Last Week, Massive Layoffs Hit Microsoft-owned Activision Blizzard
Thousands of Video Game Professionals Lose Their Jobs
Last week, Microsoft laid off 1,900 workers from its various studios including Activision Blizzard, a company recently acquired by Microsoft. The video game industry has experienced a turbulent start to 2023, with multiple layoff announcements, and unfortunately, the trend has continued into 2024. According to Kotaku’s layoff tracker, the number of cuts has already reached nearly 6,000 across various companies, including Unity, Riot, Bethesda, Twitch, Discord, and Activision Blizzard.
Grabbing a Last-Minute Perk: Blizzard Employee’s Clever Move
Amid the layoffs at Blizzard on January 25, former product lead Adam Holisky revealed a cunning plan. Upon realizing he would be one of the roughly 2,000 people losing their job that day, Holisky swiftly used all the 1-year World of Warcraft subscription codes in his possession. As a result, he secured a subscription free of charge until October 14, 2033.
Employee Benefit Turns Out to Be a Parting Gift
Adam Holisky defended his actions on Twitter, stating that access to free game time is a well-known employee benefit and that he had never used the codes he received over the years. Holisky clarified the process, explaining that Keyring, an internal system at Blizzard, allows employees to access digital game codes. He further revealed that he had accumulated these one-year codes during his nearly five years at Blizzard.
Keyring Overwhelmed as Other Blizzard Employees Follow Suit
More Blizzard employees attempted a similar tactic to Holisky, crashing the Keyring service in their race to activate their subscription codes before the layoffs took effect. Although this opportunity was undoubtedly a coveted parting gift, the circumstances underscore the unfortunate reality of the current job market, where the prospect of job security outweighs a decade of WoW subscription time.
