While Microsoft has not yet officially completed the takeover ofActivision Blizzard, the group led by Bobby Kotick is already making major decisions. We learn this week that the studio decided to lay off around 50 employees, who worked in the esports divisions ofActivision Blizzard.
A shock announcement for those concerned, as reported The Vergeespecially as the group announced record sales thanks to Diablo IV and $2.46 billion in revenue at its last financial statement. Internally, it is therefore amazementthe licensees obviously did not have a proposal to find a position withinActivision Blizzardand they are also working on a new tool to organize tournaments.
If the call of duty league is on the rise, this is clearly not the case with theOverwatch League. The spectators leave the ship (between the exclusive Youtube and the lack of casters French, it’s understandable for part of the community), but the secondary leagues are still quite popular. Blizzard has also announced in its financial statement that I’OWL will change format at the end of this season and he’s offering each team a severance fee of $6 million (per team) for not voting to carry over the current format. The Verge recalls in passing that the Chinese teams can no longer participate in the competitions of the games of Blizzardthe partnership with NetEase to manage the servers in China that have not been renewed.
The future is therefore very uncertain for theOverwatch League and for esports in general at Activision Blizzardeven if it will be necessary to wait to really know what the group wants to do, which will soon belong to Microsoft. Nevertheless, Blizzard wants to move on, it will include Overwatch 2 on Steam next month to attract new players. You can find prepaid cards Battle.net at the house of Micromania.
| Clint008 Writer – Tester |
