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Blizzard has announced their plans to cut roughly 600 jobs from operations around the world. The move is being done to move its workforce closer to "current organizational needs." Though they say that current release schedules for their products won't be affected, roughly 10% of those being let go have at least something to do with development.
Estimates place Blizzard's current work force at roughly 6,000 employees. The last real figures came in December 2010 at roughly 5,600 people being under employment at Blizzard.
It's really interesting to note that despite these layoffs, Blizzard is still hiring for a good number of development positions. This news also comes a couple of months after it was revealed that World of Warcraft is losing subscribers left and right, and also after the fact that Blizzard has decided not to have a BlizzCon this year.
Estimates place Blizzard's current work force at roughly 6,000 employees. The last real figures came in December 2010 at roughly 5,600 people being under employment at Blizzard.
"Constant evaluation of teams and processes is necessary for the long-term health of any business," Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime said in the announcement. "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."
"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."
It's really interesting to note that despite these layoffs, Blizzard is still hiring for a good number of development positions. This news also comes a couple of months after it was revealed that World of Warcraft is losing subscribers left and right, and also after the fact that Blizzard has decided not to have a BlizzCon this year.
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