Activision Blizzard announces 8% cut to workforce

During Activision Blizzard‘s Q4 2018 earnings call, the developer announced that it would be cutting 8% of its workforce.

This move, as per an estimate based on the company’s number of staff, will result in over 750 employees being laid off.

Photo credit: Activision Blizzard

Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard told investors during the earnings call that the company had “once again achieved record results in 2018” but that it would restructure its staff nonetheless. It’s said that it’s mainly non-development departments would be cut, with development staff being bolstered for franchising efforts.

According to a press release, “the company will increase development investment in its biggest franchises, enabling teams to accelerate the pace and quality of content for their communities and supporting a number of new product initiatives.

“The number of developers working on Call of Duty, Candy Crush, Overwatch, Warcraft, Hearthstone and Diablo in aggregate will increase approximately 20% over the course of 2019. The company will fund this greater investment by de-prioritizing initiatives that are not meeting expectations and reducing certain non-development and administrative-related costs across the business.”

At the top of 2019, Activision Blizzard made three leadership changes, appointing people that already held positions in the company or one of its major divisions. Rob Kostich became the President of Activision, Dennis Durkin was appointed as the President of Activision Blizzard’s Emerging Businesses, and Humam Sakhnini was named President of King Digital.

Esports Insider says: It goes without saying that it’s a massive shame to see so many talented individuals losing jobs at a company that’s behind so many great titles. Many seem to be outraged at the cut considering the “record results” the developer had reached and rightfully so.

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