Blizzard has fired its WoW Classic co-lead, Brian Birmingham, after he voiced his displeasure with the new employee ranking system. Soon after the news broke, Birmingham also took to Twitter to tell his side of the story and the unfolding of all the events within Blizzard that eventually led to this point.With several lawsuits filed against Activision Blizzard and other ongoing controversies, the company has been the subject of much scrutiny in recent years. Now Birmingham has opened up about the drawbacks of an employee ranking system that the company has been utilizing, stirring up even more controversy in the process.Brian Birmingham, who's been with Blizzard for 17 years, has confirmed his termination on Twitter after the news broke. He also wished to shed more light on the broader aspects of the trouble Blizzard currently finds itself in. Apparently, the ranking system was introduced by Blizzard in 2021 to rank employees based on their performance. The lowest status within the system is called "Developing" and the managers are required to give this rank to around 5% of their employees. Having this rank means the employee's profit-sharing bonus may be lowered, and it can also make it more difficult to be considered for a promotion or pay rise. Birmingham refused to lower the rank of one of his employees from "Successful" to "Developing" and expressed his displeasure with the entire system in an email that later leaked. His refusal led shortly after to his termination.
In his Twitter thread, Birmingham stressed he wasn't the source of the leak, but he confirmed that the excerpts posted were accurate. He also stated that he believes Blizzard is not to blame for the ranking system but rather ABK, the new name of Activision Blizzard after it acquired King in 2016. Birmingham said all companies had a ranking system of some type, but ABK decided to bring them all together into one standardized system, which led to the current format. According to Birmingham, Blizzard pushed back against this, and for a while, managers thought they won. But he realized this wasn't the case when in an email he was instructed to adhere to the 5% quota.
Birmingham closed his thoughts with having no adverse feelings towards Blizzard, saying it would be best if he could return and fight this system from within the company. He, in fact, praised Blizzard and all the work it's done but said he "can't participate in a policy that lets ABK steal money from deserving employees, and I can't be made to lie about it either."
Source: Games Industry