Jason Schreier, known for his investigative reports from the gaming industry at Kotaku, writes in a report on the Bloomberg website that the decision makers at Activision Blizzard have decided to abandon the location in Versailles near Paris. The site was previously occupied exclusively by people from Blizzard Entertainment, but in recent years Activision Blizzard employees have also joined the company. On Tuesday morning (October 6, 2020), employees were reportedly informed of the closure. Originally, half of the office, where primarily marketing, customer support, community management and localization for Activision Blizzard games for Europe take place, would have been moved to London, but according to Schreier's report based on anonymous sources, they deviated from the plan again; Brexit and Corona be thanked.
It's unclear so far how many people from the Blizzard office, which was still home to about 400 employees early in 2019 before the wave of layoffs, will lose their jobs and how many will move to one of Blizzard's other offices in Europe or even the US. Next week, starting October 12, 2020, those affected in Versailles should receive more information.
Given that Versailles is where much of the remaining community work for Blizzard games like World of Warcraft is handled, this news is ... let's say it in little to no euphemism .... devastating. Here's hoping that as many employees as possible can find new jobs quickly. Because given the recent wave of layoffs and terminations at Versailles as well, there's probably not much incentive for many to stay at Activision Blizzard. But that's just our guess.
Support buffed - it'll only take a minute. Thanks! All readers get free daily news, articles, guides, videos, and podcasts on World of Warcraft, Pokémon Go, and other favorite games from us. Up until now, we've funded this site through advertising and kept it as free of paid articles as possible, but since COVID-19, that's become increasingly difficult. Many companies are cutting or eliminating their advertising budgets for 2020. Budgets that we unfortunately have to rely on if we want to continue offering buffed for free in the future in the form we are used to. For this reason, we are now turning to you. You can support us as buffed supporters so that we can continue to offer our content for free in the usual form without introducing a paywall or publishing misleading news. Every contribution, big or small, is valuable. Support buffed - it only takes a minute. Support now We thank you in advance.
