Blizzard Lays Off 600 Employees

Only 10% of the affected employees are from game development.

Blizzard Entertainment announced today that they have cut 600 jobs as part of a "global reevaluation" of the company. Of those affected by the cuts, only 10% are from game development. Blizzard has assured that the World of Warcraft team, as well as current development and publishing schedules, have not been affected.

Blizzard is currently working on release plans for Diablo III, as well as an expansion for World of Warcraft, entitled Mists of Pandaria. Mike Morhaime, CEO and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment, released this statement concerning the layoffs:

Constant evaluation of teams and processes is necessary for the long-term health of any business. Over the last several years, we've grown our organization tremendously and made large investments in our infrastructure in order to better serve our global community. However, as Blizzard and the industry have evolved we've also had to make some difficult decisions in order to address the changing needs of our company.

Knowing that, it still does not make letting go of some of our team members any easier. We're grateful to have had the opportunity to work with the people impacted by today's announcement, we're proud of the contributions they made here at Blizzard, and we wish them well as they move forward.

#Blizzard #Layoffs

Angelo Grant Staff Writer

02/29/2012 at 05:36 PM

Do we know if Activision had any say in this?

Esteban Cuevas Staff Alumnus

02/29/2012 at 06:52 PM

Unfortunately, no. There's no indication Activision had a say in this.

Nick DiMola Director

03/01/2012 at 08:32 AM

The two companies are managed separately, though they are both under the same umbrella company, Vivendi SA. As such, I don't think anyone but the parent company would have any say in any decisions made in regards to staffing.

I will say that this is a damn shame to hear. That's a lot of lost jobs in a very tough economy. I wish everyone who lost their job luck in finding a new one.

Mongoose

03/01/2012 at 02:26 AM

"Over the last several years, we've grown our organization tremendously and made large investments in our infrastructure in order to better serve our global community."

Translation: We got too big for a company that only releases 1 title a year.

Still though, having Blizzard on your resume gives you +5 to hireablity!

Julian Titus Senior Editor

03/10/2012 at 11:27 AM

My girlfriend (well, ex now) worked at Blizzard when this went down. It was all across the customer service division. She was safe, but they cut at least three people per team. She said it made the lines for phone service way longer. She has since gotten a new job.

PixlBit