They put him in a leadership position, increased his workload threefold, said he'd get the promotion later and paid him less than the people he was managing and half of his peers in the meantime, later said there was no promotion and his pay would remain the same and when he quit they invoked a 3 month non-compete.
The hr literally wrote "why would we pay you more than we have to?"
I've made the "promotion later" mistake once. I was as new at what I do as he was; taught me not to trust corps to do the right thing if it isn't in writing and even then, not.
I wouldn't be shocked by how poorly Blizzard treated its employees unless they literally had someone pacing through the office whipping employees whose retinal activity slowed below minimal compliance.
They should have used that year interviewing, and leaving. This was a privileged person with strong credentials that would take them to new opportunities.