Publisher Activision Blizzard has begun its long-rumoured layoff process, informing employees this afternoon that it will be cutting staff. Rumours suggest that the layoffs could be in the hundreds.
This afternoon, the mega-publisher began notifying those who are being laid off across its various organisations, which include Activision, Blizzard, and King.
“Over the last few years, many of our non-development teams expanded to support various needs,” Blizzard president J. Allen Brack said in a note to staff that was obtained by Kotaku.
Currently staffing levels on some teams are out of proportion with our current release slate. This means we need to scale down some areas of our organisation. I’m sorry to share that we will be parting ways with some of our colleagues in the U.S. today. In our regional offices, we anticipate similar evaluations, subject to local requirements.
The letter also promised “a comprehensive severance package” and job assistance as well as profit-sharing bonuses for the previous year to those who are being laid off at Blizzard.
“There’s no way to make this transition easy for impacted employees, but we are doing what we can to support our colleagues,” Brack wrote.
The news follows months of rumours about layoffs at the publisher, which heated up early last week as word began to spread that hundreds of people across Activision-Blizzard’s various divisions might lose their jobs.
This is breaking news and will be updated as more information comes in.