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United States33170 Posts
Members of the StarCraft II esports team were among the hundreds of Blizzard employees laid off on Tuesday (Feb 12). Esports coordinator Stewart Chen, Community Manager Andrew Dunne (aka Arkitas/Kibbelz), and Creative Producer/Senior Esports Manager Marc Olbertz tweeted that they were no longer with Blizzard Entertainment.
The layoffs are reported to affect around 8% of Activision Blizzard's 9,600 global employees, focused on non-development departments such as publishing and esports.
During an earnings call on Tuesday, Activision Blizzard reported that while the company had achieved record earnings in 2018, it had still fallen short of expectations in terms of "engagement" and "player investment." Activision Blizzard stock has fallen more than 40% over the past year.
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TLADT24920 Posts
"Nearly 14 years ago i joined @Blizzard_Ent ." ouch, that must really hurt.
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Canada8988 Posts
A big thanks to any SC2 employee you might wander here, despite all our wining we love the job you all did, best of luck in the future. (And a bit of luck for SC2 itself wouldn't go amiss)
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United Kingdom20278 Posts
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While it is sad people are out of a job, i'm glad that actiblizz is reallocating those funds---into game development.
Actiblizz releases a new cod every year and it makes over a billion dollars every year every time. I would love to see that with other actiblizz ips. I'd be so busy I wouldn't have any time to look at other games from other companies. Hope they gear things up hard and have a dedicated team for each franchise instead of all that shuffling around nonsense they've been doing the last several years.
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Sad for all that lost their jobs, and us Starcraft fans 
A lot of community figures are reacting with not just sadness but complete disbelief that Olbertz was laid off. Makes me wonder if Blizzards idea/commitment to WCS has changed after this earnings call compared to when they announced the 2019 circuit
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Canada8988 Posts
On February 14 2019 10:07 FueledUpAndReadyToGo wrote:Sad for all that lost their jobs, and us Starcraft fans  A lot of community figures are reacting with not just sadness but complete disbelief that Olbertz was laid off. Makes me wonder if Blizzards idea/commitment to WCS has changed after this earnings call compared to when they announced the 2019 circuit
Kim Phan kept her post as far as I know so I think were good for this year since she's the one in charge (look I don't have a clue but gotta find comfort where you can)
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Sorry to see these people go. And not a cause for optimism concerning he future of SC2.
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they should just fire activision executives instead for ruining everything....? there's a reason their stock has dropped so much
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v sad to see some of these people go
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Canada11355 Posts
Artosis and incontrol gave some very emotional and bleak opinions and predictions based on the removal of Olbertz on the pylon show today.
I wasn't sure who any of these people were before the layoffs took place but now have a feeling of dread for the future
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if this year is it then it's been fun. if you can't enjoy the game without esports probably best to take a step back anyway. i love starcraft, but life is bigger. gl hf i guess
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there won't be a wcs in 2020, or we just have a very gutted version. From there on we will only have community tournaments and maybe IEM.
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On February 14 2019 09:29 narbsncharbs wrote: While it is sad people are out of a job, i'm glad that actiblizz is reallocating those funds---into game development.
Actiblizz releases a new cod every year and it makes over a billion dollars every year every time. I would love to see that with other actiblizz ips. I'd be so busy I wouldn't have any time to look at other games from other companies. Hope they gear things up hard and have a dedicated team for each franchise instead of all that shuffling around nonsense they've been doing the last several years.
no they reallocating those funds into the pockets of the shareholders
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On February 14 2019 15:39 Drake wrote:Show nested quote +On February 14 2019 09:29 narbsncharbs wrote: While it is sad people are out of a job, i'm glad that actiblizz is reallocating those funds---into game development.
Actiblizz releases a new cod every year and it makes over a billion dollars every year every time. I would love to see that with other actiblizz ips. I'd be so busy I wouldn't have any time to look at other games from other companies. Hope they gear things up hard and have a dedicated team for each franchise instead of all that shuffling around nonsense they've been doing the last several years. no they reallocating those funds into the pockets of the shareholders
Not even... they're reallocating those funds into Bobby Kotick and his top execs pockets. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-04/activision-gives-15-million-sweetener-to-new-cfo-dennis-durkin
This guy just got 15mil as signing bonus, and less than month later they are laying people off to reallocate funds? What an absolute joke.
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Poland3748 Posts
On February 14 2019 16:12 cha0 wrote:Show nested quote +On February 14 2019 15:39 Drake wrote:On February 14 2019 09:29 narbsncharbs wrote: While it is sad people are out of a job, i'm glad that actiblizz is reallocating those funds---into game development.
Actiblizz releases a new cod every year and it makes over a billion dollars every year every time. I would love to see that with other actiblizz ips. I'd be so busy I wouldn't have any time to look at other games from other companies. Hope they gear things up hard and have a dedicated team for each franchise instead of all that shuffling around nonsense they've been doing the last several years. no they reallocating those funds into the pockets of the shareholders Not even... they're reallocating those funds into Bobby Kotick and his top execs pockets. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-04/activision-gives-15-million-sweetener-to-new-cfo-dennis-durkinThis guy just got 15mil as signing bonus, and less than month later they are laying people off to reallocate funds? What an absolute joke. https://3ovyg21t17l11k49tk1oma21-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/5-levels-corp-org.jpg Note the "bonus buddies" section and "might get laid off" section.
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at Blizzard, if you help your company break a record by helping them reach $7.3 bill / year, you still get laid off.
great company.
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Record success and still lay-offs. Screw everything about a system that encourages this. So many people at the top lost all sense of proper priorities.
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On February 14 2019 17:19 lechatnoir wrote: Record success and still lay-offs. Screw everything about a system that encourages this. So many people at the top lost all sense of proper priorities. revenue is not profits. Profits in 2018 are $27 million lower than in 2017. when revenue is up and profits are down the standard move is to lower expenses. Blizzard's profit per $ of operating expense is the lowest out of Activision, Blizz, and King Digital. Circulating thru reddit is a list of 140 jobs Blizzard for which is hiring. Blizz is hiring.
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