A former Blizzard employee, Jason T Hall, recently spoke out about working conditions at the renowned game developer. He talks about his salary and the questionable practices he experienced during his time there.
How did Hall come to comment on this? On February 8th, ex-employee Chris Sayers took to X/Twitter to reveal his personal experiences as a former Blizzard employee.
In a series of tweets, he reported on the negative experiences he had had during his time at the company and particularly denounced the human resources department. Sayers described them as “openly evil and useless at every step.”
Following Chris Sayers’ revelations, another former Blizzard employee, Jason T. Hall, also took the step to share his own experiences. Hall is now active as an indie developer under the pseudonym “PirateSoftware”. He also faced similar problems during his time at Blizzard.
Other former Blizzard employees have also become self-employed developers:
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Another ex-employee says: Not an isolated case
What does Hall say about working at Blizzard? “Working at Blizzard was easily one of the best and worst experiences I’ve had so far in my career,” wrote Jason T. Hall on X/Twitter. He emphasized that Sayers’ experience was not an isolated case.
What kind of “psycho games” were they supposed to be? Hall recounted a variety of questionable work practices, including an incident during his shift in which employees were suddenly asked to complete a “critical task.”
They are said to have received a task sheet with around 30 steps and were asked to read all the instructions carefully before starting to implement them. The steps included asking people to turn off the computer and leave the room.
After Hall finished reading the tasks, he followed the step in question. He reported that the two work colleagues who were the last to leave the room were then fired. The remaining employees were put on day duty. In response, Hall’s salary was reduced by $0.50 per hour because there was no longer a “night crew differential.”
Blizzard is said to have used an attention test, which many people probably remember from their school days, to pit employees against each other.
How much did Hall earn during his time at Blizzard? Hall revealed that he only earned $10.50 an hour during his time at Blizzard. This hourly wage was well below the average for workers in Southern California, making it difficult for him and many of his colleagues to make a living.
According to GTAI, the average hourly wage for unskilled workers is $13 to $25.
He noted that even retail employees made more than he did at Blizzard. He compared it to the workers who put away customers’ bags at the checkout in the supermarket – because, according to him, they earn $12 an hour.
In addition to his revelations about working conditions at Blizzard, Jason T. Hall also streams on Twitch and has recently broken the Hype Train record several times. You can read more about it here: Former Blizzard employee breaks world record on Twitch twice in one week