That's it exactly. In addition to over-hiring during COVID, the massive spending spree from a ton of over-inflated, short-sighted acquisitions ever since the IPO absolutely demolished the company's budget. Cutting Weta Digital was only the tip of this latest iceberg.
Excuse you, but Riccitiello retired. Sure, it was at the last minute with absolutely no transition plan ahead of time, but it was totally voluntary and not at all forced by the board!
Don't get me wrong, the timing was fucking abysmal. They really should have thought about that ahead of time, but these executives rarely think about anything other than how to line their own pockets.
As much as I can't stand John Riccitiello, anyone with RSUs will have vested stocks sold on a fixed schedule to cover taxes. They don't get to choose when or how much is sold as long as they have their RSUs configured as sell to cover. The executives are no different in this regard, except they have a great deal more stocks than the average employee. However, this doesn't absolve them of the awful new pricing structure. That shit should have been walked back before it ever left the planning stages.
That is great turnaround time, but I hope they aren't crunching like crazy to get these patches out the door. I'm fine waiting an extra week or two if it means the devs aren't being worked to the bone.