A large chunk of employees working for Activision Blizzard Inc. are without jobs as the company makes cuts across multiple divisions.
The cuts affect just under 200 employees according to bloomberg.com, “The dismissals affect less than 2% of the total workforce, or fewer than 190 employees, said a person with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified because the number isn’t public. Also among the cuts were employees at King.com, the maker of Candy Crush.”
The cuts made included 50 employees who handled live events like eSports. The change implies that Activision is shifting away from in-person gaming with the pandemic lasting over a year now. A company spokesperson touched on the subject, “Players are increasingly choosing to connect with our games digitally and the e-sports team, much like traditional sports, entertainment and broadcasting industries, has had to adapt its business due to the impact the pandemic has had on live events.”
Benefit details for the employees have been released, including a minimum 90 days severance and year long health benefits. They were also given $200 gift cards to Blizzard’s online store. Activision Blizzard Inc. is reducing staff in some areas, at BlizzCon this year the company gave an optimistic outlook for this year and next and said it expects to hire 3,000 people in 2021”
The gaming industry has taken a huge hit because of the current pandemic. With cons and other live events switching focus to digital alternatives, the work force behind them is sure to change. BlizzCon 2021, now called BlizzConline, incurred plenty of viewers during their two-day digital event. Mmorpg.com reported, “Some announcements and trailers saw over 1 million views, with hundreds of thousands taking part in watching the show live, or associated content live.”
It’s unclear exactly how 2021 will play out for events and announcements, but hoping we will be back to in-person gaming and events this time next year!
