A Blizzard employee impacted by the layoffs used his company rewards to get 10 years of World of Warcraft subscriptions

Last Thursday, Phil Spencer announced the firing of 1,900 employees of Microsoft’s gaming division, just a few months after wrapping up the acquisition of Activision Blizzard King. One of the victims of these layoffs was Adam Holisky, a Blizzard employee specifically, who, faced with the doubt of being affected by the situation, fulfilled his last wish: to secure a decade of subscription to World of Warcraft.

Phil Spencer’s letter was published first thing in the morning, with quite a few employees who did not even know if their position was in danger, so some even wrote to journalist Jason Schreier to ask if he knew anything. One of those who had doubts about his future was Holisky, who decided to use one of his benefits as an Activision Blizzard employee.

Employees of the company, now owned by Microsoft, have the access to personal keys to Blizzard titles, including multiple 1-year-subscriptions to World of Warcraft. Holisky chose to go into the internal tool and get all of the keys he’d gotten, thus making sure not to pay for this subscription until the year 2033. Of course, he’ll still have to pay for the expansions anyway, although he probably won’t care much considering the amount he’s saved over the next decade.

Far from taking it as a drama, Holisky seems relieved. “You know, maybe it says something that I’m more relaxed today than I have been in weeks. Or months even? Longer?”, he said in X. “No Slack or email worries. No thinking about whatever drama or political heat is happening.”

Another ex-Blizzard employee warns of the future with Microsoft

Mark Kern, a Blizzard veteran from 1997 to 2006, who participated in the development of games such as Starcraft, Diablo 2, and World of Warcraft itself, has also been critical of this move by Microsoft and does not hold to a dream of a very promising future. “Where are the consooomer benefits everyone told me we would get with the xbox blizzard merger?” Kern said. “1,900 laid off, no more physical media. Gamepass is next. Look at what happened to streaming. You get ads and you pay. Gamepass will have to monetize you more soon.”