Microsoft laid off 1,900 employees yesterday, many of whom were at Blizzard, the developer behind WoW, Overwatch, and Hearthstone. A former electrical engineer recounts how such a layoff feels in a post on reddit detailing his career.
These are the hard facts:
- Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard on October 13, 2023, for $68.7 billion.
- On January 25, 2024, Microsoft laid off 1,900 employees at Activision Blizzard and Xbox. This accounts for about 8% of the workforce.
- These layoffs were described as part of a strategic realignment following the merger. A sustainable cost structure is needed for the growing business.
The technician’s dream was to work on a game from Blizzard:
Gave up a well-paid job to start as a temp at Blizzard
This fate is described by an employee: A technician who worked for Blizzard for 13 years shares what such a layoff looks like in practice on reddit.
The man says he has loved Blizzard since 1995, when he discovered Warcraft 2 and dreamed of one day working for Blizzard in a gaming team.
In 2011, he was earning over $100,000 as an electrical engineer but gave up the job to start at Blizzard for $11.50 an hour, working as a regular employee in technical quality assurance.
He quickly realized that it was not a dream job. The tone used with him as a temp was harsh:
- His boss told him, “I hate you,” after he made a joke about Apple.
- The boss also mocked a colleague with diabetes.
- Another manager was a real jerk; he cheated on his wife, had an affair with a Blizzard employee who became pregnant, and left her while she was 8 months along.
Nevertheless, he loved the company and persevered.
Great teams, great colleagues, and cool work
How did his career progress? The technician explains that over the years he made a name for himself at Blizzard and established himself. Supervisors noticed him, recognized his quality, and supported him as he spent weekends furthering his education.
Pay and jobs improved, although the pay was probably never that great, but the teams he got to work with became increasingly competent and cool. Eventually, he became the QA Lead.
However, he then climbed the career ladder too far up and ended up in the Blizzard Cloud Team, where he felt completely overwhelmed. Now he wanted to switch to the “Blizzard Classic Games” team, but that was not possible because there were too many gaps in the Cloud Team. Employees had resigned from Blizzard due to poor pay.
So he had to stay in the Cloud Team and deal with all the geniuses hanging around there and ultimately found new inspiration and motivation for his work in the competence of the employees there: he now wanted to catch up with the top people there.
In any case, the man has great respect for the technical competence of the employees at Blizzard: Many brilliant minds worked there, and he was always amazed at how their brains functioned.
Fate hits him hard, then comes the call
When did the break come? Until 2023, the technician says he received good reviews, but then family tragedies hit. He switched to working from home due to Covid and other life circumstances and began spending more and more time caring for sick family members: His brother had a stroke, his father was dying, and his mother suffered from dementia.
He spent more and more time talking with doctors and finding a nursing home for his relatives. 2023 became a hell year for him.
As a result, his absenteeism increased, and he was caught in the layoffs. He says:
“I think I was away from work too often. I was called into a meeting this morning and told that I was being let go. I just cried in the room with my dogs. It’s so pathetic, I know, but I really wanted to work at Blizzard for my whole life. I never made it to a gaming team; I don’t know what to do with my life now. I find it hard to imagine working elsewhere. I feel like I’ve been wronged; I had the hardest year of my life and had just started to recover from it, and now I’m being laid off.”
This is the reaction: Many are touched by the story of the man who loves Blizzard so much.
Another Blizzard employee says: He was also laid off after 12 years. He doubts that the layoff had anything to do with the technician’s performance or his absenteeism. He has some friends who worked on the survival game Odyssey and who were absolutely amazing. Real pillars of the company. And they were also fired:
The cover image is a symbolic image from Pixabay.
