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The publisher Activision Blizzard began its long-standing layoff process, informing employees this afternoon that it was going to cut staff. At a phone call this afternoon, the company announced that it would eliminate 8% of its staff. By 2018, Activision Blizzard had approximately 9,600 employees, which would mean that nearly 800 people are now unemployed.
This afternoon, the mega publisher has begun to inform the fired in its various organizations, including Activision, Blizzard and King.
Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard, told investors that at the results conference she had "achieved record results again in 2018" but that the company would be consolidating and restructuring due to missed expectations for 2018 and lowering them for 2019. The company said it would mainly suppress game development departments and strengthen its development staff for franchises like Call of Duty and Diablo.
The sources of industry development have all Kotaku This afternoon, layoffs affected Activision, Blizzard, King and some Activision studios, including High Moon.
At Blizzard, layoffs only seem to have affected departments that do not develop games, such as publishing and sports, both of which should be hit hard.
"In recent years, many of our non-development teams have been expanded to meet a variety of needs," Blizzard President J. Allen Brack said in a note to staff at 1:00 pm. Kotaku. "Currently, the numbers of some teams are out of proportion with our catalog of current versions. This means that we have to reduce certain areas of our organization. I'm sorry to tell you that we are going to separate from some of our colleagues in the United States today. In our regional offices, we expect similar evaluations, subject to local requirements. "
The letter also promised "full severance pay", sickness benefits, job coaching, job placement badistance and profit-sharing bonuses for the previous year to those fired at Blizzard. (Blizzard employees receive bonuses twice a year based on the financial results of the company.) "There is no way to facilitate this transition for affected employees, but we are doing everything we can to help our colleagues. Wrote Brack.
The news follows months of rumors of publisher layoffs, which warmed up early last week, as hundreds of people across Activision Blizzard's divisions risked losing their jobs. Until now, some of the editor's employees came to work without any idea of what might happen. A Blizzard person told me this morning that when the employees arrived, they cried and exchanged cuddles on the parking lot.
Last autumn, Kotaku indicated that Blizzard's mandate in 2018 had been to reduce costs and produce more games. As a result, layoffs would likely affect the company's support services as Blizzard continued to expand its development teams. Brack's email suggests the same thing. "It is essential to prioritize product development and build the capacity of the teams doing this work to better serve our community of players," he wrote. "We also need to evolve operationally to provide the best possible support for new and existing products."
In a press release to investors this afternoon, Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision, wrote: "Our financial results for 2018 were the best in our history, but we did not realize our full potential. To help us reach our full potential, we have made several important changes to management. These changes should allow us to take advantage of the many opportunities offered by our industry, including our strong franchises, strong business capabilities, direct digital connections with hundreds of millions of players and our extremely talented employees. "
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