Jason Schreier

No. Microsoft has gone through multiple rounds of layoffs, and a lot of that was focused on Activision Blizzard. Granted, to be fair, I think at least some of those cuts were planned before Microsoft took over, so Microsoft inherited this process. But still, I mean, when I was writing this book, I filed my first draft around January, so right before the first big layoff.

And the original draft ended on kind of an optimistic note, because a lot of people were really psyched about Microsoft, who worked at Blizzard. Because as the book documents, there's this saga of Activision and Blizzard going at it, and them just having totally incompatible values and philosophies about making games, and it caused a lot of problems.

And the original draft ended on kind of an optimistic note, because a lot of people were really psyched about Microsoft, who worked at Blizzard. Because as the book documents, there's this saga of Activision and Blizzard going at it, and them just having totally incompatible values and philosophies about making games, and it caused a lot of problems.

And the original draft ended on kind of an optimistic note, because a lot of people were really psyched about Microsoft, who worked at Blizzard. Because as the book documents, there's this saga of Activision and Blizzard going at it, and them just having totally incompatible values and philosophies about making games, and it caused a lot of problems.

So a lot of people, especially after the California lockdowns, lawsuit and all of the cultural issues. A lot of people were really excited to be out of the Activision rule, the Activision C-suite. And Phil Spencer came to Blizzard's campus. People were lining up to meet him. He was shaking hands. He was playing their games. People were really jazzed.

So a lot of people, especially after the California lockdowns, lawsuit and all of the cultural issues. A lot of people were really excited to be out of the Activision rule, the Activision C-suite. And Phil Spencer came to Blizzard's campus. People were lining up to meet him. He was shaking hands. He was playing their games. People were really jazzed.

So a lot of people, especially after the California lockdowns, lawsuit and all of the cultural issues. A lot of people were really excited to be out of the Activision rule, the Activision C-suite. And Phil Spencer came to Blizzard's campus. People were lining up to meet him. He was shaking hands. He was playing their games. People were really jazzed.

And then, at the end of January, Microsoft lays off 1,900 people, including hundreds of Blizzard, cancels one of the big games they're working on, the survival game Odyssey, and everyone's just like, oh, Phil Spencer, it's just another executive. They're all the same. Counting on a big corporation to save us was not a good idea. So yeah, quickly wrote a final chapter.

And then, at the end of January, Microsoft lays off 1,900 people, including hundreds of Blizzard, cancels one of the big games they're working on, the survival game Odyssey, and everyone's just like, oh, Phil Spencer, it's just another executive. They're all the same. Counting on a big corporation to save us was not a good idea. So yeah, quickly wrote a final chapter.

And then, at the end of January, Microsoft lays off 1,900 people, including hundreds of Blizzard, cancels one of the big games they're working on, the survival game Odyssey, and everyone's just like, oh, Phil Spencer, it's just another executive. They're all the same. Counting on a big corporation to save us was not a good idea. So yeah, quickly wrote a final chapter.

I emailed my editor, I was like, hey, I think we need to do a new ending here.

I emailed my editor, I was like, hey, I think we need to do a new ending here.

I emailed my editor, I was like, hey, I think we need to do a new ending here.

Blizzard was the brainchild, really it was the brainchild of one guy named Alan Adham, and he brought along Mike Morhaime. And the two of them, they were both students at UCLA. They were engineering students, and they considered themselves two of the top programmers. They both were really into video games. And they decided, hey, why don't we go and try this? We're young.

Blizzard was the brainchild, really it was the brainchild of one guy named Alan Adham, and he brought along Mike Morhaime. And the two of them, they were both students at UCLA. They were engineering students, and they considered themselves two of the top programmers. They both were really into video games. And they decided, hey, why don't we go and try this? We're young.

Blizzard was the brainchild, really it was the brainchild of one guy named Alan Adham, and he brought along Mike Morhaime. And the two of them, they were both students at UCLA. They were engineering students, and they considered themselves two of the top programmers. They both were really into video games. And they decided, hey, why don't we go and try this? We're young.

We can do this with minimal seed money. They each took a loan of between $10,000 and $15,000 from their families. Alan, I think, took it from his college fund, and Morhaime borrowed it from his grandmother and eventually paid it back. I think he had the check framed in Blizzard's museum later on, many years later.

We can do this with minimal seed money. They each took a loan of between $10,000 and $15,000 from their families. Alan, I think, took it from his college fund, and Morhaime borrowed it from his grandmother and eventually paid it back. I think he had the check framed in Blizzard's museum later on, many years later.

We can do this with minimal seed money. They each took a loan of between $10,000 and $15,000 from their families. Alan, I think, took it from his college fund, and Morhaime borrowed it from his grandmother and eventually paid it back. I think he had the check framed in Blizzard's museum later on, many years later.

And the two of them, they said, we want to start a company that makes games that we like to play. A lot of these gaming companies in the 90s were run by business people and business people who didn't really care about games. They just saw this as a product to sell to children and make a bunch of money. And so these guys were like, we want to make games we really like.