Blizzard Lays Off Several Hearthstone Team Developers As Chris Metzen Gets Promoted

Blizzard Entertainment has laid off several members of its Hearthstone team as the company continues its restructuring efforts amid the financial challenges in the tech industry. While the layoffs themselves are understandable, the employees were apparently let go without prior notice, which doesn’t bode well for a company that already has a reputation for being a toxic workplace.

“Organizational changes were made to the Hearthstone team; as a result a small number of roles have become redundant,” Blizzard explained. Multiple sources confirm that 10 employees were affected by the layoffs, including a tools engineer who had been with Blizzard for 18 years.

Meanwhile, Chris Metzen has been named the new executive producer for the Warcraft franchise, presumably in line with the ongoing restructuring. Readers will remember that Metzen returned to Blizzard in an advisory role late last year after he left the company in 2016. According to the announcement, he’ll be working closely with the World of Warcraft development team to help create new content for the long-running MMORPG. The timing of his promotion, however, could be better.

It’s been amazing working on Warcraft again. Like coming home. The stories we’re developing right now – how the world unfolds over the next few years… Well, I can’t wait for y’all to see where we’re headed.

SOON… 🙂 https://t.co/7hPIR8YEr0

— Chris Metzen (@ChrisMetzen) September 26, 2023