Quelles équipes de Blizzard ont été les plus touchées par la vague de licenciements ?

Odyssey, Diablo IV, Overwatch 2, Incubation...

Arkentass | 29/01/2024 à 18h30 - 15

Quelques jours se sont écoulés depuis la vague de licenciements ayant eu lieu chez Blizzard. En attendant l'annonce du nouveau President du studio, nous reviendrons aujourd'hui sur les membres des différentes équipes ayant été remerciés il y a quelques jours, et l'impact potentiel de ces départs sur les titres en question. Gardez à l'esprit que nous ne connaissons pas la liste complète des personnes concernées, et que chaque équipe n'a pas été touchée.

Note : Bien que seules les équipes de Blizzard soient listées ci-dessous, nous retrouvons des cuts à des départements similaires dans les différentes équipes d'Activision, avec de nombreux licenciements chez Sledgehammer Games, High Moon Studio, Toys for Bob, Treyarch, Infinity Ward, Raven, Solid State Studios, Beenox, et Demonware.

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Odyssey

Comme nous le savons désormais Odyssey n'est plus. Une équipe d'une centaine de développeurs était en charge de ce projet et la majorité de ses membres ne font désormais plus partie du studio. Certains ont été transférés vers une équipe travaillant actuellement sur l'un des autres projets en développement chez Blizzard.

Liste non exhaustive des membres de l'équipe Odyssey (95)

Craig Amai - Game Director - Unannounced Survival Game
Matt London - Associate Narrative Director - Unannounced Survival Game
Ates Bayraktaroglu - Game Designer - Unannounced Survival Game
Evan Polekoff - Senior Software Engineer - Unannounced Survival Game
Chiro Fujita - Senior Character Artist - Unannounced Survival Game
Marby Kwong - Senior Concept Artist - Unannounced Survival Game
Megan Embree - Game Producer - Unannounced Survival Game
Justin Williams - Tech Recruiter - Unannounced Survival Game
David Shaver - Senior Level Designer II - Unannounced Survival Game
Patrick Gladys - Senior Environment Artist II - Unannounced Survival Game
Shonté Daniels - Narrative Designer - Unannounced Survival Game
Vincent Wu - Environment Concept Artist - Unannounced Survival Game
Thomas Koos - Game Producer - Unannounced Survival Game
Dana Pull - Senior Test Analyst - Unannounced Survival Game
Chris Kowalski - Principle Sound Designer - Unannounced Survival Game
Matt Boehm - Gameplay Animator - Unannounced Survival Game
Danial Rashidi - Senior Technical Artist II - Unannounced Survival Game
Amy Liew - Lead Producer - Unannounced Survival Game
Charlotte Wang - Associate Game Producer - Unannounced Survival Game
Ernesto Barroso - Associate Environment Artist - Unannounced Survival Game
Matheus Lima - Associate Character Technical Artist - Unannounced Survival Game
Renato Iwashima - Senior Software Engineer II - Unannounced Survival Game
Genesis Prado - Lead Environment Artist - Unannounced Survival Game
Annie-Claude Bergeron - Environment Artist - Unannounced Survival Game
Zhengyi Wang - Senior Character Concept Artist - Unannounced Survival Game
Noah Alonzo - Associate Concept Artist - Unannounced Survival Game
Michael James Cox - Environment Artist - Unannounced Survival Game
Matt Malley - Senior Environment Artist - Unannounced Survival Game
Matthew Genovese - Associate Art Director - Unannounced Survival Game
Ryan Metcalf - Lead Concept Artist - Unannounced Survival Game
Brian Giaime - Lead Systems Designer - Unannounced Survival Game
Brian McLain - Senior II 3D Artist - Unannounced Survival Game
Aaron Bossert - Senior Software Engineer II - Unannounced Survival Game
Ian McCown - Senior Software Engineer II - Unannounced Survival Game
Marina Markava - Senior Technical Artist - Unannounced Survival Game
Dave Bennett - Lead Game Designer - Unannounced Survival Game
Edward Knapp - Associate Design Director - Unannounced Survival Game
Kateryna Yavorska - Associate Environment Artist - Unannounced Survival Game
Brad Sierzega - Senior II World Designer - Unannounced Survival Game
Josh Navarro - Senior World Builder II - Unannounced Survival Game
Caleb Doughty - Senior Game Designer - Unannounced Survival Game
Nick Keith - Senior Level Designer II - Unannounced Survival Game
Brian Traugott - Senior Level Designer II - Unannounced Survival Game
Joshua Nadel - Game Designer - Unannounced Survival Game
Brian Cottle - Lead Live Product Designer - Unannounced Survival Game
Chesalon Taylor - Associate Content Designer - Unannounced Survival Game
Sihao Zhou - Game Designer - Unannounced Survival Game
Kaitlyn Grace - Associate Content Designer - Unannounced Survival Game
Dana Green - Associate Level Designer - Unannounced Survival Game
Howard French - Senior UX Designer - Unannounced Survival Game
Michelle Ma - Character Tech Artist - Unannounced Survival Game
Zaven Kazandjian - Associate Gameplay Engineer - Unannounced Survival Game
Rex Rockwell - Senior Software Engineer - Unannounced Survival Game
Justin McLeod - Associate Production Director - Unannounced Survival Game
Hope Nasr - Associate Game Producer - Unannounced Survival Game
Abdullah Khan - Associate Producer - Unannounced Survival Game
Kevin Bellardi - Associate Game Producer - Unannounced Survival Game
Mary Bourrie - Lead Producer - Unannounced Survival Game
Bryan Rodriguez - Senior Producer II - Unannounced Survival Game
Elena Daglow - Game Producer - Unannounced Survival Game
Carlo Lynch - Senior Producer - Unannounced Survival Game
Andie Burgess - Material Artist - Unannounced Survival Game
Ana M. Rodriguez - Senior Material Artist II - Unannounced Survival Game
Sharlene Lin - Senior Environment Artist - Unannounced Survival Game
Jeffrey Shyy - Senior Producer - Unannounced Survival Game
Aiden Yuan Tan - Game Designer - Unannounced Survival Game
Luke Aiello - Senior UI Designer - Unannounced Survival Game
Madeleine Shopoff - Senior Systems Designer - Unannounced Survival Game
Austin Kincer - Associate Software Engineer - Unannounced Survival Game
River Page - Senior Technical Artist - Unannounced Survival Game
Isa Hutchings - Associate Game Systems Engineer - Unannounced Survival Game
Amy Lyu - UI/UX Designer - Unannounced Survival Game
Adam Anderson - Senior UI Technical Designer - Unannounced Survival Game
Stéphane Cui - Senior UX Designer - Unannounced Survival Game
Rachel Quitevis - Associate VFX Artist - Unannounced Survival Game
Stephen Chang - Systems Designer - Unannounced Survival Game
Dane Petersen - Senior Character Artist - Unannounced Survival Game
Megan Reddy - Associate Graphics Engineer - Unannounced Survival Game
Michelle Wong - Associate Gameplay Engineer - Unannounced Survival Game
Chris Wells - Principal Character Artist - Unannounced Survival Game
Colton Carmine - Senior Game Producer II - Unannounced Survival Game
Michael Dale - Gameplay Programmer - Unannounced Survival Game
Sean Hewitt - Lead Character Technical Artist - Unannounced Survival Game
MinJin Semsar-Park - Senior Technical Artist - Unannounced Survival Game
Isabella Barbieri - Associate Gameplay Engineer - Unannounced Survival Game
Mia Kim - Senior Character Artist - Unannounced Survival Game
Jeffery Myers - Principal Engineer - Unannounced Survival Game
Skylar Kelley - Combat Designer - Unannounced Survival Game
Chris Cole - Principal Lead Technical Artist - Unannounced Survival Game
Jessica F - Associate Game Designer - Unannounced Survival Game
Damarcus Holbrook - Associate World Director - Unannounced Survival Game
Hypo - Software Engineer - Unannounced Survival Game
Mirynth - Associate Gameplay Engineer - Unannounced Survival Game
Mark Masters - Senior Animator II - Unannounced Survival Game
Rubii - Associate Software Engineer - Unannounced Survival Game

Diablo IV et Overwatch 2

Parmi les autres équipes touchées par les licenciements, nous retrouvons celles de Diablo IV et d'Overwatch 2, avec principalement des membres des départements artistiques et narratifs. Celles-ci avaient grandement été étendues ces dernières années, à l'approche du lancement. Ayant désormais eu lieu, l'effectif a été revu à la base. Il faudra attendre quelque temps afin de se rendre compte l'impact sur le rythme et la quantité des nouveautés pour ces deux titres.

Liste non exhaustive des membres de l'équipe Diablo IV (5)

Hunter Hyltin - Environment and Level Artist - Diablo IV
Brittany Ollendieck - Associate Interactives Artist - Diablo IV
Brett Angelillis - Senior FX Artist II - Diablo IV
Paul Christer David - Lead Character Artist - Diablo IV
Natalie Frost - Visual Effects Artist - Diablo IV

Liste non exhaustive des membres de l'équipe Overwatch 2 (15)

Molly Warner - Senior Environment Artist - Overwatch 2
Charles Ikay - Senior Animator - Overwatch 2
Gavin Jurgens-Fyhrie - Lead Narrative Designer - Overwatch 2
Caitlin Lamb - Associate Animator - Overwatch 2
Enya Oreshkin - Associate 3D Environment Artist - Overwatch 2
Kyle Tallant - 3D Environment Artist - Overwatch 2
Jilmar Altamirano - Cinematic Animator - World of Warcraft, Diablo IV, Overwatch 2
Angela Wei - Mission Designer - Overwatch 2
Isabella Martinez Luna - Associate Artist - Overwatch 2
Wabbit - Animation Producer - Overwatch 2
Nikolas - Game Designer - Overwatch 2
Cydereal - Game Designer - Overwatch 2
Jorge Murillo - Senior Designer - Overwatch 2
Julia Nguyen - Artist - Overwatch 2
Monika Lee - Game Producer - Overwatch 2

Incubation

Un autre projet Incubation semble également avoir été mis de côté avec la vague de licenciement.

Liste non exhaustive des membres de l'équipe Incubation (9)

Ryan Dao - Environment Artist - Incubation
Allen Dilling - Realization Director - Incubation
Ryan Mills - Lead Software Engineer - Incubation
Jairo Sanchez - Senior Character Artist II - Incubation
Jeremy Monken - Senior Producer - Incubation
Christian Fell - Senior Concept Artist - Incubation
Thomas Bonin - Senior Software Engineer - Incubation
Manuel Virks - Principal Artist - Incubation
Bob Fitch - Technical Director - Incubation

Communauté, Marketing, Support technique et Assurance qualité

Plusieurs Community Managers et PR, ne font désormais plus partie de Blizzard. Ces départs ont principalement eu lieu en EMEA, avec à première vue peu d'impact aux US. Côté Marketing, nous notons également plusieurs départs pour les différents titres, tandis que le Support technique et l'Assurance qualité ont visiblement été quasi intégralement abandonnés et passeraient désormais par des boites externes pour l'ensemble des titres Activision Blizzard.

Notons également que les membres des équipes Marketing de Microsoft avaient souligné une importante baisse des budgets avant la vague de licenciement.

Liste non exhaustive des membres de Blizzard concernés (12)

Varya - CM Warcraft EMEA
Vyraneer - CM Hearthstone EMEA
Jade Alvina - Marketing Overwatch EMEA
Maxim Samoylenko - PR Diablo Global
Ronnie - CM Diablo EMEA
Allen Ortega - Marketing Diablo
Cynthia Park - Associate PR Manager Hearthstone
Jake - Customer Support - Battle.net
Adam Nelson - Associate Global Digital Marketing Manager - Battle.net
Dan Shoe Hsu - Senior Director, Merchandising and Content Programming - Battle.net
Madi Buckingham - Associate Historian - Lore
Adam Holisky - Product Lead - Battle.net