blizzard Microsoft Lays Off 1,900 Activision Blizzard and Xbox Employees

[Staff 1,378]

Microsoft is laying off 1,900 employees at Activision Blizzard and Xbox. Blizzard President Mike Ybarra has decided to leave the company along with Blizzard's Chief Design Officer Allen Adham.

Today is definitely a sad day for many at Activision Blizzard and Xbox. Microsoft has made the decision to lay off 1,900 employees in its gaming departments. Here's what Phil Spencer had to say about the layoffs:

It’s been a little over three months since the Activision, Blizzard, and King teams joined Microsoft. As we move forward in 2024, the leadership of Microsoft Gaming and Activision Blizzard is committed to aligning on a strategy and an execution plan with a sustainable cost structure that will support the whole of our growing business. Together, we’ve set priorities, identified areas of overlap, and ensured that we’re all aligned on the best opportunities for growth. As part of this process, we have made the painful decision to reduce the size of our gaming workforce by approximately 1900 roles out of the 22,000 people on our team. The Gaming Leadership Team and I are committed to navigating this process as thoughtfully as possible. The people who are directly impacted by these reductions have all played an important part in the success of Activision Blizzard, ZeniMax and the Xbox teams, and they should be proud of everything they’ve accomplished here. We are grateful for all of the creativity, passion and dedication they have brought to our games, our players and our colleagues. We will provide our full support to those who are impacted during the transition, including severance benefits informed by local employment laws. Those whose roles will be impacted will be notified, and we ask that you please treat your departing colleagues with the respect and compassion that is consistent with our values. Looking ahead, we’ll continue to invest in areas that will grow our business and support our strategy of bringing more games to more players around the world. Although this is a difficult moment for our team, I’m as confident as ever in your ability to create and nurture the games, stories and worlds that bring players together. Phil

Blizzard President Mike Ybarra announced earlier today he's leaving the company. Microsoft will name a new Blizzard president next week and Blizzard's survival game has also been cancelled.

Placeholder for tweet 1750527310493868293

Allen Adham, one of Blizzard's co-founders is also leaving the company, according to the internal memo of Matt Booty obtained by The Verge.

Blizzard team,  As you may have read in Phil’s note, today is a challenging day as we say goodbye to some of our colleagues. This is a difficult process, but it is one that will best enable Blizzard and Xbox to deliver ambitious games for our players on more platforms and in more places than ever before. We are moving forward with a more focused strategy across Microsoft Gaming that sets us up for sustainable growth and aligns our talent and resources to our top priorities.  In addition to the events today, Mike Ybarra and I have been discussing his future and some of his personal passions for some time. As many of you know, Mike previously spent more than 20 years at Microsoft. Now that he has seen the acquisition through as Blizzard’s president, he has decided to leave the company. As we move forward, we will continue to build on the positive momentum that Mike created and strive to continue exceeding the expectations of Blizzard’s players. I want to thank Mike for his leadership and for his partnership and counsel since the deal closed. I know he plans to travel and spend more time with his family. We wish him the very best. Additionally, Allen Adham, Blizzard’s Chief Design Officer, is leaving the company. As one of Blizzard’s cofounders, Allen has had a broad impact on all of Blizzard’s games. His influence will be felt for years to come, both directly and indirectly as Allen plans to continue mentoring young designers across the industry. The new Blizzard President will be announced next week.

According to Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, many employees still do not know if they are impacted by the layoffs.

Placeholder for tweet 1750543289227284649

Source: The Verge

[Grumar 185]

good, have y'all played a blizzard game lately? they've been sub par at best and terrible at worst for almost a decade, OW is arguably their last classic "blizard" feeling game and even that was infected with loot boxes. this actually gives me hope that these lay offs may have extracted the brain rotted devs at blizzard and now just slightly I feel a bit more hope for Metzen being able to turn the story back into what it should be. if this removed the toxic chronically online chronically political devs that is. Though somehow I still doubt that.

[Prophet001 545]

bObBy BaD M$oFt BaE

or something like that...

-______-

[Dejo93 984]

I wonder how many of them were diversity hires

[Arcling 877]

Damn, this is a part of some bigger cuts. I certainly did not expect Ybarra to be among them, he was a part of Xbox before he joined Blizzard, so after the acquisition of AB he happened to be under Microsoft again. Even Allen Adham wasn't spared and he was one of the "old timers" who rejoined the company few years ago. We will see if this is a good change, let's hope they won't be replaced by someone worse.

Edited January 25 by Arcling

[Q 131]

1 hour ago, Dejo93 said:

I wonder how many of them were diversity hires

Probably at least 20% of them.

[Dejo93 984]

1 minute ago, Q said:

Probably at least 20% of them.

My guess is definetly more. At least double

[Q 131]

6 minutes ago, Dejo93 said:

My guess is definetly more. At least double

Yeah, you're probably right.

[Prophet001 545]

hahaha we on the front page of bing :D

[Themisto 5]

12 hours ago, Dejo93 said:

I wonder how many of them were diversity hires

Sure, but I doubt MS will quit DEI freight train anytime soon.

[Cham79 76]

Trimming the fat thank God

[russell01 0]

Microsoft's decision to lay off 1,900 Activision Blizzard and Xbox employees is disheartening. It's crucial for companies to prioritize employee welfare and ensure transparent communication during such transitions.

 

[Q 131]

12 hours ago, Themisto said:

Sure, but I doubt MS will quit DEI freight train anytime soon.

Sad but true