Beamer wrote on Apr 23, 2010, 00:57:

Ehm, I'm fairly sure that's illegal, unless this bonus is somehow tied to them being in the employ of Activision.

Duh.

Ask anyone in the industry: if you leave the company before the date bonuses are paid out then you forfeit your bonus.
It's the same in nearly every industry. You need to be a part of the industry when bonuses are paid to get your bonus. It's not commission, in which you get it for making a sale.

So anyone saying this is shady is really, really, really, really incorrect.
For a while people speculated that Activision fired them to avoid paying the bonus. Now Activision is saying they still paid the same amount of bonus they would have before, only distributed to fewer people.

This is not a way to force people to remain. Bonuses are contractually obligated on a certain date. Stay to that date and get your bonus. Leave before and forfeit (which is why, when this went down, I speculated a mass exodus whenever bonuses are paid. Seems like no one waited.)
Again, talk to anyone in a bonus-driven industry. Video games, investment banking, happens everywhere. Hell, most of you in other industries get year-end bonuses based on performance, right? If you quit on December 1st do you expect that Christmas bonus to still be paid?