Blizzard Lays Off 600: But From Where?

Blizzard is a special case. If any other company were to lay off 600 people, I might put on my tinfoil hat and start predicting the incoming Chapter 11 apocalypse. Meanwhile, while the usual people are screaming of the impending death of Blizzard, it is worth noting that 90% of the layoffs are from the non-development side of the company without impact on the World of Warcraft development.

But there is one factor I wanted to talk about with regard to World of Warcraft, and that is how Blizzard has managed to do a complete reversal of expectations on income versus subscription numbers. In the past year or two since Blizzard’s figures peaked at twelve million, subscription numbers have dropped by nearly two million. Against what you might expect, Blizzard continues to post higher revenue from World of Warcraft thanks to the increasing sale of cash shop vanity pets and mounts.

So while a good few are referring to the layoffs as the death slide of Blizzard, I’m going to need more persuasion before I dust off the old tin foil hat.