Going to hell in a handbasket - Assistant Designer Blizzard Entertainment Employee Review

1.0
16 Apr 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Everyone thinks you're cool Upper management is amongst the highest paid employees in the entire country.

Cons

Badly underpaid for everyone that isn't C-level. Nepotism is rampant Career growth is non-existent and managers will lie to your face and contradict themselves in the same conversation. Micromanaging corporate machinations Concerns over money > everything > integrity Management protecting themselves with fortresses of paperwork and creating parliamentary bureaucratic systems to justify their continued overpaid existence. 'Untouchable' employees that are immune to their own incompetence, making everyone else's life a living hell.

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5.0
2 Mar 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Game industry with lots of cool events

Cons

Salary can be higher with expensive housing in CA

2.0
23 Mar 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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