Activision Blizzard fired about 50 people today, as reported by Bloomberg and Sports Business Journal.
The cuts would come mainly from live events by the publisher and electronic sports companies.
“Players are increasingly choosing to connect with our games digitally,” said an Activision Blizzard representative GamesIndustry.biz. “Everything we do is through the lens of our players and, over the past year, we have explored how we could best meet their needs.
“The sports team, like the traditional sports, entertainment and broadcast industries, had to adapt their business due to the impact the pandemic had on live events. We have retained the vast majority of the team over a complex year and these changes were not done lightly, especially in the current environment. We are taking extensive steps to facilitate the transition for all affected employees. “
The representative did not immediately return the request for clarification on the division of origin of the cuts.
Speaking to the Sports Business Journal, Activision Blizzard’s president of sports and entertainment, Tony Petitti, said the Call of Duty League and Overwatch League live events will not be entirely over.
“We learned a lot in the past year in terms of how leagues can be structured for online play and we will seek to take best practices forward from that,” said Petitti. “In terms of time, it is a reaction to the reality of how the leagues are playing and what resources we need to allocate to better serve the league, owners, teams and fans.”
An Activision Blizzard representative enlightened us further, saying “Live events are still an important part of the strategies of the Overwatch League and the Call of Duty League. We intend to return to them as soon as it is safe and logistically viable.”
Bloomberg reports that US employees who are laid off will receive at least 90 days of severance pay and one year of continuous health benefits.
Blizzard closed offices in France and the Netherlands last October and reduced staff at its Asia Pacific studios in November. Among these layoffs, it announced plans to hire 2,000 people to meet production demands.