(x)

This includes Mr. X, Soe, BackpackMatt, and the entire OBS team getting fired.

The tweet from BackpackMatt linked at the bottom of this post says that he will be spilling tea from behind the scenes info. I will keep this blog updated with more as it comes out.

@vanphanel you’re correct that Microsoft owns Activision Blizzard & recently laid off 1900 people from Activision Blizzard, Zenimax & their XBOX teams. Actiblizz has yet to make any official statements about these 60 layoffs in particular and I presume they’ll be waiting to make any statements for (former exec) Johanna Faries position as president to officially begin on February 5th if they decide to make any statements at all. I don’t believe this is specifically a decision made by Microsoft (though it likely does make them happy to reduce the number of employees even further.)

It’s all speculation on my part but it makes sense to assume this is happening as part of the deal with FACEIT. It sounded like they’ll have significant managerial power over how Overwatch esports are conducted. I was assuming changes would be made, but not laying off 60 of 72 employees. As it stands now I’m wondering if FACEIT will rehire some of the people fired because despite FACEIT having a positive history with Counterstrike in particular, it’s still brand new to Overwatch like… I really thought if layoffs occurred it’d be after a transitional period where the FACEIT employees have developed familiarity with things as they are now.

(x)

This includes Mr. X, Soe, BackpackMatt, and the entire OBS team getting fired.

The tweet from BackpackMatt linked at the bottom of this post says that he will be spilling tea from behind the scenes info. I will keep this blog updated with more as it comes out.

@vanphanel you’re correct that Microsoft owns Activision Blizzard & recently laid off 1900 people from Activision Blizzard, Zenimax & their XBOX teams. Actiblizz has yet to make any official statements about these 60 layoffs in particular and I presume they’ll be waiting to make any statements for (former exec) Johanna Faries position as president to officially begin on February 5th if they decide to make any statements at all. I don’t believe this is specifically a decision made by Microsoft (though it likely does make them happy to reduce the number of employees even further.)

It’s all speculation on my part but it makes sense to assume this is happening as part of the deal with FACEIT. It sounded like they’ll have significant managerial power over how Overwatch esports are conducted. I was assuming changes would be made, but not laying off 60 of 72 employees. As it stands now I’m wondering if FACEIT will rehire some of the people fired because despite FACEIT having a positive history with Counterstrike in particular, it’s still brand new to Overwatch like… I really thought if layoffs occurred it’d be after a transitional period where the FACEIT employees have developed familiarity with things as they are now.

Zack Zweizen is making an effort to chronicle every industry layoff over at Kotaku and not even a month in we're almost at 4,000 people who have lost or will lose their jobs.

Approximately 9000 devs lost their jobs in 2023

Gamesindustry.biz reports that this is just the beginning, and that the layoffs will most likely continue into 2025