Activision Blizzard is reportedly laying off 50 employees as part of a major restructuring of its Esports division. The layoffs will affect both the Call of Duty League and the Overwatch League, weeks before the latter starts its 2021 – Season .

Well, Activision Blizzard is proving once again with this latest round of layoffs…. well, see for yourself: Fifty people, possibly more, have been laid off. And some are from a department that has been working extremely hard in the run-up to the debut of Overwatch League 2021 on April 16. It’s all good, though, because Activision is giving all fired employees a $200 Battle.net gift card.

Isn’t that nice? We’re sure the good folks at OWL and CDL will be very happy with their $200 gift card. A nice way for Activision Blizzard to put the money back into itself. A zero sum game with nothing to complain about! Oh, and then there’s the fact that more than 50 people will probably get it. Joy to the world, sings the publisher.

The story was revealed via Esports Observer, which reported that the layoffs were partly due to Covid-19, as the pandemic affected Esports Live tournaments. Despite the layoffs, however, the publisher was quite positive about future live events when speaking to GamesIndustryBiz:
“Live events are still an important part of Overwatch League and Call of Duty League strategies…. We plan to return to them as soon as it’s safe and logistically feasible.”
Well, if the live events are coming back, why the layoffs? Sorry, Activision Blizzard, Call of Duty made you $3 billion in 2020. Again for emphasis, THREE MILLION US DOLLARS in just one year. Think of a million US dollars and take that now three thousand. And that’s just one franchise that the publisher owns…. So no, it doesn’t really sound like those fifty people were that big a drain on resources.

Tony Petitti, not to be confused with Tom Petty, is the president of sports and entertainment at Activision Blizzard. He has a lot to say about how the publisher will restructure to optimize the use of that little thing called “the Internet.”

“We’ve learned a lot over the last year about how to structure leagues for online play, and we’re going to try to carry forward the best practices from that…. In terms of timing, it’s a reaction to the realities of how leagues play out and what resources we need to allocate to best serve the league, owners, teams and fans.”
Tony, please allow us a single cough – *HUST* – oh, and a sigh of course. Honestly, give us a break with this “blah blah to best serve the league, etc.” nonsense. We see through it, you guys aren’t fooling anyone.

Most likely Activision Blizzard is trying to cut expenses and increase profits until in-person live events are profitable again. It may be that they really don’t care about the impact these layoffs have on actual people. We don’t know, maybe their intentions are understandable, but it’s just a little hard to believe.

We’ve asked Activision Blizzard for comment on the exact number of layoffs, the details of the severance packages being offered, and a detailed explanation of why these layoffs were necessary. We have not yet received a response, but will update this article as needed.

Overwatch

Overwatch is a computer game by Blizzard Entertainment (Diablo 3, World of Warcraft) and a first-person shooter with individual fantasy elements. The game was released in May 2016.

In Overwatch, the player must choose between 21 unique characters, which can be freely selected in a loosely held classification system (offensive and defensive class, support unit and tanks).

A character’s three to four different abilities can be controlled and activated through the mouse and keyboard. The game modes already vary from scoring points to cargo hauling. Team play is required in both modes, as each character takes on a specific role in the battlefield (e.g. heal teammates, provide backup, or secure defensive lines).

The name Overwatch derives itself from a fictional elite military unit that came together when robots tried to subjugate humanity in a near future. Individual characters are associated with this unit in the game, while others oppose it. It is not yet known whether the storyline will continue in multiplayer.

Brawl

Brawl is a game mode in which time-limited rule variations of the well-known modes are drawn. Sometimes completely new game modes are used in Brawls.

Rule variations include, for example, the restriction to certain heroes or classes, changes to the cool-down times or certain cards. New game modes that have been playable so far include a soccer game and a PvE mode.

Usually, Brawls are restarted as Brawl of the Week every Tuesday at 22:00 UTC and are then playable for a week. On certain occasions, such as – Season al events, Brawls may also be playable for a longer or shorter period of time.

The game mode is comparable to the card chaos from Hearthstone and was activated for the first time in the beta phase on March 22, 2016 through a patch.

Actions

• Arcade: More health, shorter skill and ultimate cooldowns, and faster resurrection after death.
• Girl Power: Female heroes only.
• Head’s Up!: McCree, Genji, Hanzo, and Widowmaker. Only head hits count.
• High Noon: High Noon on Route 66, only head hits with McCree count.
• Highly Offensive: Only offensive heroes. Limit is two of the same hero per team.
• Junkenstein’s Revenge: Soldier, Hanzo, Ana, Mc Cree only (1 each). The first co-op PVE mode in Overwatch. Part of the – Season al event Halloween Horror.
• Justice rains from Above: Only Mercy and Pharah playable.
• Moba Watch: Only unique heroes per team. No hero switching allowed.
• Mystery Heroes: Upon death, you will be resurrected as a randomly selected Hero.
• Overly Defensive: Only defensive heroes. Limit is two of the same hero per team.
• Show Your Support: Support Heroes only. The limit is two of the same Hero per team.
• Super Shimada Bros: Welcome to Hanamura. Only Hanzo and Genji are playable. Shorter skill cooldowns, longer ultimate cooldowns.
• Tanks A Lot: Tank heroes only. Limit is two of the same hero per team.
• The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Only McCree, Reaper and Roadhog playable.
• We’re all Soldiers now: Only Soldier: 76 playable on control cards.
• Lucioball: Lucio only: Soccer mode, 3 vs 3.
• Yeti Hunt: Five meis against a yeti that has the characteristics of Winston.

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