Blizzard closes its headquarters in Germany: It’s just not worth it anymore

The lights go out in Germany for Activision Blizzard. The Munich offices of the gaming giant are closed.

Last week was the last working day for some German Blizzard employees. Activision Blizzard Germany GmbH in Ismaning near Munich was dissolved at the end of May. The actual work, i.e. the operative business, there was already finished on March 31st, but now the position is finally closed.

Why was the seat closed? The reason for the closure was given a long time ago. This is mainly due to the fact that games are increasingly being distributed in a digital context. Literally it said:

With physical sales declining and the expected shift to a digital-only store, a local, country-focused retail model no longer fits the business needs.

Or to put it bluntly: Regulating the ever-declining physical sales in each country individually is simply no longer worthwhile.

This can also be proven with numbers, because the magazine GamesWirtschaft white: In 2018, local sales were still 55 million euros, in 2020 it was only 35 million euros – a drop of more than 33%.

Was that foreseeable? Yes. A few months ago it was announced that the branches in various countries would be closed. Blizzard has been centralizing all of its European businesses in London for a while. Publishing for the German market will also be taken over from there in the future.

Incidentally, the closure has nothing to do with whether Activision Blizzard games are still offered or advertised in German – it was only about the local distribution of the games, such as sales in large electronics chains such as MediaMarkt, Saturn or smaller retailers.

How many employees are affected? A total of 19 employees recently worked for Blizzard in the Munich branch. The contracts were terminated quite a while ago. Many contracts ended in 2021, the last ones now expired on May 31, 2022 with the closure of the branch.

What do you think? An economically logical and understandable step? Or again “another terrible news from Blizzard”?