Activision Blizzard has laid off at least 10 employees that were working on the Hearthstone development team, according to reporting from Kotaku Senior Reporter Athan Gach.
According to multiple posts on LinkedIn from affected employees there was no advance notice on the layoffs. In a brief post on LinkedIn Blizzard Software Engineer Hunter Curren noted that “After nearly 20 years at Blizzard Entertainment, my role has been removed and I was laid off without notice.”
Blizzard Senior Producer Joe Belousek posted a similar message on LinkedIn: “Today, after 2 years, I was unexpectedly laid off from the Hearthstone team. It wasn’t a long time, but I made the most of it and was making it mine. Goodbye to the big campus orc, hopefully, we’ll both see better days soon. GLHF Hearthstone team.
Hearthstone Senior Game Producer Rosalie Kofsky responded to Curren’s post by noting that she was a casualty of the round as well: “Yeah, I got caught, too, Hunter. Your tools made my life a lot easier and I know many people can say that about you!!”
While Activision Blizzard would not confirm the official number of employees let go earlier this week, the company did issue the following statement:
“Organizational changes were made to the Hearthstone team; as a result a small number of roles have become redundant. We want to thank these employees for their many contributions.”
These layoffs pale in comparison to the cute the company made to Overwatch League and Call of Duty League in July; the company announced that it had cut less than 50 employees from its esports division as part of a restructuring plan.