Close To 190 Employees Have Reportedly Been Laid Off By Activision Blizzard, Due To Impact Of The Pandemic

Gift Cards? Really?

Do the executives get cuts to their bonuses too? This is the same company that laid off half their staff after their most financially successful year.

I think theres an editorial error. You meant to say Activision or damn Bobby Kotick, right?

This is really disappointing. I loved their live arena matches even though I watched on ESPN. I hope that those events still occur once this subsides. #OWL #ShanghaiDragons!

@Not-Geno That's on top of standard severance. Not a bad deal because as Blizzard employees the received discounts on games and merch that they won't have anymore. Effectively they can buy the next 4 Blizzard games at launch.

@Not-Geno Right? Seems so insulting, since it's a card to the people who just fired you.

@Vectorreeves f**** Bobby Kotick Is one of the most paid CEOs in the industry and he’s a total failure, not money wise for the investors of course.

Gift cards? F***ing gift cards? Now that’s truly disgusting.

Billion dollar companies are using the pandemic as an excuse to get rid of people. The same pandemic that has done well for the games industry.

And yet Kotick is still getting a $200 million bonus. Sound fair......

I thought video game companies are thriving during the pandemic?

@Not-Geno @nessisonett Activision Blizzard employees based in the US will apparently receive 90 days severance with health benefits for a year, and "job transition support." They have also received $200 gift cards for Blizzard's Battle.net service.

I know the gift card is a weird part of the package, but the rest there is PRETTY DARN GREAT. When we were furloughed from our place of employment we got a single month of pay and were advised to get on unemployment. Nothing else. And when they re-opened the place THEY PUT EMPLOYEES FROM OTHER FACILITIES IN OUR PLACE INSTEAD OF GIVING US OUR JOBS BACK.

So, just saying, it could be worse.

ninja approved, something something

If they were a worker cooperative they would’ve came up with a better solution than this.

I can imagine the bigwigs thinking they're so charitable to give $200 gift cards but it's just a constant reminder to those being let go that Bobby Kotick and gang are still rolling in the fat wads of cash they saved letting go of employees.

Still, letting go of an e-sports division? How are they going to bring back a good e-sports brand with this trash reputation they've achieved now? wouldanyone interested in running an e-sports operation be willing to join Activision Blizzard at this point?

Activision Blizzard is probably going to regret this later and not know why.

Why 90 days pay, etc., for only the US employees? What about the rest of them? Were they just told “enjoy our next couple of games, have a nice life”?

I suppose it does make some sad sense laying off the staff for live events that simply aren't happening right now. I do hope that once live events can resume they start by calling these people back and offering them their jobs back, before just hiring new people.

@Vectorreeves You know better. Executives never lose out. They are the last ones to take cuts in any industry.

@BloodNinja I thought the same thing. 90 days severance is a big help, same with the medical benefits

Is there even $200 worth of games on Battle.net?

GIFT CARDS!? Not even like Visa or American Express Gift Cards so you can use them for nearly every purchase, no, BATTLE.NET GIFT CARDS. That is so ridiculous, I might just have to burn any Blizzard games that I own just for that.

Is it just me that actually feel relief reading this?

Their talent is better spent elsewhere.

That 90 days severance is pretty nice. I had to go on unemployment when my old job furloughed and then started the layoffs.

I bet that big pos Bobby Kotick still gets his bonus this year...

Looking forward to Jim Sterling's take on this. "Triple AAAAA!!!!"

Activision Blizzard also recorded record profits, and Bobby Kotick pays employees less than 1/3 of 1% of his own compensation.

You guys finish that crash bandicoot mobile game yet? You did? Well, there's the door.

I smell that Bobby Kotick wanted another yacht

Not saying that this is good news, and I am not defending company presidents or anything. However, after a pretty crazy year, less than 2% cut in force, actually seems like a better outcome than it could have been. Especially when you consider that EA and Microsoft made a general policy of chopping off the bottom 10% annually, in a normal year. Top that off with three months severance and a year of health insurance, this story is kind of a nothing burger.

My suspicion is that a fair percentage of these employees could have already been on the cusp of performance improvement and lower management used this as excuse to cut fat.

@NintendoJunkie “cut off fat”

Capitalism at its worst.

Yeah, I stand by my decision not giving Blizzard a penny after they laid off so many people after their top fiscal year. Was a fan of Blizzard, but not after management changed.

Blizzard just isn't the same company that they were back in their glory years. Sure they have grown but the passion seems to be gone.

The gift card thing reminds me of "Christmas Vacation". I guess we need a cousin Eddie to take care of the situation.

@Yanina No, that was for a bonus. I imagine that the gift card thing played out something like this.

https://youtu.be/NY_zxLubpmI?t=66

@Not-Geno All CDP employees get GOG accounts with full libraries. But apparently best Activision Blizzard can do is gift cards. What a joke.

Just blame it on the pandemic. Sadly Activision is a trash company, and Blizzard is long since dead.

(Where is that big company shill on here who claimed he did "a degree in finance"?)

Anyway, terrible for the workers. I hope they find new jobs soon.

EDIT: And gift cards? How insulting and out of touch with real people they must be.

@BloodNinja agree with you here. It's actually pretty strong support from a US employer. I know people that were laid off with almost no notice, no extension of benefits & really no support in finding a job. And you can forget about them receiving any type of gift card for anything. This is pretty robust for a severance package.

The execs could take a 25 percent wage cut or you could get rid of a couple of them... Just tossing around different ideas here.

These guys were mass firing long before the pandemic. The pandemic is an excuse, not the cause.

Acti-Bliz do mass firings just before the end of the fiscal years to boost earnings, because they are a disgusting company run by absolute garbage people.

@Vectorreeves ofc not.

Bobby kottick needs that 30m / yr

@Vectorreeves depends on leadership, looking in the direction of Nintendo and Apple.

"Activision Blizzard employees based in the US will apparently receive 90 days severance with health benefits for a year, and "job transition support". They have also received $200 gift cards for Blizzard's Battle.net service."

That would be hilarious if it wasn't so awful.
The Bloomberg article does say, "minimum of 90 day's pay" so that is better for long-time employees (depending on the terms).

Wonder what their unions made of it?

@Not-Geno hey, if tech scammers from India and Nigeria demand gift cards as payment, Blizzard can emulate their model too. End result: screwing people over too.

$200 gift card 🤦🏼‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️

While the gift cards are salt in the wound - oh, since you don't have a job now to buy our products here's $200 more that you can spend only with the company that just fired you - I'd like to point out, as I tend to do, the 1 year health benefits.

When 10 million peopel lost their jobs last year bc/ of the pandemic - almost exactly a eyar ago, and about half I beleive are still unemployed - I really thought our country had a shot at fixing work benefit health care. But nary a peep. All the focus is on opening back up so people can go back to work, nobody that I saw, not a one, was like, we need to fix health care so people who lose their jobs don't have to worry about the insult that is COBRA. And COBRA is worse of an insult than a $200 GC from the people who just fired you to give the money right back to them.

So for those of you not in the US, that 1 year of health care is the big story here, b/c healthcare is the big story here, mainly the cost, and how most people get it thru their jobs, if they're lucky.

@BloodNinja I feel like I’ve seen you comment on YouTube videos. I think on popular Switch channels. It’s the way you end your comments. It’s always stuck out to me! I saw you comment on a video and I was like, “I think that’s him (or her)!” 😂 I hadn’t seen a comment from you, so I forgot about it. Your comment reminded me! 😂

Edit: these types of articles, about this company, seem to come out every couple of years. Layoffs after record profits. The big wigs still getting their bonuses. What I don’t recall seeing are the severance packages and healthcare for a year. I could be wrong.

"...the most difficult aspects of the pandemic..."

The problem is not the pandemic, it's how the wannabe tyrants in our governments have responded to it.

Battle.net gift cards was a stupid idea as if was Blizzard's way of saying "sorry but please give us more money"!

@JayJ While I personally completely agree with you it is just that companies need to make a profit now which is sadly the most likely reason as to why DLC was invented!

Everybody laughing about the $200 gift cards, but that's in addition to 90 days severance pay, health benefits for a year, and access to reemployment services, so the employees aren't being totally screwed.

@outsider83 Haha, you’re probably right!!

NINJA APPROVED

@Kilamanjaro Agreed! And I have no idea why everyone is complaining about the gift card. Yeah, it’s a little weird, but people are acting like that’s the only thing people are getting out of this.

@Richnj I’m pretty sure that most employees at bliz know that their employment is contractual, and most are considered “at will,” so they know what they are getting into.

If the company was so disgusting, they wouldn’t give them such a great severance package. When I was furloughed from work, I got one month of pay and was advised to get on unemployment. And when they reopened the faculties recently, instead of putting us back at our positions, they took employees from other facilities in other cities and replaced us. That’s disgusting. I wish we had the support that the bliz employees got.

What a disaster.
The sad thing though, is that hundreds of people have been laid off from Blizzard long before the pandemic.

What a garbage company.

Ugh, I know a couple of producers over there. Hopefully they didn’t get cut.

Big Boss: Arrives at work tomorrow: When the hell is that game going to be ready hmmm hmmm????

Skeleton crew: Uhh, you sacked everyone

Big Boss; Well, get your finger out then!

Because of the pandemic my rear. Activision has done this twice now; bragged about recording-breaking revenue, followed by the firing of employees and the increased bonuses.

Just cancel OWL instead.

Laid off bc the pandemic, when people were buying games more than ever due to lockdowns? Sounds like BS to me. Just be honest and say you laid them off just because....

But don't worry. CEO Bobby Kotick still got his $220 million bonus. If you were worried about the poor fella. I personally hope he recieved it in Battle Net gift-cards too.

GROSS!!!!!

https://www.shacknews.com/article/123338/200-million-payout-to-activision-blizzard-ceo-bobby-kotick-draws-ire

@priamXus

After Warcraft 3 Reforged i would say that there is no more Blizzard as we knew it.

It's too easy to think Activision bad and have no nuance of the situation. If they are moving from live events there's no point in keeping a team of people in place. It also says across various departments because of the pandemic. This might not be devs or the creative side. It could be on the more operational business side. If someone doesn't have a job anymore because of a huge shift in how business works across the board you can't just keep paying them.

Also the full impact of the pandemic of the hasn't fully been seen as yet. If the time to develop games is taken longer then things might get dropped, teams may get shut down and merged into other ones to make sure things still hit a reasonable deadline.

It's worth noting in the report linked (which I'm sure you've all read) they're are looking create another 3000 jobs...

@BloodNinja Well let me just say this.

The CEO still got his $220m performance bonus. A bonus that is tied to stock share prices etc, and the laying off of employees and angering your customer base does affect those prices.

Also, the US passed many state level employment laws at the beginning of the year, and by continually courting huge backlash (as acti have done) risks having governments regulate you. If Acti didn't start paying their ex-employees decent severance now, they'd be forced to stop their practices later on.

@Richnj I agree that it’s massively off balance, no doubt about that. All I’m saying is that they really didn’t have to give the employees anything at all, so at least they got something.

@priamXus Bobby Kotick? ***** that guy.