Report: Mass Layoffs to Hit Activision Blizzard Next Week

Some employees at Activision Blizzard are currently fearing for their jobs, as a report from Bloomberg indicates that the publisher plans to announce layoffs next week that could number in the hundreds. According to a separate report from Kotaku’s Jason Schreier, the cuts could take place before the company holds its quarterly earnings call on Tuesday, February 12.

The publisher had great success with Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, which was one of the best-selling games of 2018, but it has struggled in other areas. Destiny 2: Forsaken didn’t meet its sales expectations, which led to Bungie ending its relationship with Activision and acquiring the publishing rights to future Destiny games. Losing Destiny puts a huge hole in Activision’s portfolio and could cost the company as much as $400 million in yearly revenue.

Recent challenges for the publisher extend to Blizzard’s side of the business as well. Activision Blizzard’s third quarter earnings call in November mentioned that Hearthstone is seeing a decline in players and Overwatch’s growth has stagnated. Combined with the seeming demise of Heroes of the Storm and an embarrassing BlizzCon reveal for Diablo Immortal, it may be some time before the storied Irvine-based studio’s fortunes turn around.

Schreier’s report also states that the layoffs could further detioriorate Blizzard’s independence within Activision Blizzard’s operating structure. He was told by past and present Blizzard employees that the studio’s publishing, marketing, and sales departments could face significant losses, with those responsibilities falling back to Activision. It’s never pleasant to see hard-working people lose their jobs, especially when Activision Blizzard’s new CFO got $15 million in awards to take the job, but it also doesn’t bode well for fans who feel that Activision’s grasp is having a negative impact on Blizzard.

Thankfully, the game development community is already banding together in the face of the impending layoffs at Activision Blizzard. Naughty Dog Senior Communications Manager Scott Lowe tweeted about open positions on The Last of Us Part II’s development team and a Google doc is being shared online that highlights a variety of game development job openings at studios around the world.