Earlier today, it was reported that Activision-Blizzard would be laying off 50 people involved with the company’s live events and esports programming. Now, thanks to Jason Schreier, who broke the original story, we have learned more about the severance package offered to the unfortunate employees, which apparently included gift cards for Blizzard’s online store.
Lay-offs can, unfortunately, be a pervasive part of the game industry. Studios are often known to hire more employees as production on a game ramps up and then lay them off once the game is finished. Activision-Blizzard, creator of popular franchises like Call Of Duty, Overwatch, and Hearthstone, is becoming notorious for laying-off employees even when reporting record profits, as was the case with Activision’s layoffs in 2018 and today’s news.
According to Jason Schreier, in a follow-up tweet to his earlier article, more than just the live event team was affected by the layoffs, and the employees who lost their jobs were given 90 days severance and health benefits for a year. As well as the aforementioned benefits, Activision-Blizzard also gave the impacted staff a $200 gift card for Battle Net, the company’s own store.
This round of layoffs marks the third year in a row that Activision-Blizzard has talked about its financial success while also letting employees go. Last year, CEO Bobby Kotick was criticized for his salary, which was $30 million in the 2019 financial year, by shareholders. The document filed at the time of the dispute highlighted that Bobby Kotick had $96.5 million over the previous four years. The criticism of Bobby Kotick’s salary has become more widespread in recent years, and the hashtag “FireBobbyKotick” begins to spread across Twitter whenever stories like today’s appear.
The decision to give laid-off employees gift cards that are only useable for the company’s own store is strange and could be seen as tone-deaf. Instead of providing those who have just lost their job with some extra funds to pay rent or buy food, the ex-employees are left with $200 in credit to spend with the company responsible for their situation. It is also questionable if these gift cards can be considered a gift, considering that the money being given can only be used on Battle Net. Therefore, the money returns to the company that gave it.
Maybe those who were laid-off are fans of Activision-Blizzard‘s games, and the $200 is a silver lining, though most people would have probably preferred to keep their jobs, and may question why once again a company boasting record profits is laying off its staff.
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