Multiple sources are reporting about apparent restructuring at Blizzard Entertainment. In particular, it looks like multiple Hearthstone employees got laid down today. Some people reported 10 employees getting fired all at once.
My own sources within Team 5 corroborate the story. It sounds like multiple people were laid off today, at least some of them without getting any prior notice.
We will probably get more details in the coming days.
Here’s a message from Tools Engineer Hunter C. who was with Blizzard for over 18 years and most recently with the Hearthstone Team:
After 18 and a half years at Blizzard Entertainment, I’ve been laid off without notice as of today; the Hearthstone Team is apparently being restructured and my Tools Engineer role is no longer needed.
If anyone has need of an experienced tools engineer with nearly two decades of experience at a AAA gaming company, I’m open to being a part of helping create your worlds.
And here’s another one from Senior Producer Joe Belousek working on Team 5 for 2 years:
Today, after 2 years, I was unexpectedly laid off from the Hearthstone team. It wasn’t a long time, but I made the most of it and was making it mine.
Goodbye to the big campus orc, hopefully, we’ll both see better days soon.
GLHF Hearthstone team
While I can’t confirm whether it’s true, it also seems that Kotaku journalist Ethan Gach has reached out to Activision Blizzard for a comment, and here’s what he got in response:
Organizational changes were made to the Hearthstone team; as a result a small number of roles have become redundant. We want to thank these employees for their many contributions.
Layoffs don’t seem to be the only “restructuring” happening at Blizzard today – earlier today, we got news that Chris Mentzen has been promoted to Executive Creative Director for the Warcraft Universe. While this mostly concerns World of Warcraft and not Hearthstone, those two are still somewhat connected, and the direction WoW goes in can impact Hearthstone to a certain extent.
Overall it’s a very sad day for Hearthstone. It seems that bad news is all that we’ve been getting lately. I wish all the employees good luck and I hope that they land new jobs soon. Those who are still there – keep up the good work. And for people who read this – please don’t use it as an opportunity to kick them while they’re already down like I’ve seen some people already doing on social media.
I’m sad to hear this. I really love all the different ways Hearthstone has been branching out. However, I don’t think I’m the popular opinion. I expect that there may be a tight focus on standard and battlegrounds going foreword, and hopefully the game continues on strong. It’ll be a really sad day for us all when we hear that it is no longer getting support or updates at all.
I think, but it’s wildly suggestive, two things are happening.
1. It might have something to do with prepping for the Microsoft takeover, and if that’s the case, I think we should see it as a good thing. We all know Hearthstone has been dipping its toes in multiple new modes, mechanics and other forms of cosmetics. Most of them, sadly, didn’t work. Duels, Twist, Mercenaries, all fell short. I don’t think Diamond portraits did very well either, while I can imagine they take up a lot of resources.
2. Linked to my first point, the game lacked focus for a long time now. I don’t want to discourage gaming studios trying new things, but Hearthstone’s track record of launching those new things and then not supporting it after, is bad practice. In my opinion, the game was best with just Standard, Wild, Arena and Battlegrounds as its main modes. Duels could’ve been fun if it received more support. And Twist, well, I think it’s a super ambitious game mode that is just not profitable. They can make it more accessible, but I don’t think they are willing to cut deep.
All in all, I hope it’s a good sign, as painful as it is for the laid-off employees. I hope it’s a sign of renewed focus and perhaps a bigger focus on retention instead of attraction of new players.
That’s a very sad news. I hope that won’t greatly impact the game
What’s with that sexual harassment incident? Are those guys fired? Didn’t hear about that for a long time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Department_of_Fair_Employment_and_Housing_v._Activision_Blizzard
I would hope that the people found guilty would be fired a long, long time ago. But knowing reality, they probably just fired a few scapegoats, while higher-ups who allowed such behavior in the workplace got slapped on the wrist or something.
Considering that Bobby Kotick stands to profit heavily from the Microsoft merger, I am sure he is laughing all the way to the bank.
I won’t kick a gamedev – their job is hard enough. But Bobby Kotick’s picture might as well be in the dictionary next to “greedy gaming CEO.”
Money is the reason we exist
Everybody knows it, it’s a fact (kiss, kiss)
“It seems that bad news is all that we’ve been getting lately. I wish all the employees good luck and I hope that they land new jobs soon. Those who are still there – keep up the good work. And for people who read this – please don’t use it as an opportunity to kick them while they’re already down like I’ve seen some people already doing on social media.”
Obvious jibes at post-2020 Blizzard aside, I think the biggest takeaway we should leave this with should be something that we can apply looking at this game and hobby as a whole. There are things out of our control, whether it’s problematic workplace cultures, corporate takeovers and cuts, abandoned game modes, cards we don’t have access to, metagames we don’t enjoy, predictions we make on cards that turn out to be wildly misguided.
And you know what, I think it should be alright to be mistaken, to be able to admit “I was wrong” or “I feel terrible about this”. And to get to that point, I think we need to encourage behaviors that in turn encourage those behaviors. I know I enjoy a good bit of kicking someone when they’re down, and I’m more than guilty of BMing via emotes, so I’m not the most morally appropriate person to say all this. But in these times, I think we could use a little more problem-solving and a little more compassion than we’re immediately equipped to demonstrate in a highly fast-paced, competitive gaming environment.
Whatever you think of this, whatever you’re going through, if you’re currently in a situation where you feel the urge to kick someone while they’re down, I hope you can grow into a position where you are able to choose not to do that, and can find that moment of happiness within this game that is why we’re here to start with. Or outside of it. Whichever helps you.
Eloquently put.
It’s really sad that people would rather do this. I see so much toxicity on the Hearthstone forums from people who are just so angry that they lose (and I am saying this about something I love) AT A DAMN GAME WITH NOTHING TANGIBLE ANYWHERE IN THE REAL WORLD. You want to “fix” Hearthstone? Go learn game development, start a team and make a triple-A card game. Go ahead. I’m waiting. Can’t wait to see you how you handle complex data structures when you can’t even handle yourself.
And if you side with devs? Well, obviously you work for Blizzard. Seriously, get a grip, people. Game dev is tough. Game devs are human. Don’t be dicks.
Decency and compassion are lacking in people. It’s like we forgot how to talk to each other. And some gamers seem proud of how unbelievably toxic they are, not realizing that every bad stereotype that non-gamers have about gamers is being proved true by their behavior.
Rant concluded.