Software Engineer - Senior Software Engineer II Blizzard Entertainment Employee Review

4.0
20 May 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great company to work for. People are friendly, everyone love playing games. It is a 100% nerd environment. VanPool is a great option for those who live in LA County for example. I moved closer to Irvine a while back because they did not have a vanpool option. Now that they do it opens options to move elsewhere if I wish. I likely won't but it's good to have more options. Freebies and swag are great.

Cons

Rapid growth means growing pains. I have other companies grow this fast and it can be difficult to hold your core values as you diversify in talent. Housing cost in Orange County is outrageous. It's about $400-800/sq foot or about 2500-2800 for rentals ranging in the 1000 square foot range. This requires your base pay to be around 80k for a single person. More likely 100-120k for 2-3, 130k for a family of 4. This means that both parents likely need to be working. The health benefits are expensive compared to other companies and what you get from them. though the recent changes are better, they are not as good as what most of the comparable industry friends tell me. Bonuses are great and get slightly larger the longer you are at blizzard. But the increases seem to have stagnated and stayed flat for a while now. It is still going up but not at the same rate as the first few years I was working. This maybe an individual thing. Food options on campus just recently got slightly better. But expect to pay around $10 per meal on campus or in any of the locations in Irvine. OC traffic has increased significantly in the past few years. A 20 minute commute consistently is now more like 40-50 during morning and evening rush hour. This means population growth is rapid in the area. Just in my area alone several condos and large rental units have been built all along my commute. Rapid growth means freeway and road congestion. If it takes you 1 hour to commute and the pay is less than what you can get working in LA for example, it makes it hard for new talent to consider employment, and as the commutes and cost of living rise you risk loosing great talent as well (already starting to see this happen). Irvine also suffers from rapid growing pains. Many new companies are moving in. The landscape is changing at a significant rate.

Explore other reviews about Blizzard Entertainment

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.

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All