CDL & OWL team faces layoffs as Activision Blizzard looks to overhaul esports Activision BlizzardActivision Blizzard\u2019s esports division is reportedly laying off 50 employees as they look to restructure the department, just weeks before the Overwatch League 2021 season gets going. On March 16, according to a report from The Esports Observer (TEO), Activision Blizzard Esports announced a restructuring that ultimately means 50 of their employees will be getting laid off. Activision Blizzard Esports operates both the Call of Duty League, who\u2019s 2021 season has already started, and the Overwatch League, who will begin play on April 16. Tony Petitti, president of sports and entertainment at Activision Blizzard, told TEO in an interview on March 16 that it could be possible online-only play makes up the majority, but not all, of the OWL and CDL schedules going forward. Which isn\u2019t the greatest news for OWL Homestands. \u201cWe learned a lot last year in terms of how the leagues can be structured for online play, and we\u2019ll look to carry forward the best practices from that,\u201d Petitti told TEO. \u201cIn terms of timing, it\u2019s a reaction to the realities of how the leagues are playing and what resources we need to allocate to best serve the league, owners, teams and fans.\u201d According to Activision Blizzard though, they are still optimistic about the potential for both CDL and OWL to continue growing despite this latest news. A short while after TEO\u2019s story came out, the company officially announced the layoffs, which would primarily affect their live events and production teams. \u201cPlayers are increasingly choosing to connect with our games digitally,\u201d a spokesperson said in the release. \u201cAnd the e-sports team, much like traditional sports, entertainment, and broadcasting industries, has had to adapt its business due to the impact the pandemic has had on live events.\u201d Shortly after the news that the company would be letting 50 employees go started to come out, staff from both leagues reacted to the news. https:\/\/twitter.com\/alexpenn\/status\/1371894277165305857 I unfortunately am part of the ABE layoffs and am looking for observing, editing, production, and broadcast-related opportunities. You can take a look at all my work here:https:\/\/t.co\/RtnoUImybg \u2014 Willow, the Obs (@IcarusObs) March 16, 2021 The company said they were able to keep the majority of their employees throughout 2020, and that these changes have been a long time coming, even before Petitti was hired to Activision Blizzard from the MLB (Major League Baseball). Live events won\u2019t totally be going away though, according to a statement from one of the companies\u2019 PR reps obtained by GamesIndustryBiz. \u201cLive events are still very much a part of both the Overwatch League and Call of Duty League strategies,\u201d the rep told GamesIndustryBiz. \u201cWe plan to get back to them as soon as it\u2019s safe to do so and logistically feasible.\u201d But, until we get more details on what exactly is being planned, this definitely doesn\u2019t seem like good news for fans who hope to catch either the CDL or OWL live soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CDL & OWL team faces layoffs as Activision Blizzard looks to overhaul esports Activision BlizzardActivision Blizzard\u2019s esports division is reportedly laying off 50 employees as they look to restructure the department, just weeks before the Overwatch League 2021 season gets going. On March 16, according to a report from The Esports Observer (TEO), Activision Blizzard […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66375\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}