Support NeoGAF

[IbizaPocholo]

Exclusive: Further layoffs expected at Activision Blizzard - MCV/DEVELOP

The layoffs at Activision Blizzard seem set to continue, with over 100 employees at the company now facing redundancy.

www.mcvuk.com

UPDATE: Activision Blizzard has responded to the report of layoffs at the company.

Speaking to MCV/DEVELOP, an Activision Blizzard spokesperson stated:

“We’ve been exploring how we might best integrate our capabilities across the business and be efficient as we evolve to meet growth opportunities and stay competitive in Asia Pacific. To that end, we have begun conversations with employees regarding a plan to centralize some roles across the region in our Sydney office. Decisions of this nature are never easy and supporting our employees through this process is our number one priority.”

MCV/DEVELOP can also report that the customer support and localisation teams are not affected by these layoffs, and Activision Blizzard states the actual number of employees facing redundancy is closer to 30. No APAC office closures have been announced.

ORIGINAL STORY:

The layoffs at Activision Blizzard seem set to continue, with over 100 employees at the company also now facing redundancy.

According to a source familiar with the matter, speaking exclusively to MCV/DEVELOP, more offices are set to close – following the reports of the closure of the offices in Versailles and The Hague in October.

According to the source, who wished to remain anonymous, the staff handling the company’s APAC region were hit with the news yesterday – with the marketing, PR, publishing, customer care and localisation teams all expected to face redundancies – with over 100 staff now facing potential unemployment.

Asked for the reason behind the closures, the source said that the company was transitioning its non-development workforce to a full outsourcing setup.

“Activision’s part of the company doesn’t believe in community management and fandom,” said the source to MCV/DEVELOP. “They think their games sell themselves. They’d rather pop a couple of millions on having Beyonce tweet about CoD than hire a bunch of good people.”

The changes may be related to Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick’s recent commitment to expand the company’s development workforce by over 2,000 people in the next year. To further back up this claim, the source explained that the company had been outsourcing its non-development work for some time now, particularly in PR and customer care.

 

[reptilex]

Blizzard betrayed itself and everything it built and stand for by merging with Activision. Now they'll be paying the price for Call of Potato

 

[BootsLoader]

I really don’t give a flying fuck about Blizzard anymore. They lost their shit. Their latest releases were shit, their future releases (if any) will be shit. They make simple games and it takes decades for them to finish and release them.

Pure garbage stuff. It’s a shame, as a kid I respected them, I miss old Blizzard.

 

[NickFire]

I'm not privy to their finances, but how the hell can this company possibly need to fire people before the holidays???? I bet they have made more money from these shutdowns than ever before.

 

[ZehDon]

I'm not privy to their finances, but how the hell can this company possibly need to fire people before the holidays???? I bet they have made more money from these shutdowns than ever before.

It's all about projections for reporting purposes. Wait until the end of the reporting period - be it annual, or quarterly - and fire a bunch of people. Now, the human resource expenditure of your organisation looking forward seems - on paper - better, because you just lost a whole heap of on-going expenses. It provides the illusion of growth, without an increase in revenue.

 

[IbizaPocholo]

 

[Damien Crowley]

Eat the fucking rich!

 

[Bitmap Frogs]

Wow they’re closing the Paris office!

Holy fuck, lots of good work done there... fuck Activision

 

[IbizaPocholo]

Activision Blizzard preps for layoffs at European offices

Activision Blizzard is making preparations for its fourth round of layoffs in the last half year. Sources with knowledg…

www.gamesindustry.biz

 

[Rean no Kiseki]

Activision Blizzard preps for layoffs at European offices

Activision Blizzard is making preparations for its fourth round of layoffs in the last half year. Sources with knowledg…

www.gamesindustry.biz

 

[Kenpachii]

The company has been a dumpster fire for a couple of years now anybody still supporting those idiots are just idiots.

 

[SidViscous]

They are run by investors and videogames are just another commodity to them. But let's be frank, if you work for them you must already know this, so being laid off for no good reason shouldn't really be a surprise.

 

[Dr.Morris79]

I dont get it. A lot of folks hate Activision and find these stories horrible yet go out in droves supporting their horrible shit?

 

[Nehezir]

when you see companies do this....choke the life out of them.

 

[Elog]

The merger with Activision was a bad move but frankly speaking Blizzard was on the decline already before that. After WoW (and vanilla is one of those rare gems of games) with expansions, they have not created anything that stands out apart from pushing out games with budgets that most other developers can only dream about.

 

[jdforge]

He is one ugly mother fucker.

 

[Ozzie666]

What's Blizzard without the monthly income stream from Warcraft? Honest Question here.

When they Merged, Blizzard was raking in the cash, Warcraft was extremely profitable. Overwatch had it's 15 minutes of fame, Diablo 3 was rough, turned out okay in the end. Starcraft didn't perform to expectations. So what are they? where is their cash coming from? Heart stone? their failed DOTA?

Activision is an interesting company, 40 years or more in the business in one shape or form. It's had it's periods of slumber, but always seems to become relevant again. They seem to be relying on the old favorites too much, slowly losing momentum.

 

[Team Andromeda]

I fear more of this will happen with more corps closing down offices and laying off staff thanks to working from home

 

[Buhaj]

For some reason people seem to think game publishers are supposed to be decent - well, no, they're corporations with good PR and products people associate with relax.
Anyway, people just don't care as long as they can play another "revolutionary" CoD.

 

[saintjules]

Wrong thread lol

 

[demigod]

Damn, someone grab Tigole Bitties!

 

[proandrad]

If only this small indie company could find a way of getting monthly revenue from its players.

 

[nerdface]

I already have D3 preserved on a cart. I just need D2 physical to save my Blizzard favorites forever.

Your deeds of valor will be remembered.

 

[ManaByte]

Damn, someone grab Tigole Bitties!

When your lead designer's name is a violation of your game's character naming policy.

 

[Zeroing]

Pretty sure tomorrow we will have rumors that a company is trying to buy Activision... anyway now being serious

It just shows how this illusion that the gaming market is healthy is that, an illusion. Activision thinks that their games can sell no matter what, we will see how that pans out in the future

 

[Alright]

Pretty sure tomorrow we will have rumors that a company is trying to buy Activision... anyway now being serious

It just shows how this illusion that the gaming market is healthy is that, an illusion. Activision thinks that their games can sell no matter what, we will see how that pans out in the future

Online gaming numbers, just like SM user counts, clicks and views, are made up. Bots boost numbers to make games look more popular. One of the reasons that lootboxes and MTX ideas were brought from Mobile games, was to rinse the whales and get a quick cash boost as proof that a game is healthy.

20% of your player base pays for 80% of the revenue, meaning the other 80% don't have to be people.

The whole thing is a House of Cards