Blizzard’s announced that following a “review of its business based on current organizational needs” it will undertake a “global reduction in workforce,” and just like that, 600 people lost their jobs.
According to Blizzard, around 90% of the workforce reduction isn’t related to development, and the World of Warcraft development team in particular will not be impacted. Did 540 World of Warcraft customer support staff just get fired?
“Constant evaluation of teams and processes is necessary for the long-term health of any business,” said Mike Morhaime, Blizzard CEO and co-founder in a press release. “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.”
More sad news for an industry that’s already haemorrhaging staff and bleeding money.
Last Updated: March 1, 2012
