Pros
+ Blizzard's brand and famous games means that some geeks will swoon when you say you work at Blizzard + Discounts on Blizzard games and geek clothing + Blizzard's gym in Irvine, while small and crowded, is free! + Blizzard genuinely cares about shipping high-quality games
Cons
- Irvine is boring and lacks culture. It feels like a culture desert. - Career development is seriously problematic at Blizzard. GOOD people can go 5+ years without promotions. Some teams have a silly rule requiring that you first ship a game before you can be promoted. Given the way Blizzard works, you could spend 6 years or 7 years before your game finally ships. - Blizzard's home-grown management lacks the skill and strategic vision to manage an enterprise consisting of 4500 employees in offices around the world. There's a serious lack of capability at the senior technology, senior production, senior operations, senior HR, and executive leadership levels. The one exception may be in creative development. - Blizzard's profit comes almost entirely from one product (WoW) and that product is now 7 years old and is in decline. Career growth opportunities are rare in shrinking companies and unhealthy politics tend to dominate when everyone's fighting for a slice of a shrinking pie.