Blizzard Entertainment has laid off a number of employees from its Hearthstone team.
News of the staff cuts seemingly broke via a LinkedInupdatefrom a former team member and they were later confirmed byActivision Blizzardin a statement to Kotaku reportEthan Gach.
“After 18 and a half years atBlizzard Entertainment, I’ve been laid off without notice as of today; the Hearthstone Team is apparently being restructured and my Tools Engineer role is no longer needed,” Hunter C. wrote.
They added: “To the best of my knowledge, Hearthstone was doing well; they had just recently shown off how well we were doing in a team meeting.”
A source told Gach that 10 people had been impacted by the restructuring.
“Organizational changes were made to the Hearthstone team; as a result a small number of roles have become redundant,” an Activision Blizzard spokesperson said. “We want to thank these employees for their many contributions.”
Blizzard announced on Tuesday that it had appointed studio veteranChris Metzenas Warcraft’s executive creative director. Metzen was one of the original team members working on the Warcraft universe when it began in 1994.
He had a 23-year spell at the company before retiring in 2016, but herejoined the studio last yearas a creative advisor for Warcraft’s leadership.
“Right now, his main focus is supporting ourWorld of Warcraftleadership in crafting the next generation of adventures,” Blizzard said. “At BlizzCon, he and the team will be sharing what we’ve been working on,” it added.
BlizzCon will return to the Anaheim Convention Center in Californiafrom November 3-4, 2023. It will be the convention’s first in-person event since 2019.
