Activision Blizzard Lays Off Esports Staff

Activision Blizzard made major layoffs in different departments, according to reports coming from Bloomberg. The most striking of these layoffs are 50 people who work in esports and live events departments.

One knowledgeable person said that layoffs affected less than 2% of the total workforce, or less than 190 employees. Among the layoffs, there are also employees of King.com, the maker of Candy Crush.

Tony Petitti, one of the company’s top executives, stated in an interview that there wasn’t a 100% departure from live events. On the contrary, Activision Blizzard will try to come back to them to some extent whenever possible. However, it is worth mentioning that currently OWL and CDL tournaments are online only. It looks like it will continue like this for some time.

Petitti admitted that the cuts were due to a need to cut costs and reallocate some resources to other areas. He also stated that CDL, which has already started the 2021 season, has seen some growth in performance compared to last season. The company is willing to spend more on areas that it thinks can generate audiences and monetary returns.

The fired workers will receive at least 90 days of severance and health benefits for a year, as well as “work transition support”. This sounds like a joke but the fired workers also got $200 gift cards for Battle.net.