Significant employee layoffs have begun at Activision Blizzard. The publisher announced this afternoon they will be letting go hundreds of staff members working within Activision, Blizzard, and King.
A post on Blizzard’s website from president J. Allan Brack gave little detail about the layoffs at the publisher of Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and Overwatch. However, it did say the company is adding to game development while undergoing what they say is a reorganization of their non-development teams. Brack recently took over as president in October.
According to Katrina Garsten, Associate Producer of In-Game Cinematics at Blizzard, the publisher laid off almost 800 people within Activision Blizzard.
While I still have a job, almost 800 people across Activision Blizzard do not. Please bear with me as I retweet job opportunities for those affected, and consider retweeting job opportunities for your followers as well.
Spread only kindness today.#ActivisionBlizzard #gamejobs
— Katrina Garsten (@kgarsten) February 12, 2019
Activision released their financial performance results for 2018 and outlined their plan for 2019. Saying they would “increase development investment in its biggest franchises.” In a statement regarding their finance report, Chief Executive Officer of Activision Blizzard Bobby Kotick said,
Almost immediately other gaming developers, publishers, and professionals took to social media reaching out to employees with position opportunities.
