Blizzard employee snags a decade of WoW game time just before being laid off, will not have to pay a cent until 2033

Kalecgos, aspect of the blue Dragonflight from World of Warcraft: Dragonflight, flashes a hopeful smile - he is a blue-haired mage of considerable power with a vulnerable expression.

The recent deluge of layoffs at Blizzard (and Microsoft's wider gaming division) has been utterly brutal—especially since several employees uprooted their lives to come and work at the company, with some employed there for just four months.

While there's no way to soften that sort of blow, one crafty ex-Blizzard employee did manage a small win on the way out: Free WoW for a decade. Adam Holisky, the former core technology product lead at Blizzard, posted his last-minute manoeuvre to Twitter late last week.