blizzard Activision Blizzard Reportedly Lays Off 190 Employees Due to Ongoing Pandemic

[Staff 1,502]

Jason Schreier reported that Activision Blizzard has laid off approximately 190 employees who work in Esports / live event departments via Twitter.

A Blizzard spokesperson talked to Bloomberg and revealed that players are increasingly choosing to connect with their games digitally. The e-sports team had to adapt to the changes due to the pandemic's impact on live events. As a result, Activision Blizzard Inc. fired approximately 50 people.

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Later, Jason Schreier said that the number of employees that have been fired is far greater, and estimates say it's 2% of the total staff, which translates into 190 people, instead of 50.

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According to the latest report, dozens of people were impacted, not just employees, in live events. In addition to 90 days severance and a year of health benefits, laid-off staff received $200 Battle.net gift cards...

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[Smokalogy 1]

so they are working on this new FPS game right, but then you see this layoff while theyre looking for people to work on the new game, what am i missing here?

[Starym 3,801]

1 minute ago, Smokalogy said:

so they are working on this new FPS game right, but then you see this layoff while theyre looking for people to work on the new game, what am i missing here?

It's specific jobs that are being removed, across all of Activision Blizzard. They still want/need high-end devs, just not so much some other roles. The pandemic changed a lot of things.

[Alexizonfire 7]

28 minutes ago, Smokalogy said:

so they are working on this new FPS game right, but then you see this layoff while theyre looking for people to work on the new game, what am i missing here?

They are letting go of people with live events and e-sports related jobs, because with COVID, live events are basically not a thing anymore.

There is nothing malicious behind this, it's simply logical to terminate jobs that are basically obsolete as of now.

It seems weird to me than Jason would mention their annual profit like that, i guess he's trying to spin the story in an even more unfavourable light.

[darkgreenwax 413]

Brutal, and sadly a similar theme across a multitude of businesses and professions.

 

I hope everyone affected professionally can land on their feet financially and find happiness in their future endeavors.

[gerbercage 15]

https://kotaku.com/activision-blizzard-ceo-to-get-even-bigger-bonuses-whil-1846493910

[Steveson 193]

More Activision layoffs?

[Calysia 229]

6 hours ago, gerbercage said:

https://kotaku.com/activision-blizzard-ceo-to-get-even-bigger-bonuses-whil-1846493910

That's totally irrelevant. No company keeps employing people in redundant positions.