I mean that’s true of any AAA dev company. As long as people continue to buy from them they don’t care.
While I don’t make games, I do write code. Usually it isn’t the devs who are the problem. It’s the project managers, sales, and C-suite execs who cause the issues here. Again, my experience. The devs could be shit as well, no idea.
Edit: added grammar
It all depends on where you want to go. I used to work in an IT department where most of my coworkers had non-tech degrees. Heck I only have a 2 year degree in software development. I also know people with computer science degrees that can’t find jobs in the field. There really isn’t a best path here. Heck, a lot of folks in low level IT support roles are just people without much training, but an interest in computers.
It all depends on you. If you aren’t sure about something, maybe watch a few videos on a platform like PluralSight or Lynda.com. There are often labs or projects for you to start getting your hands dirty. Depending on where you live there might be places like FreeGeek that take volunteers to do support work, which in and of itself could get you a foot in the door of the tech industry. There are also a number of games on Steam that give you a rough idea of the work that each field entails.
Again, it depends on you. At this point in my life I’d avoid working for a FAANG (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google) style company or a start-up. However, that’s not because there is anything inherently wrong with working for those types of companies, I just value my time outside of work.
The most important advice I can give is to try to meet people in the field. Locally you will likely have events called User Groups (you can look on Facebook or Meetup.com) where people who are interested in different technologies will share what they know. Get to know people. Ask questions even if you think they’re obvious or dumb. Tech skills will help you keep a job, soft skills will help you get a job.
Honestly, this all sounds like a difference in personal taste. You aren’t missing anything, Blizzard just took a path that you aren’t a fan of. It is disappointing when a franchise you like/see potential in goes a different direction than you’d like, but it happens sometimes.
I have no idea if this will work for me, but it sounds like it might. Thanks for sharing.