With many staff members taking voluntary leave, some of Blizzard’s European fans are worried what the future holds for the company’s presence in the country.
Eurogamer is reporting that over 100 staff members of Blizzard’s Cork, Ireland office have taken up a voluntary leave program that offers them money upon departure from the company. This policy reportedly has been offered at least five times in the past, and the amount of money offered has increased.
One person who took up the voluntary leave program explained why they did.
“It was too good to pass up,” they told Eurogamer. “This is voluntary, do not get me wrong. But when you see a pile a cash in front of you, over and over again, you start to lose hope and cannot see a great situation ahead.”
Some are concerned that the large amount of staff leaving may mean that services the branch provides, such as customer service, may take a hit. This was heightened after a tweet showed different business hours than normal last week.
On 19/12 our callback and live chat services will be closed from 17:00, please open a ticket request if assistance is required.
— Blizzard CS EU (@BlizzardCSEU_EN) December 19, 2018
Blizzard issued a statement saying there’s no plan to wind down customer service, and that in that specific instance they temporarily closed so that they could respond to a high volume of callers.
“Our players are at the heart of everything we do and should continue to expect the same award-winning level of service from Blizzard today as they have received in the past” they said.
In another statement to Eurogamer, Blizzard said that the company has no plans to shut down the Cork office.
“We don’t have plans to close our Cork site and it will continue to be an important part of our customer support service in Europe,” they responded. “Our community of players can rely on us to continue fielding a highly-trained, in-house staff of customer service professionals to assist with their needs.”
The news comes as reports indicate that parent company Activison is taking an increased interest in Blizzard as of late, pointing out money issues within the company in an effort to cut costs.
