Blizzard Lays Off Record Amount of US-Based Employees As Part of New "Reduction" Plan

Back in February, Activision-Blizzard announced that the plans for over 800 employee terminations went into affect. We didn't know specifics at the time, though the wave was felt throughout the gaming community on how that move has effected so many. Now a new report is showing how bad the US-based offices were hit, and the number is the highest that Blizzard has ever hit for both Marketing and IP.

According to a recent report from PC Games Insider, over 209 US jobs were effected. Blizzard Entertainment told the site, "While the changes were difficult, they were important for supporting our current game-development priorities, which will serve as the foundation for Blizzard's future. This will ultimately put us in the best position to create epic, high-quality content and entertainment experiences for our players around the world."

The teams affected the most were from the Overwatch and World of Warcraft units according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification filing obtained by PC Games. This included 41 IT jobs, 29 Marketing jobs in both California and Texas offices, and then another 29 hit the Live Experiences team.

Keep in mind, this report is only from the US-based offices of Activision-Blizzard. Other divisions were also hit overseas including other divisions such as King, the team behind Candy Crush.

If you, or someone you know, has been affected by the layoffs, please see our previous coverage here detailing a growing spreadsheet for studios that are looking to hire immediately.

Thoughts on the current state of Blizzard? Have anything you'd like to add about the recent decisions made? Let your thoughts be heard in the comment section below, or hit me up over on Twitter @DirtyEffinHippy!

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