Lay-offs are an unfortunate part of reality. Not all companies can afford to keep all of their staff on payroll. However, there's a difference between laying off employees because of a lack of funding and whatever the heck Blizzard is doing.
For the third year in a row, Activision-Blizzard has talked about having a successful financial year only to let employees go soon after. Dozens of Live Events and Esports Staff Laid Off
Bloomberg News video game reporter Jason Schreier broke the news that Activision-Blizzard would lay off some 50 people who worked in Activision-Blizzard's live events and esports programming. Then, a short while later, Schreier shared the severance package that the California-based video game company offered to its former employees.
In addition to the 90 days severance pay that the former employees are entitled to, as well as one year of health benefits, the staff members also received $200 worth of gift cards that they can use on Battle.net, of all places.
As if you'd ever think of buying a new game from the company that fired you anytime soon, apparently due to a shift in strategy following the pandemic.
Just last year, CEO Bobby Kotick came under fire for his salary. Apparently, he received a hefty sum in 2019 from shareholders. This even went as far as to prompt hashtags of "FireBobbyKotick" to spread like wildfire all over Twitter. The hashtag appeared yet again due to how Activision-Blizzard handled the firing of 50 employees.