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Comment by taeric | Hacker News Reader

The sceptic in me is unsure how much money this costs. They aren't an assembly line, so did any deadlines get pushed back? Similarly, they are not a services company, so no services were lost.

Certainly bad press. And I hope it has impact. But I'm not seeing direct lines to it.

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World of Warcraft, the cash cow product, is getting content delayed according to one of the devs:

https://twitter.com/JeffAHamilton/status/1419115702569472003

Delays are common, and expected as par for the course in the game industry. No one blinks an eye at delays and most games seem to not launch when announced anyway (like most software). The question that matters is, will this actually cost them lost revenue in the long run, or just delay inevitable sales by however long the employees can hold out in a walkout/strike? A delay is just as good as money in the bank in the long run. Will people not buy the product because it was delayed? Will they care why it was delayed, or even know unless it was an in-game message? Some will, sure, but will they still make the purchase? Likely.

World of Warcraft is a subscription-based product, so delays do directly lead to lost revenue as players get bored and cancel.

They are absolutely a service company since game nowadays are live service content (I.e fortnight). In Activision’s Case, numerous of their games rely on new content being worked on for seasonal releases , bug fixes , reports etc. Time not being spent working on such causes delays which of course cost money.

Agreed, human nature being what it is, I guarantee you most of the work missed during the walk out was made up that evening by the same employees working late without being asked to do so.

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