World of Worry as Blizzard hacks 600 jobs
by Steven Mostyn - Mar 1 2012, 11:55
OMG! Image: Blizzard.
We all know that World of WarCraft is an unparalleled PC success that’s all-but untouchable in the realm of massively multiplayer role-playing games (MMORPG). Or is it?
More pointedly, software publisher Activision Blizzard has today announced that 600 jobs are to be culled from its Blizzard Entertainment division, which, as you might guess, operates World of WarCraft.
That being said, Activision Blizzard has said its creative staff will be largely safe from the scythe of unemployment, with around 90 percent of the losses set to affect departments outside game development.
Fans of WarCraft will also be relieved to learn that the development team behind the hit MMORPG are also safe from the chop “and will not be impacted”, according to the publisher.
“In order to keep making epic game content while serving players effectively, we have to be smart about how we manage our resources,” explained Blizzard president Mike Morhaime in a Battle.net forum post.
“This means we sometimes have to make difficult decision about how to best maintain the health of the company,” he added. “We’re in the process of making some of those hard decisions now.”
According to a Vox Games report regarding the layoffs, a former Blizzard employee has said most of the job cuts are connected to customer services after it was determined that associated manpower exceeded customer demand.
Comment on this Story