The recently merged Blizzard Activision, which is the parent company of Blizzard Entertainment in Irvine, is laying off nearly 300 employees starting this month, according to the California Employment Development Department.
Blizzard Entertainment, developer of one of the biggest online PC games called World of Warcraft, was not affected by the job cuts, said Shon Damron, a Blizzard spokesman.
“At Blizzard Entertainment, it’s business as usual, and our operations remain unchanged,” Damron said in an e-mail.
Vivendi, Blizzard’s owner, officially combined its interactive entertainment business with Activision, a publisher of mostly console games, in July and renamed the group Activision Blizzard. Layoffs have been reported at other locations of the company, including in Washington and Vancouver.
According to EDD documents, the layoffs affect offices in the following locations:
- Los Angeles: 197
- Carlsbad: 55
- El Segundo, 38
To read the official document, see the EDD layoff notice HERE.
Mary Ann Milbourn contributed to this report.
Related articles:
- Activision Blizzard staff layoffs may nix WoW mobile (WoW Insider)
- Activision Blizzard Initiates Radical Layoffs (IGN)
- Rumor: High Moon Studios Hit By Layoffs From Activision-Blizzard Merger (The Gamers Voice)
Past Blizzard coverage:
- Blizzardvision is official
- Blizzard business model drove Vivendi deal
- How Blizzard got so big
- World of Warcraft hits 10 million subscribers milestone
- Blizzard CEO honored for gaming work
- Timeline of Blizzard Entertainment
- Blizzard won’t team up with Activision in ‘Warcraft’ console games
- Ezra update: WoW fan with cancer suffers stroke
- Blizzard says BlizzCon snafu might have been avoided
