has wanted to build their kingdom has already done so, so many things that shouldn't need approvals now need several from different departments. Also, working 80+ hour weeks is part of the DNA here... so definitely come in expecting that.

Explore other reviews about Blizzard Entertainment

5.0
Jun 2, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Really great people, best and kindest in the business

Cons

Compensation is on lower side

2.0
Mar 23, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Depending on the team, you get to work with some great people. - Company events are fun and make you temporarily forget that you're still in a corporate environment. - You're near the games being released.

Cons

On the surface, the company talks a big game about being structured and performance-driven. In reality, it feels pretty chaotic once you’re actually in it. Expectations aren’t clearly defined, and what “success” looks like seems to shift depending on the week or who you’re talking to. You end up spending more time managing optics and trying to stay aligned with moving targets than actually doing solid engineering work. What makes it worse is how management handles team dynamics. Toxic behavior doesn’t really get addressed — if anything, it sometimes feels like it’s enabled. Feedback can feel very one-sided, and when you raise concerns, they’re not always taken seriously or represented fairly. There are definitely moments where the narrative about your performance doesn’t match the reality of what you’re actually doing day to day, which slowly kills trust. At a minimum, leadership needs to get better at clear communication, setting stable and objective expectations, and actually supporting both engineers and managers. Without that, even strong teams start to feel dysfunctional. Compensation doesn’t make up for it either. It often feels like decisions are driven by cost-cutting rather than recognizing real impact, which makes the whole environment feel more transactional than motivating. Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this place in its current state, especially if you’re an experienced professional looking for a stable, well-run role.

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