Things are looking a little bleak for some of the employees over at publisher Activision Blizzard, according to a new report from Bloomberg. This news follows on the heels of Activision's major sale of the Destiny IP to Bungie, as well as harsh drop in stock over the past few months, nearly dropping by half since Fall 2018. The company is also dealing with a new CFO, Dennis Durkin, who replaced Mike Morhaime, who had held the position for nearly three decades. According to the information, Activision Blizzard will be restructuring, and as a result, "hundreds" of its 9,800 workers will be facing job cuts this Tuesday. Another industry titan, Electronic Arts saw stocks also plummet recently due to underperforming titles, though they quickly recovered after the launch of Apex Legends. This article will be updated when the official press report goes out later this week with more details.

Source

UPDATE

Tuesday has arrived, and the report was confirmed. Despite claiming that revenue for the company was at a record high in 2018, pulling in $7.26 billion, Activision Blizzard will be laying off about 800 of its workers. During the Q4 earnings report briefing, it was revealed that retail and microtransaction sales were on a higher than expected decline. Blizzard's CFO also announced that Blizzard has no major game releases set for 2019 outside of the mobile Diablo game, Diablo Immortal. "Several" console/PC projects are said to be in the pipeline, though we'll have to wait to see what those games could possibly be.

Source

 

[leon315]

I THINK the main goal of Activision is trying to gain more influence over Blizzards' by firing their old employees and replace them with Activision's...
Blizzards was famous to make quality contents which is opposite of Activion, all Activision want is having their subsidiaries to produce more barebone-incomplete games and manipulate fans to sell them more digital contents (loot boxes, dlc and season pass) and shitty F2P mobile games AKA:

"dOn'T yOu hAvE pHoNe?"

 

[The Catboy]

How can a company who's made literal billions of dollars justify the need to fire employees?

 

[Shadowfied]

How can a company who's made literal billions of dollars justify the need to fire employees?

Can't have greedy employees take execs money lol

 

[leon315]

How can a company who's made literal billions of dollars justify the need to fire employees?

THE OLD blizzard employee was royal to Blizzard, Activision is going to fire them and replace them with its own ones.

Capish?

 

[The Catboy]

THE OLD blizzard employee was royal to Blizzard, Activision is going to fire them and replace them with its own ones.

Capish?

Ok? That’s still shitty and doesn’t justify firing them

 

[FAST6191]

How can a company who's made literal billions of dollars justify the need to fire employees?

Their stock price is dropping, several of their projects failed to live up to expectations, they lost a cash cow of sorts, most would look at them and not see anything in the near future for any serious income. As such they installed some new C level types and presumably told them to sort it out. If indeed they are a decades old company they probably have some dead weight or some roles not needed any more but kept because it is easier, not to mention firing people increases your stock price.

 

[Bladexdsl]

blizzard has been going down the shitter for ages now the wow fad has died off. it was only a matter of time

 

[leon315]

Ok? That’s still shitty and doesn’t justify firing them

NHA, Blizzard/Activision offers 6 month wage package to encourage them to quit on their own. it's still a great deal imo cauz any game industries will hire ex Blizzard's employees.

 

[The Catboy]

Their stock price is dropping, several of their projects failed to live up to expectations, they lost a cash cow of sorts, most would look at them and not see anything in the near future for any serious income. As such they installed some new C level types and presumably told them to sort it out. If indeed they are a decades old company they probably have some dead weight or some roles not needed any more but kept because it is easier, not to mention firing people increases your stock price.

This is all literally self-inflicted and doesn't excuse anything. They set their bar high, they created their own problems and they are taking it out on people who aren't the cause of these problems. If these workers aren't the higher-ups, then it's not their fault the company is having issues and they shouldn't be the ones punished.

 

[FAST6191]

This is all literally self-inflicted and doesn't excuse anything. They set their bar high, they created their own problems and not they are taking it out on people who aren't the cause of these problems. If these workers aren't the higher-ups, then it's not their fault the company is having issues and they shouldn't be the ones punished.

Possibly, though I imagine they are not going to be firing those that make them money or are necessary to the day to day operations. Also if it takes a village to make a game then do not some of those bear some responsibility?

Similarly is it punishment? Some would say why would allow your company to sink under dead weight or underperforming divisions? I can certainly see it sucking for those people that get canned but that is a different matter.

 

[HaloEliteLegend]

This is all literally self-inflicted and doesn't excuse anything. They set their bar high, they created their own problems and not they are taking it out on people who aren't the cause of these problems. If these workers aren't the higher-ups, then it's not their fault the company is having issues and they shouldn't be the ones punished.

Well, a company performs poorly, it might need to scale down to increase efficiency. That's how a business works. Unfortunately, job security in the games industry is pretty poor to begin with, and anyone entering the industry recognizes that. Companies can go out of business just like that, or suddenly lose a ton of money and be forced to scale down. None of this is punishment, it's the reality of this industry.

Thinking from a business perspective here, if the business is restructuring and a bunch of people are no longer needed, why keep them on payroll?

It always sucks when a lot of people are laid off, but companies aren't a charity. All companies that have been around for a while are likely to undergo a round of layoffs at some point in response to economic conditions or the company's own fortunes.

From what I hear, they're offering a good severence package, which is all you can really ask for.

 

[Purple_Shyguy]

Will they be offered a years pay like the ones at Christmas time?

 

[The Catboy]

Well, a company performs poorly, it might need to scale down to increase efficiency. That's how a business works. Unfortunately, job security in the games industry is pretty poor to begin with, and anyone entering the industry recognizes that. Companies can go out of business just like that, or suddenly lose a ton of money and be forced to scale down. None of this is punishment, it's the reality of this industry.

Thinking from a business perspective here, if the business is restructuring and a bunch of people are no longer needed, why keep them on payroll?

It always sucks when a lot of people are laid off, but companies aren't a charity. All companies that have been around for a while are likely to undergo a round of layoffs at some point in response to economic conditions or the company's own fortunes.

From what I hear, they're offering a good severence package, which is all you can really ask for.

But it's still not the workers who caused the issues in the first place, it's was Activision Blizzard who pushed them to make unrealistic release dates, it was Activision Blizzard who pushed them to put out unfinished games, it was Activision Blizzard who created unrealistic expectations for the sales of their games, it is completely Activision Blizzard's fault and to be correct, the higher-ups fault for what's happening. Taking it out on the workers when it's higher-ups who created this problem isn't going to fix the problems with the company (and honestly other shit companies like EA and Ubisoft.) The people who created the problems are still there and will still continue to create the same problems in the future. No amount of worker isn't going to fix the problems when they aren't even addressing the problem in the first place.

 

[Viri]

Sad to see people get fired. Sadly Blizzard is only a name at this point. I don't think they could make another great game like Diablo 2, Starcraft Brood War or Warcraft 3. Starcraft 2 was such a let down for me. They retcon so much, it just turned me off. The Protoss DLC was pretty good though.

 

[chartube12]

THE OLD blizzard employee was royal to Blizzard, Activision is going to fire them and replace them with its own ones.

Capish?

Possibly. I was also thinking they were firing employees whom worked with bungie on destiny. It was rumored the other day, 30 or more were seeking employment with bungie

 

[smf]

But it's still not the workers who caused the issues in the first place, it's was Activision Blizzard who pushed them to make unrealistic release dates, it was Activision Blizzard who pushed them to put out unfinished games

That is subjective. I would guess the management would argue that it was the developers fault, the developers will blame management.

 

[the_randomizer]

CEO: Don't you guys have resumes??

Too soon?


Seriously, that sucks, sounds like a pretty badly run company to me. Nothing but a shell of a once-good company.

 

[RivenMain]

Can't blame Blizz for slicing off what ever they can to save themselves. It's no secret that they've been hurting. Once they are able to stabilize will be good. They gotta survive though. I'd like a nice high taxing gpu version of WoW Where I can say wow at the graphics like I was a kid lol

 

[romanaOne]

The interests of management and labo(u)r do not coincide. Workers who gave up their right to organize are brainwashed fools or insane, like Douglas Adams' cow who wishes to be eaten.

Companies (feudal kleptocracies) don't love you. People are all disposable peons (like in Warcraft) in the eyes of management.