MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
UPDATE: Activision Blizzard has responded to the report of layoffs at the company.
Speaking to MCV/DEVELOP, an Activision Blizzard spokesperson stated:
“We’ve been exploring how we might best integrate our capabilities across the business and be efficient as we evolve to meet growth opportunities and stay competitive in Asia Pacific. To that end, we have begun conversations with employees regarding a plan to centralize some roles across the region in our Sydney office. Decisions of this nature are never easy and supporting our employees through this process is our number one priority.”
MCV/DEVELOP can also report that the customer support and localisation teams are not affected by these layoffs, and Activision Blizzard states the actual number of employees facing redundancy is closer to 30. No APAC office closures have been announced.
ORIGINAL STORY:
The layoffs at Activision Blizzard seem set to continue, with over 100 employees at the company also now facing redundancy.
According to a source familiar with the matter, speaking exclusively to MCV/DEVELOP, more offices are set to close – following the reports of the closure of the offices in Versailles and The Hague in October.
According to the source, who wished to remain anonymous, the staff handling the company’s APAC region were hit with the news yesterday – with the marketing, PR, publishing, customer care and localisation teams all expected to face redundancies – with over 100 staff now facing potential unemployment.
Asked for the reason behind the closures, the source said that the company was transitioning its non-development workforce to a full outsourcing setup.
“Activision’s part of the company doesn’t believe in community management and fandom,” said the source to MCV/DEVELOP. “They think their games sell themselves. They’d rather pop a couple of millions on having Beyonce tweet about CoD than hire a bunch of good people.”
The changes may be related to Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick’s recent commitment to expand the company’s development workforce by over 2,000 people in the next year. To further back up this claim, the source explained that the company had been outsourcing its non-development work for some time now, particularly in PR and customer care.
MCV/DEVELOP reached out to Activision Blizzard for comment, but as of yet has received no reply. If you are affected by the alleged layoffs, then please do get in contact with us.
