Activision Blizzard has laid off 10 employees from the Hearthstone team. While we do not have the entire list of names and positions yet, a statement by Activision Blizzard to Kotaku reporter Ethan Gach has been issued:
Reports from the ex-employees listed below indicate they were laid off without notice.
Known Layoffs
We do not yet know the full impact this round of layoffs will have, but here are the developers we know have been affected, as well as their position on the team and how long they've worked for Blizzard:
- Hunter C., Tools Engineer, 18 years at Blizzard Entertainment
- Joe Belousek, Senior Producer, 2 years at Blizzard Entertainment
- Rosalie Kofsky, Sr. Game Producer, 1 year at Blizzard Entertainment (awaiting full confirmation)
We'll update the list as more information comes out.
Comments
No idea why American companies are so harsh with lay offs. In the company I work for, if there are redundant positions, the employees are first given the opportunity to change teams or at least go through the interview process again for a different team/department (within the same company) if there's vacancies available.
ABK definitely has that "corporate no care" behavior, very sad.
US law in, I believe, all but one state, allows employers to lay off employees without needing to give them an x-week notice. I can only assume they don't bother being nice and doing it anyway because of any combination of the following reasons:
Both these reasons show the employer having basically no trust in the employee, and is honestly extremely insulting, especially to people like Hunter C., who's been with the company for 18 whole years.
Record profits? Fire them all!
Somewhat off-topic, here in Canada right now our grocery industry has record profits meanwhile everyone working the stores is having problems affording the same food they are selling. Absolutely FUBAR. Public companies were honestly a mistake.
Firing producers is no coincidence. The latest trailer was so underwhelming and it looks like that will become a trend.
Smaller Indie Company
Okay, I laughed more than I should have.