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Activision-Blizzard layoffs after reporting record results

365 points by tolien 8y ago

JustSomeNobody 8y ago
Record results in 2018. So Kotick will likely get a fat bonus and 775 people lose their livelihood. F*g corporate greed. When will enough be enough?
- pault 8y ago
  It's okay, they didn't get fired; they're just being scaled down!
- toomuchtodo 8y ago
  > When will enough be enough? https://www.gameworkersunite.org/ https://www.gameworkersunite.org/
- cycrutchfield 8y ago
  Right, because when you start a job that represents a lifetime obligation for the company to keep you gainfully employed.
  - JustSomeNobody 8y ago
    But we're family, right?
- imjustsaying 8y ago
  No one is stopping people from making their own game instead of working for scam artist employers. It's a lesson best learned early in life. Imagine if [insert_successful_indy_dev_here] thought it was a good idea to gun for a 30k/year job at a big box shop because he thought it would impress his high school buddies instead of actually making his own good games.
- photoguy112 8y ago
  Start your own business, hire people and treat them well. When people keep working for shitheads, the shitheads dictate their lives.
  - the_duke 8y ago
    That's the problem: in many fields, you won't be able to compete with the shitheads financially, because they can be much cheaper.
- zanny 8y ago
  > When will enough be enough? In the general sense, when governments adopt legislation to outlaw employee hostile practices. Like it has always been, for all of history. When factories exploded in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, workers were made to suffer and die by capitalists hands for profit by the millions. Decades of suffering later workers fought to get protection in the form of safety regulation, minimum working conditions, paid overtime, and a 40 hour work week. People seem to have forgotten how much blood was shed to acquire those contemporarily "basic" rights.
- hoffs 8y ago
  So is it illegal to fire people?
- baud147258 8y ago
  I think their stock has tanked a lot recently in the past month, so maybe there's that.
  - white-flame 8y ago
    and shot up after this layoff reporting.
    - baud147258 8y ago
      Fuck this * world.
emmanueloga_ 8y ago
I did not know King was owned by Activision/Blizzard [1]. I wonder if/how it will affect the development of the Defold engine [2]. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_(company) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_(company) 2: https://www.defold.com/ https://www.defold.com/
- alexland 8y ago
  Well it's been 3 years, so however Defold has been progressing is probably your answer.
- baud147258 8y ago
  The acquisition price of 5 billions seems a little unrealistic, way above any value that Activision could win from Candy Crush and its derivatives.
voltagex_ 8y ago
There's a great thread on Twitter that I can't find right now discussions some of the second order effects of layoffs like these: * Game dev with family has to choose to either uproot family and leave area to find new job, or chooses to leave game dev and go get a job writing CRUD apps somewhere. Net result is loss of expertise - who's training the junior devs? Remember, layoffs like these are common in the AAA game industry. I used to want to be a game developer, now I'm sad I didn't pursue it, but also thankful for the security of my "standard" software job.
- jdoliner 8y ago
  Maybe I'm just heartless but having to "go get a job writing CRUD apps somewhere" to make ends meet doesn't exactly trigger my sympathy response. If that's your backup option you're doing better than 99% of the population.
  - tabs_masterrace 8y ago
    what if they force you to use Java
    - jdoliner 8y ago
      Then it's a humanitarian crisis.
    - cellularmitosis 8y ago
      "Yes sir boss, using java, just like you told us to" https://clojure.org/ https://clojure.org/
    - ionised 8y ago
      Or javascript.
  - Klathmon 8y ago
    I believe they are not talking about the individual suffering there, but about the industry as a whole suffering because experienced talent is getting drained out.
cableshaft 8y ago
I wonder if this will end up being the straw that breaks the camel's back and leads to unionization in the game industry. I've seen a decent uptick in serious discussion about it already this year after so many other dumb decisions by AAA publishers. I know a lot of people here don't think there should be unions in software, but I think the game industry is a special case. There's enough starry eyed people that love the idea of working on games enough that they are willing to put up with total abuse and just about no one who cares about raising a family can seriously stay in that industry. I myself spent a few years in it, and even though I love making games, it's just a serious hobby for me because I can't put up with the expected constant crunch, low salaries, and layoffs after every finished project.
- Waterluvian 8y ago
  Maybe that. But also the industry is oversaturated with game devs. And for AAA titles they're basically fungible. Need to stop graduating so many.
  - munk-a 8y ago
    For game client programmers I think this is the case, though experienced devs are hard to find and retain. The gaming industry really hits issues when trying to attract non-engine devs, infrastructure and server specifically. Due to the portability of these skills to... much better industry sub-segments a lot of talent here just jumps ship and leaves. As a former server-side game dev I was always supportive of my co-worker's rights (QA & Art in particular have a _terrible_ time) and I think this is where pressure to unionize is likely to originate.
    - chrisseaton 8y ago
      Art has a hard time? That surprises me - if your artist leaves you can’t just hire someone with the same style can you?
      - Waterluvian 8y ago
seattle_spring 8y ago
Hopefully they were all from the Diablo division. Anyone who had anything to do with Diablo 3 or Diablo Immortal doesn't deserve a paying job.
- momofarm 8y ago
  quote of the year: don't you guys have phone?
  - jrockway 8y ago
    Isn't it kind of selfish to think "I love the Diablo franchise" and then get mad when Blizzard tries to bring the franchise to the widest possible audience? Now billions of people have the opportunity to have as much fun as you did. Phones are the new PC. PCs are for hardcore gamers or specialized professions (nobody is going to do CAD on their phone). It doesn't matter how this makes you feel, that's the reality. People do not have home computers anymore. 33% of all HTTP traffic on the Internet is from mobile Safari! (I do like the Hearthstone model. Most people play on their phones. I play in front of my nice PC. Everyone's happy.)
    - seattle_spring 8y ago
      So is your life philosophy that everything should become awful just to make it accessible to absolutely everyone? Should Mount Rainier have a paved road to the top with climate controlled bathrooms, just so grandma can enjoy a hot toddy from the summit? Maybe we should get rid of the "devilish" parts of Diablo, so it's safe and accessible to kids. Maybe Tesla should stop selling high-end cars. People do not have $100k to spend on a car. 33% of all traffic on the roads is people below the poverty line! > Everyone's happy. Uh, no.
    - gsich 8y ago
      You can't make this the big announcement at Blizzcon. The audience there doesn't give a shit about mobile games.
    - folknor 8y ago
zepearl 8y ago
>>In the future, Kotick said Activision-Blizzard will invest primarily in live services, Battle.net, and esports, with a focus on the following franchises: Candy Crush, Call of Duty, Overwatch, Warcraft, Diablo, and Hearthstone. For those franchises, Activision actually expects to increase, not reduce, development resources in 2019. While reading I suddenly felt good thinking "luckily my company's primary asset is not "Candy Crush" ". (no specific reason - for an old guy like me it just feels absolutely volatile - on the other hand it does make me feel I'm in the wrong parallel universe)
- redisman 8y ago
  Well, https://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/candy-crush-saga-1-billion-1202908004/ https://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/candy-crush-saga-1-bill...
- mr_toad 8y ago
  They’re not in the business of making and selling games. They’re in the business of selling subscriptions to access existing IP. Sounds insanely profitable to me.
jrockway 8y ago
As someone who only plays (and watches) Overwatch and Hearthstone... this all seems fine to me.
- JauntyHatAngle 8y ago
  First they came for Diablo, and I did not speak out - Because I was not an ARPG player. Then they came for Warcraft, and I did not speak out - Because I was not an MMO player. Then they came for Overwatch and Hearthstone - and there was no one left to speak for me.
  - inscionent 8y ago
    There is still Candy Crush
    - zepearl 8y ago
      Lame "influencer"-attempt. You're the Candy_Crush-project_manager, right? :)
    - gnadx 8y ago
      In our future dystopian end-stage capitalist nightmare, Candy Crush will be the only game available to us in the Fema camps.
  - pcwalton 8y ago
    Are we really comparing video games to Nazi Germany now?
    - jgon 8y ago
      If that's your takeaway from the context this quote was used in, you should take a step back, take a break and then come back and read it again. This is an almost laughably aggressive misreading of the intent of that post.
  - baud147258 8y ago
lwkl 8y ago
> In the future, Kotick said Activision-Blizzard will invest primarily in live services, Battle.net, and esports, with a focus on the following franchises: Candy Crush, Call of Duty, Overwatch, Warcraft, Diablo, and Hearthstone. No mention of StarCraft. This makes me sad. While I don‘t play video games anymore StarCraft was a big part of my childhood and it had a big influence on gaming and e-sports. I don‘t think Twitch and streaming would be as big if it weren‘t for StarCraft and the amazing people around it. Something about this game attracted driven people with great personalities.
- tnecniv 8y ago
  It's also disappointing because that's about as conservative as they can be in terms of franchises. They should resurrect Lost Vikings.
  - cwilkes 8y ago
    Also this points to no new projects coming out of Activision. What employee in their right mind would want to take a chance on a new thing at a company that throws away fellow employees like that?
- kromem 8y ago
  And no discussion of new franchises. It's generally not a good sign when a company decides to try and live on the graces of its past success and not continue striving for greatness.
  - benologist 8y ago
    They're striving for greatness in new ways, like teaching kids to spend irresponsibly on loot boxes then firing everyone and waiting on a plan B when they realize Europe is not open to gambling options for kids.
  - cloverich 8y ago
    You have a point, but Overwatch is still a new franchise, and for me it resurrected online FPS gameplay which hadn't changed much since I played TFC and Counterstrike nearly 20 years ago. I'd expect them to dedicate a substantial portion of their efforts towards maintaining and growing that franchise, and would for at least the next few years would consider that investment towards the "new".
Bjartr 8y ago
Here's some additional context for these layoffs: As of June 2018 Blizzard employeed around 9,800 people[1]. So this layoff represents a turnover of ~8% of staff. Depending on Blizzard's base turnover rate, which I couldn't find, they may be better or worse overall than the industry turnover rate of ~15% [2] Blizzard was considered one of the best companies to work for in 2018, at least by Forbes, though you can absolutely find examples of poor working conditions and unreasonable expectations as is the unfortunate par for the course in the games industry. The 78 person studio mentioned in the article (Z2Live) was a second degree acquisition (acquired by King who was then acquired by Blizzard), with their last release being in 2012[3]. [1] https://www.forbes.com/companies/activision-blizzard/#2a4ede782599 https://www.forbes.com/companies/activision-blizzard/#2a4ede... [2] https://www.informationweek.com/strategic-cio/team-building-and-staffing/technology-tops-list-of-industry-talent-turnover-rates-/d/d-id/1331668 https://www.informationweek.com/strategic-cio/team-building-... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z2_(company) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z2_(company)
- photoguy112 8y ago
  If your company is acquired, it is reasonable to expect that you'll be laid off, no matter how talented. Acquisition = layoffs - general rule of thumb.
  - tiglionabbit 8y ago
    This seems like the real answer to what folks are wondering about here. If they just acquired a bunch of companies there are going to be redundant roles to eliminate.
  - stuart78 8y ago
    Members of the acquired company had a 7 year run between King and Activision, so not sure it is fair to attribute layoffs to either acquisition.
  - snarfy 8y ago
    There is always overlap. No need for two HR departments.
tenpoundhammer 8y ago
> The layoffs, which will mostly be in non-game-development areas like publishing, will impact Activision, Blizzard, and King. In one case, an entire studio of 78 people was shut down—Seattle-based mobile game studio Z2Live. > The implication is that the positive results reported came thanks to a fairly narrow bench of franchises, with many of the company's efforts outside those franchises not meeting expectations. Sounds like the good properties did great and the second tier properties did worse than expected. I'm not sure why a company would chase bad money with good, sounds like a reasonable choice to reduce properties and downsize in favor of bolstering properties that are working and growing.
- ghostbrainalpha 8y ago
  That's a good point assuming that's all under their control. But one of the highest performers "Destiny" decided to end their relationship abruptly. This led to a bunch of marketing staff with jobs dedicated to a product that doesn't exist anymore and a bunch of under performing products that can't necessarily absorb those jobs. Its not Destiny's job to subsidize that staff and those B-Tier games. But its unfair to frame this as layoffs amid record profits when its so obvious that next year is going to be a completely different situation that Blizzard had no way to prepare for.
  - alexgmcm 8y ago
    Destiny 2 was underperforming. It was mentioned in the earnings call yesterday.
    - ghostbrainalpha 8y ago
      Under performing compared to analysts predictions, which affects stock price. That doesn't necessarily mean they lost money working on Destiny. And even if it they were negative, when Destiny left Blizzard still abruptly has an excess of dedicated support staff for a game they are no longer working with. If a Hurricane destroyed Disneyland... Disney would have to a shareholder responsibility to lay off the workers from that park while they rebuilt. It's not a reflection of corporate greed, but a fundamental part of decision making.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
Shivetya 8y ago
They fired a well know community manager [1] for their World of Warcraft franchise, this after making more promises during Blizzcon in November to increase communication with the community. Well, seems they fire four and these were the well liked CMs from more than just the WOW property. As I posted on a previous thread relating to this upcoming issue. Activision / Blizzard has been incredibly tone deaf with regards to the desires of their fans. The most blatant on Blizzards part was the big Diablo announcement of it going mobile. Which was so badly received you could see the shell shock among the developers [1] https://twitter.com/CadenHouse/status/1095450053001371649 https://twitter.com/CadenHouse/status/1095450053001371649 [2] https://twitter.com/LashesSashes/status/1095452768364457989 https://twitter.com/LashesSashes/status/1095452768364457989 [3] https://twitter.com/jjhill_ii/status/1095451189758455808 https://twitter.com/jjhill_ii/status/1095451189758455808 [4] https://twitter.com/hitstreak/status/1095456359594610689 https://twitter.com/hitstreak/status/1095456359594610689
- debaserab2 8y ago
  None of the twitter accounts you linked to are developers, just FYI. Apparently the actual dev staff was safe from firings.
  - folknor 8y ago
    He never claimed they were - in fact he said "community manager".
openloop 8y ago
You’re expendable. Proof.
moocowtruck 8y ago
before we all get riled up note from the article, notice the non-game-development part The layoffs, which will mostly be in non-game-development areas like publishing, will impact Activision, Blizzard, and King. In one case, an entire studio of 78 people was shut down—Seattle-based mobile game studio Z2Live. This is in spite of Kotick saying that the company achieved "record results in 2018." Activision made a statement about exceeding its expectations, but other market-watchers clearly had higher numbers in mind.
sigstoat 8y ago
> The layoffs, which will mostly be in non-game-development areas like publishing... > Currently, staffing levels on some teams are out of proportion with our current release slate. hint: they've got nothing on the release slate for _years_. and no, you don't get a source, because it isn't a URL.
- honkycat 8y ago
  They want to make mobile gatcha shovelware instead of big budget AAA titles.
- nextlevelwizard 8y ago
  Oh, I guess the yearly cycle of CoD games, the Warcrat 3 remake, and periodic patches for WoW do not count as releases. Thouse are just the once I'm aware off. There seems to be constant stream of things in Hearthstone (or at least it is adverticed constantly in the battle.net launcher) and since I stopped playing Overwatch (about a year ago) they've released at least three new heroes. If you are talking about actual new games then I guess you are right, but that has never been Blizzards thing.
seoguru 8y ago
Jim Sterling goes off on this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMAUHXXMHPk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMAUHXXMHPk
bashwizard 8y ago
I gUeSs We DoN't HaVe PhOnEs!
andy_ppp 8y ago
I wonder if this is getting a balance sheet looking better before a potential sale to Apple?
mancerayder 8y ago
Activision-Blizzard is a publicly-traded company. In such situations, the priority on "human" or emotional type issues comes second to the quarterly numbers, which investors look at. Is this good, bad? I don't know, but it's one of the perils of working for a publicly-traded company. Having worked in banking for years, a yearly layoff-and-hire cycle happened over and despite profits-reported. Investors care about future earnings more than they care about "community" and "communication," "best companies to work for" and some other words tossed around below. And I'm not saying this is a good thing, I'm only reporting what I observe as the explanation.
- el_cujo 8y ago
  Also despite having a "record year", Activision/Blizzard's stock has dropped almost 50% from where it was in September 2018, which I think was at least started by the PR blunder that was the Diablo Immortal announcement. The article doesn't really give any context into what the CEO meant by "record year" or even when he said it. If he'd said it back in August maybe that would make sense, or maybe it was a business move where you "look on the bright side" when things are looking shitty, but based on their stock price I'm not at all surprised they're having lay offs and restructuring.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]

365 points by tolien 8y ago

Record results in 2018. So Kotick will likely get a fat bonus and 775 people lose their livelihood. F*g corporate greed. When will enough be enough?

pault 8y ago
It's okay, they didn't get fired; they're just being scaled down!
toomuchtodo 8y ago
> When will enough be enough? https://www.gameworkersunite.org/ https://www.gameworkersunite.org/
cycrutchfield 8y ago
Right, because when you start a job that represents a lifetime obligation for the company to keep you gainfully employed.
- JustSomeNobody 8y ago
  But we're family, right?
imjustsaying 8y ago
No one is stopping people from making their own game instead of working for scam artist employers. It's a lesson best learned early in life. Imagine if [insert_successful_indy_dev_here] thought it was a good idea to gun for a 30k/year job at a big box shop because he thought it would impress his high school buddies instead of actually making his own good games.
photoguy112 8y ago
Start your own business, hire people and treat them well. When people keep working for shitheads, the shitheads dictate their lives.
- the_duke 8y ago
  That's the problem: in many fields, you won't be able to compete with the shitheads financially, because they can be much cheaper.
zanny 8y ago
> When will enough be enough? In the general sense, when governments adopt legislation to outlaw employee hostile practices. Like it has always been, for all of history. When factories exploded in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, workers were made to suffer and die by capitalists hands for profit by the millions. Decades of suffering later workers fought to get protection in the form of safety regulation, minimum working conditions, paid overtime, and a 40 hour work week. People seem to have forgotten how much blood was shed to acquire those contemporarily "basic" rights.
hoffs 8y ago
So is it illegal to fire people?
baud147258 8y ago
I think their stock has tanked a lot recently in the past month, so maybe there's that.
- white-flame 8y ago
  and shot up after this layoff reporting.
  - baud147258 8y ago
    Fuck this * world.

emmanueloga_ 8y ago

I did not know King was owned by Activision/Blizzard [1]. I wonder if/how it will affect the development of the Defold engine [2]. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_(company) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_(company) 2: https://www.defold.com/ https://www.defold.com/

alexland 8y ago
Well it's been 3 years, so however Defold has been progressing is probably your answer.
baud147258 8y ago
The acquisition price of 5 billions seems a little unrealistic, way above any value that Activision could win from Candy Crush and its derivatives.

voltagex_ 8y ago

There's a great thread on Twitter that I can't find right now discussions some of the second order effects of layoffs like these: * Game dev with family has to choose to either uproot family and leave area to find new job, or chooses to leave game dev and go get a job writing CRUD apps somewhere. Net result is loss of expertise - who's training the junior devs? Remember, layoffs like these are common in the AAA game industry. I used to want to be a game developer, now I'm sad I didn't pursue it, but also thankful for the security of my "standard" software job.

jdoliner 8y ago
Maybe I'm just heartless but having to "go get a job writing CRUD apps somewhere" to make ends meet doesn't exactly trigger my sympathy response. If that's your backup option you're doing better than 99% of the population.
- tabs_masterrace 8y ago
  what if they force you to use Java
  - jdoliner 8y ago
    Then it's a humanitarian crisis.
  - cellularmitosis 8y ago
    "Yes sir boss, using java, just like you told us to" https://clojure.org/ https://clojure.org/
  - ionised 8y ago
    Or javascript.
- Klathmon 8y ago
  I believe they are not talking about the individual suffering there, but about the industry as a whole suffering because experienced talent is getting drained out.

cableshaft 8y ago

I wonder if this will end up being the straw that breaks the camel's back and leads to unionization in the game industry. I've seen a decent uptick in serious discussion about it already this year after so many other dumb decisions by AAA publishers. I know a lot of people here don't think there should be unions in software, but I think the game industry is a special case. There's enough starry eyed people that love the idea of working on games enough that they are willing to put up with total abuse and just about no one who cares about raising a family can seriously stay in that industry. I myself spent a few years in it, and even though I love making games, it's just a serious hobby for me because I can't put up with the expected constant crunch, low salaries, and layoffs after every finished project.

Waterluvian 8y ago
Maybe that. But also the industry is oversaturated with game devs. And for AAA titles they're basically fungible. Need to stop graduating so many.
- munk-a 8y ago
  For game client programmers I think this is the case, though experienced devs are hard to find and retain. The gaming industry really hits issues when trying to attract non-engine devs, infrastructure and server specifically. Due to the portability of these skills to... much better industry sub-segments a lot of talent here just jumps ship and leaves. As a former server-side game dev I was always supportive of my co-worker's rights (QA & Art in particular have a _terrible_ time) and I think this is where pressure to unionize is likely to originate.
  - chrisseaton 8y ago
    Art has a hard time? That surprises me - if your artist leaves you can’t just hire someone with the same style can you?
    - Waterluvian 8y ago

seattle_spring 8y ago

Hopefully they were all from the Diablo division. Anyone who had anything to do with Diablo 3 or Diablo Immortal doesn't deserve a paying job.

momofarm 8y ago
quote of the year: don't you guys have phone?
- jrockway 8y ago
  Isn't it kind of selfish to think "I love the Diablo franchise" and then get mad when Blizzard tries to bring the franchise to the widest possible audience? Now billions of people have the opportunity to have as much fun as you did. Phones are the new PC. PCs are for hardcore gamers or specialized professions (nobody is going to do CAD on their phone). It doesn't matter how this makes you feel, that's the reality. People do not have home computers anymore. 33% of all HTTP traffic on the Internet is from mobile Safari! (I do like the Hearthstone model. Most people play on their phones. I play in front of my nice PC. Everyone's happy.)
  - seattle_spring 8y ago
    So is your life philosophy that everything should become awful just to make it accessible to absolutely everyone? Should Mount Rainier have a paved road to the top with climate controlled bathrooms, just so grandma can enjoy a hot toddy from the summit? Maybe we should get rid of the "devilish" parts of Diablo, so it's safe and accessible to kids. Maybe Tesla should stop selling high-end cars. People do not have $100k to spend on a car. 33% of all traffic on the roads is people below the poverty line! > Everyone's happy. Uh, no.
  - gsich 8y ago
    You can't make this the big announcement at Blizzcon. The audience there doesn't give a shit about mobile games.
  - folknor 8y ago

zepearl 8y ago

>>In the future, Kotick said Activision-Blizzard will invest primarily in live services, Battle.net, and esports, with a focus on the following franchises: Candy Crush, Call of Duty, Overwatch, Warcraft, Diablo, and Hearthstone. For those franchises, Activision actually expects to increase, not reduce, development resources in 2019. While reading I suddenly felt good thinking "luckily my company's primary asset is not "Candy Crush" ". (no specific reason - for an old guy like me it just feels absolutely volatile - on the other hand it does make me feel I'm in the wrong parallel universe)

redisman 8y ago
Well, https://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/candy-crush-saga-1-billion-1202908004/ https://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/candy-crush-saga-1-bill...
mr_toad 8y ago
They’re not in the business of making and selling games. They’re in the business of selling subscriptions to access existing IP. Sounds insanely profitable to me.

jrockway 8y ago

As someone who only plays (and watches) Overwatch and Hearthstone... this all seems fine to me.

JauntyHatAngle 8y ago
First they came for Diablo, and I did not speak out - Because I was not an ARPG player. Then they came for Warcraft, and I did not speak out - Because I was not an MMO player. Then they came for Overwatch and Hearthstone - and there was no one left to speak for me.
- inscionent 8y ago
  There is still Candy Crush
  - zepearl 8y ago
    Lame "influencer"-attempt. You're the Candy_Crush-project_manager, right? :)
  - gnadx 8y ago
    In our future dystopian end-stage capitalist nightmare, Candy Crush will be the only game available to us in the Fema camps.
- pcwalton 8y ago
  Are we really comparing video games to Nazi Germany now?
  - jgon 8y ago
    If that's your takeaway from the context this quote was used in, you should take a step back, take a break and then come back and read it again. This is an almost laughably aggressive misreading of the intent of that post.
- baud147258 8y ago

lwkl 8y ago

> In the future, Kotick said Activision-Blizzard will invest primarily in live services, Battle.net, and esports, with a focus on the following franchises: Candy Crush, Call of Duty, Overwatch, Warcraft, Diablo, and Hearthstone. No mention of StarCraft. This makes me sad. While I don‘t play video games anymore StarCraft was a big part of my childhood and it had a big influence on gaming and e-sports. I don‘t think Twitch and streaming would be as big if it weren‘t for StarCraft and the amazing people around it. Something about this game attracted driven people with great personalities.

tnecniv 8y ago
It's also disappointing because that's about as conservative as they can be in terms of franchises. They should resurrect Lost Vikings.
- cwilkes 8y ago
  Also this points to no new projects coming out of Activision. What employee in their right mind would want to take a chance on a new thing at a company that throws away fellow employees like that?
kromem 8y ago
And no discussion of new franchises. It's generally not a good sign when a company decides to try and live on the graces of its past success and not continue striving for greatness.
- benologist 8y ago
  They're striving for greatness in new ways, like teaching kids to spend irresponsibly on loot boxes then firing everyone and waiting on a plan B when they realize Europe is not open to gambling options for kids.
- cloverich 8y ago
  You have a point, but Overwatch is still a new franchise, and for me it resurrected online FPS gameplay which hadn't changed much since I played TFC and Counterstrike nearly 20 years ago. I'd expect them to dedicate a substantial portion of their efforts towards maintaining and growing that franchise, and would for at least the next few years would consider that investment towards the "new".

Bjartr 8y ago

Here's some additional context for these layoffs: As of June 2018 Blizzard employeed around 9,800 people[1]. So this layoff represents a turnover of ~8% of staff. Depending on Blizzard's base turnover rate, which I couldn't find, they may be better or worse overall than the industry turnover rate of ~15% [2] Blizzard was considered one of the best companies to work for in 2018, at least by Forbes, though you can absolutely find examples of poor working conditions and unreasonable expectations as is the unfortunate par for the course in the games industry. The 78 person studio mentioned in the article (Z2Live) was a second degree acquisition (acquired by King who was then acquired by Blizzard), with their last release being in 2012[3]. [1] https://www.forbes.com/companies/activision-blizzard/#2a4ede782599 https://www.forbes.com/companies/activision-blizzard/#2a4ede... [2] https://www.informationweek.com/strategic-cio/team-building-and-staffing/technology-tops-list-of-industry-talent-turnover-rates-/d/d-id/1331668 https://www.informationweek.com/strategic-cio/team-building-... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z2_(company) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z2_(company)

photoguy112 8y ago
If your company is acquired, it is reasonable to expect that you'll be laid off, no matter how talented. Acquisition = layoffs - general rule of thumb.
- tiglionabbit 8y ago
  This seems like the real answer to what folks are wondering about here. If they just acquired a bunch of companies there are going to be redundant roles to eliminate.
- stuart78 8y ago
  Members of the acquired company had a 7 year run between King and Activision, so not sure it is fair to attribute layoffs to either acquisition.
- snarfy 8y ago
  There is always overlap. No need for two HR departments.

tenpoundhammer 8y ago

> The layoffs, which will mostly be in non-game-development areas like publishing, will impact Activision, Blizzard, and King. In one case, an entire studio of 78 people was shut down—Seattle-based mobile game studio Z2Live. > The implication is that the positive results reported came thanks to a fairly narrow bench of franchises, with many of the company's efforts outside those franchises not meeting expectations. Sounds like the good properties did great and the second tier properties did worse than expected. I'm not sure why a company would chase bad money with good, sounds like a reasonable choice to reduce properties and downsize in favor of bolstering properties that are working and growing.

ghostbrainalpha 8y ago
That's a good point assuming that's all under their control. But one of the highest performers "Destiny" decided to end their relationship abruptly. This led to a bunch of marketing staff with jobs dedicated to a product that doesn't exist anymore and a bunch of under performing products that can't necessarily absorb those jobs. Its not Destiny's job to subsidize that staff and those B-Tier games. But its unfair to frame this as layoffs amid record profits when its so obvious that next year is going to be a completely different situation that Blizzard had no way to prepare for.
- alexgmcm 8y ago
  Destiny 2 was underperforming. It was mentioned in the earnings call yesterday.
  - ghostbrainalpha 8y ago
    Under performing compared to analysts predictions, which affects stock price. That doesn't necessarily mean they lost money working on Destiny. And even if it they were negative, when Destiny left Blizzard still abruptly has an excess of dedicated support staff for a game they are no longer working with. If a Hurricane destroyed Disneyland... Disney would have to a shareholder responsibility to lay off the workers from that park while they rebuilt. It's not a reflection of corporate greed, but a fundamental part of decision making.

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Shivetya 8y ago

They fired a well know community manager [1] for their World of Warcraft franchise, this after making more promises during Blizzcon in November to increase communication with the community. Well, seems they fire four and these were the well liked CMs from more than just the WOW property. As I posted on a previous thread relating to this upcoming issue. Activision / Blizzard has been incredibly tone deaf with regards to the desires of their fans. The most blatant on Blizzards part was the big Diablo announcement of it going mobile. Which was so badly received you could see the shell shock among the developers [1] https://twitter.com/CadenHouse/status/1095450053001371649 https://twitter.com/CadenHouse/status/1095450053001371649 [2] https://twitter.com/LashesSashes/status/1095452768364457989 https://twitter.com/LashesSashes/status/1095452768364457989 [3] https://twitter.com/jjhill_ii/status/1095451189758455808 https://twitter.com/jjhill_ii/status/1095451189758455808 [4] https://twitter.com/hitstreak/status/1095456359594610689 https://twitter.com/hitstreak/status/1095456359594610689

debaserab2 8y ago
None of the twitter accounts you linked to are developers, just FYI. Apparently the actual dev staff was safe from firings.
- folknor 8y ago
  He never claimed they were - in fact he said "community manager".

openloop 8y ago

You’re expendable. Proof.

moocowtruck 8y ago

before we all get riled up note from the article, notice the non-game-development part The layoffs, which will mostly be in non-game-development areas like publishing, will impact Activision, Blizzard, and King. In one case, an entire studio of 78 people was shut down—Seattle-based mobile game studio Z2Live. This is in spite of Kotick saying that the company achieved "record results in 2018." Activision made a statement about exceeding its expectations, but other market-watchers clearly had higher numbers in mind.

sigstoat 8y ago

> The layoffs, which will mostly be in non-game-development areas like publishing... > Currently, staffing levels on some teams are out of proportion with our current release slate. hint: they've got nothing on the release slate for _years_. and no, you don't get a source, because it isn't a URL.

honkycat 8y ago
They want to make mobile gatcha shovelware instead of big budget AAA titles.
nextlevelwizard 8y ago
Oh, I guess the yearly cycle of CoD games, the Warcrat 3 remake, and periodic patches for WoW do not count as releases. Thouse are just the once I'm aware off. There seems to be constant stream of things in Hearthstone (or at least it is adverticed constantly in the battle.net launcher) and since I stopped playing Overwatch (about a year ago) they've released at least three new heroes. If you are talking about actual new games then I guess you are right, but that has never been Blizzards thing.

seoguru 8y ago

Jim Sterling goes off on this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMAUHXXMHPk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMAUHXXMHPk

bashwizard 8y ago

I gUeSs We DoN't HaVe PhOnEs!

andy_ppp 8y ago

I wonder if this is getting a balance sheet looking better before a potential sale to Apple?

mancerayder 8y ago

Activision-Blizzard is a publicly-traded company. In such situations, the priority on "human" or emotional type issues comes second to the quarterly numbers, which investors look at. Is this good, bad? I don't know, but it's one of the perils of working for a publicly-traded company. Having worked in banking for years, a yearly layoff-and-hire cycle happened over and despite profits-reported. Investors care about future earnings more than they care about "community" and "communication," "best companies to work for" and some other words tossed around below. And I'm not saying this is a good thing, I'm only reporting what I observe as the explanation.

el_cujo 8y ago
Also despite having a "record year", Activision/Blizzard's stock has dropped almost 50% from where it was in September 2018, which I think was at least started by the PR blunder that was the Diablo Immortal announcement. The article doesn't really give any context into what the CEO meant by "record year" or even when he said it. If he'd said it back in August maybe that would make sense, or maybe it was a business move where you "look on the bright side" when things are looking shitty, but based on their stock price I'm not at all surprised they're having lay offs and restructuring.
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