Blizzard is taking steps for their employees' health safety.

With the growing threat and the USA announced a national state of emergency, Blizzard Entertainment has decided to send all staff home as it implements a work-from-home policy. Outside of the USA Blizzard staff will follow local guidelines. Just including Europe, Blizzard has offices, distribution centers, and sales offices in Ireland, France, UK, Spain, and Italy to name but a few. With all those countries implementing varied levels of lockdowns or caution.

In a statement, Blizzard Entertainment said:

“To protect the health and safety of our employees, we are implementing work-from-home policies for our Irvine and Austin offices. Those in our other offices around the world have been or will be working from home as directed by local governments and health authorities.”

For those not employed by Blizzard directly, the company also had an update:

“We will continue to pay our on-site vendors and contractors while this work-from-home policy is in place, and our game teams will work to provide the best experiences we can for players during this challenging time.”

We’ve certainly not seen the last of the coronavirus (CORVID-19) impact on esports and gaming, and such a large company making such a substantial move shows the severity of the situation.

Blizzard also announced earlier this week that the Overwatch Leagues’ Homestand events for March and April would be canceled as the league moves into an online-only mode.