Rumours have been popping up about potential layoffs at Activision Blizzard lately and now it seems the day has come as the company CEO Bobby Kotick told investors they would be laying off eight per cent or around 800 employees soon.
Activision Blizzard has been offering its employees sizeable monetary incentives to leave the company and this policy was a major topic throughout 2018. While some former employees accepted the offer, many chose to stay at the company, but around 800 of them lost their jobs recently.
As by Kotaku, Bobby Kotick held an earnings call with investors where he confirmed that Activision Blizzard achieved "record results" in 2018, but they still didn't meet the company's targets. Furthermore, expectations for 2019 are lower and as a result of these two factors, the company will be releasing eight per cent of their staff.
Most of the employees who lost their jobs are seemingly support and publishing-oriented, with Activision Blizzard focusing more on the development teams. In fact, the company will be looking to bolster their development ranks for blockbuster franchises such as Call of Duty and Diablo.
This is not an odd occurrence for Call of Duty as it releases annually, along with being one of the best-performing franchises on Activision Blizzard's roster. Meanwhile, increasing the development team for Diablo could either mean a proper new game is on the way or that the company decided to double down on Diablo Immortal.
Anyway, Blizzard's president J. Allen Brack addressed the employees in an internal email, notifying everyone that some of them would lose their jobs. Blizzard wasn't the only part of the company that was hit though, as both King and some Activision's studios lost some employees as well.
Treyarch
According to Kotaku, who apparently obtained Brack's mail, he mentioned "comprehensive severance package" that includes health benefits, career coaching and job placement assistance. It sounds a lot like the sizeable sums that were offered to employees to willingly leave Activision Blizzard in the past, except this time around it wasn't optional.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 by Treyarch, Beenox and Activision
- Image: 1 / 10
