Blizzard reportedly lays off 50 staff in shift away from live events

As in-person events continue to be scarce, the company is changing focus.

What you need to know

• Activision-Blizzard has reportedly laid off at least 50 staff from the company's live events departments.
• Activision-Blizzard saw $2.4 billion in revenue in the prior quarter's earnings.
• A new Call of Duty game and a remaster of Diablo 2 are set to be available later in 2021.

Thanks to a report from Jason Schreier at Bloomberg, we've learned that Activision-Blizzard has laid off at least 50 staff across parts of the company that worked on live events and in-person activities. Activision-Blizzard's earnings for the prior quarter saw the company beat expectations with $2.4 billion in revenue.

In statement to Bloomberg, the company said that "Players are increasingly choosing to connect with our games digitally and the e-sports team, much like traditional sports, entertainment, and broadcasting industries, has had to adapt its business due to the impact the pandemic has had on live events."

In a follow-up post on Twitter, Schreier added that Activision-Blizzard has also laid off an unknown number of staff from across other parts of the company, including Candy Crush developer King. This news comes just a few months after Activision-Blizzard closed its Versailles office, with hundreds reportedly affected.

Looking ahead, Activision-Blizzard has several major titles in its pipeline, with a new Call of Duty coming in Holiday 2021 and a Diablo 2 remaster set to release later in the year. Meanwhile, work continues on Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4, though neither title will be released in 2021. Blizzard shared updates on these games at BlizzCon 2021 earlier in the year, with a deep dive into how Diablo 4 PvP works, as well as confirming that the development team is working on having cross-play and cross-progression in the game.