The Xbox reset is afoot, and while there aren’t strictly speaking any studio closures yet, with multiple developers in the process of moving elsewhere, the shockwaves from its impact are still being felt across Xbox’s continually-shrinking staff. All in the service of a mathematically improbable 1 billion daily player count, or something. It’s hard to keep track.
Anyway, given Blizzard was namedropped in the announcement post as a target that’d be experiencing “reductions” and “shifting investment”, one might wonder if the developer—which Microsoft acquired for an eyewatering $68.7 billion—was on the chopping block.
The evidence points towards Blizzard escaping the reaper’s scythe, for now. First up is this Windows Central article, which both quotes anonymous sources to the affirmative and has an email from Blizzard President Johanna Faires that reads: “While you can expect to hear more details regarding the day’s events and what they mean for Blizzard in further communications.”
Then, there’s narrative designer and union member Benjamin Wagner, who wrote: “No union employees at Blizzard were impacted by today’s bloodbath—and I sincerely doubt that was because the powers that be think that we’re all vital. Odds are, they wanted easy cuts. Status Quo makes you not easy.”
Not every worker at Blizzard is unionised, but there’s also this statement from the World of Warcraft Gamemakers Guild-CWA, posted here by the union’s Reddit account to the r/WoW subreddit. In it, the union expresses solidarity with “all other affected studios” which, by process of elimination (and the other posts above) suggests a relatively near-miss.
Lastly, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier writes: “The staff of Blizzard Entertainment were told today that they won’t hear how the reorganisation impacts them until ‘further communications’.”
That last bit is, indeed, what I can imagine feels like a great sword dangling over the heads of every Blizzard developer. Not only because this isn’t the first time Microsoft has made cuts to the studio—an acquisition-led bloodbath immediately after its purchase, for instance, saw many developers left in precarious situations by the unfeeling corporate growth machine.
But also because, as stated in that announcement post, Xbox is far from finished. Around 1,600 roles have been removed, but by 2027 another 1,600 jobs will be lost. Which I’m sure is absolutely splendid for morale, and won’t have any deleterious effects on an already-terrified workforce. You simply have to give it up for Microsoft. Is it clear I’m gritting my teeth, yet?
The maddening thing here is that I cannot genuinely think of a world in which Blizzard’s games aren’t raking in cash. We’re talking about World of Warcraft here. Overwatch seems like a free money printer with its season passes and cosmetics—the same for Diablo 4. If there’s a world in which Blizzard somehow isn’t profitable enough, then I’m starting to think there’s no corner executives won’t plunder for a shareholder bump.
It could be worse, though—Zenimax Online Studios has been hit far harder, with the Elder Scrolls Online developer suffering major cuts despite a fierce effort to bring the MMO back into the spotlight and bright plans for the future.
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