[mbenjaminsmith]

Not to say people aren't upset. I'm sure they are. But what you're saying is people are surprised to be laid off when it's clear they were no longer necessary? If how things were done changed significantly (needing far fewer people) isn't that going to obviously lead to layoffs? Maybe I misunderstand what you're saying.

[alanfalcon]

I was saying that these weren't people that were just convenient to let go in one batch. It isn't that they were fire-able material, as angrycoder suggests is often the case, in this case the people who I worked with were great team members, knowledgeable and passionate about working for Blizzard. Absolute assets. That there were too many people in the department isn't surprising, or that layoffs were used to correct the overstaffing. I just suggested that from what and who I know, the "Blizzard 600" wasn't the situation angrycoder described, except for some aspects like the timing.