JANUARY 25, 2024 — 1,900 EMPLOYEES
Following its acquisition of Activision, the company has laid off 9% of its gaming workforce, about 1,900 employees.
Microsoft Gaming chief Phil Spencer noted, “As we move forward in 2024, the leadership of Microsoft Gaming and Activision Blizzard is committed to aligning on a strategy and an execution plan with a sustainable cost structure that will support the whole of our growing business. Together, we’ve set priorities, identified areas of overlap, and ensured that we’re all aligned on the best opportunities for growth.”
DECEMBER 9, 2022 — FTC SUES TO BLOCK MERGER
The Federal Trade Commission will seek to block Microsoft's $69 billion acquisition of video game developer Activision Blizzard,
"Microsoft has already shown that it can and will withhold content from its gaming rivals. Today we seek to stop Microsoft from gaining control over a leading independent game studio and using it to harm competition in multiple dynamic and fast-growing gaming markets."
JANUARY 19, 2022 — ACTIVISION TO BE ACQUIRED BY MICROSOFT. IS THIS THE BEGINNING OF A PURGE?
Microsoft released the following statement.
Microsoft will acquire Activision Blizzard for $95.00 per share, in an all-cash transaction valued at $68.7 billion, inclusive of Activision Blizzard’s net cash. When the transaction closes, Microsoft will become the world’s third-largest gaming company by revenue, behind Tencent and Sony. The planned acquisition includes iconic franchises from the Activision, Blizzard and King studios like “Warcraft,” “Diablo,” “Overwatch,” “Call of Duty” and “Candy Crush,” in addition to global eSports activities through Major League Gaming. The company has studios around the world with nearly 10,000 employees.
Bobby Kotick will continue to serve as CEO of Activision Blizzard, and he and his team will maintain their focus on driving efforts to further strengthen the company’s culture and accelerate business growth. Once the deal closes, the Activision Blizzard business will report to Phil Spencer, CEO, Microsoft Gaming.
JANUARY 18, 2022 — OVER 40 EMPLOYEES FIRED, OTHERS DISCIPLINED FOR SEXUAL MISBEHAVIOR AND OTHER ISSUES
According to published reports…
More than three dozen employees have been shown the door at Activision Blizzard.
The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that the video game developer fired or pushed out the employees to address allegations of sexual harassment and other misconduct. It said another 40 employees have been disciplined.
DECEMBER 4, 2021 — QUALITY ASSURANCE TESTERS LAID OFF
Raven Software, an Activision Blizzard-owned studio that develops games like “Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War” and “Call of Duty: Warzone, is laying off contract QA testers in Madison, Wisconsin. Some contractors have already been separated with others dreading the next separation date on January 28, 2022.
It appears that the company told quality assurance testers at other company studios that Activision Blizzard has ended its contract with staffing partner Tapfin and will expand its contract with Volt, another personnel provider so that current testers at some studios will now become Volt employees.
Being re-badged to a personnel provider ensures the company can act quickly on flexible staffing decisions without facing the legal liabilities from employees.
MARCH 24, 2021 — ANGER IN THE RANKS AS EMPLOYEES GET $200 GIFT CARDS AND THE CEO WALKS AWAY WITH $200 MILLION.
It appears that numerous Activision Blizzard employees who have been laid off or facing another round of layoffs are upset that CEO Bobby Kotick is set to get paid a $200 million bonus in cash.
Some employees contrasted that payout with the giving laid-off staff with a $200 Battle.net gift card given to departing employees.
The layoffs are continuing, especially in the company’s European operations.
MARCH 17, 2021 — BLIZZARD PIVOT WITH 50 ESPORTS LAYOFFS; 190 TOTAL LAYOFFS
The company has announced a pivot away from live events and will be laying off at least 190 employees, with 50 employees in the esports divisions, the majority of whom support live events. Also affected are some employees working for King, the publisher of Candy Crush.
According to a company spokesperson, "Players are increasingly choosing to connect with our games digitally and the e-sports team, much like traditional sports, entertainment, and broadcasting industries, has had to adapt its business due to the impact the pandemic has had on live events."
FEBRUARY 13, 2019 — Original post…
Santa Monica, California-based Activision Blizzard, a major American video game and film holding company, has announced a major restructuring effort that will result in a major reduction in force, estimated to include 800 employees. An Activision spokesperson characterizes the restructuring as a “de-prioritizing of initiatives that didn’t meet expectations.
In announcing changes on the Fourth Quarter Earnings call, CEO Bobby Kotick, noted…
“While we had record performance in 2018, it didn't quite live up to our expectations. We didn't execute as well as we hoped to in 2018 and our current outlook for 2019 falls below what is possible in an industry filled with growth opportunities.
We measure our success by growth in reach, engagement, and player investment and while we had record financial results in 2018, we didn't achieve the reach engagement and player investment goals we set for ourselves. 2019 will require significant change to enable us to achieve our long-term goals and objectives. We're making changes to enable our development teams to create better content for our biggest franchises more quickly. Across our key franchises, we're adding development talent to ensure our teams can deliver exactly what our fans have come to expect from our games, a consistent flow of compelling content.
We'll also increase our focus on adjacent opportunities with demonstrated potential like esports for Overwatch League and Call of Duty. We're stepping up production on our incubation efforts faster and increasing our investment in live services, in our tools, in our Battle.net platform and in new areas like our fast-growing esports and advertising efforts, but all with an intense focus on excellence, so we never disappoint our players.
Our pipeline is excellent and our development talent the very best in the world. But we need to refocus our efforts so that our development and production resources are better aligned with our priorities. We're reducing or eliminating investment in games and initiatives that weren't living up to player expectations, where our leadership teams have determined may not live up to player expectations in the future. To drive improved execution and to fund development investment, we will in certain parts of the business reduce complexity and duplication in our back-office functions, consolidate certain commercial operations, and revamp our consumer marketing capabilities to reflect our continued migration to a largely digital network.
While this isn't a shift in our strategy, achieving better execution requires change, change that requires new leadership and organizational commitment to change. We operate in an industry with proven growth and real potential and we haven't grown at the rates that reflect the opportunities our industry affords. We have new business unit leadership committed to serving our players, our employees and our shareholders.”
And from Coddy Johnson - Chief Operating Officer …
“We have, therefore, developed a clear plan for this year to refocus and reinforce the foundation for growth. This refocus includes initiatives developed by our new business unit leaders each of whom has demonstrated the ability to combine creative excellence with the commercial focus on profitable growth.
First, we are investing more in development for our biggest internally owned franchises across upfront releases, in-game content, mobile and geographic expansion. Second, we are deprioritizing initiatives that are not meeting our expectations and reducing certain non-development and administrative-related costs across our business. Third, we are integrating our global and regional sales and go-to-market partnerships and sponsorships capabilities across the business, enabling us to better leverage talent, expertise, and scale on behalf of our business units.
Our restructuring plan sheds investment and less productive non-strategic areas of our business and will result in a net headcount reduction of approximately 8% while also driving a significant increase in investment, focus, and capabilities around our biggest franchises. We're confident that over time this plan will enable our teams to accelerate the delivery of high-quality content to our communities.
Specifically, as we reallocate resources and hire new talent, we are planning for the number of developers working on Call of Duty, Candy, Overwatch, Warcraft, Hearthstone, and Diablo to increase in aggregate by approximately 20% over the course of the coming year. For Call of Duty, Activision management expects additional resources to deliver more frequent content updates and events for the franchise and accelerate its expansion across platforms and geographies.”
There are no guarantees in life or promises for a bright future. Just because something bad hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere ... are you now wondering, Am I Next?