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[KyoZz]

Despite record results and a salary of Robert Kotick (CEO of Activision-Blizzard) rising, the company has decided to lay off 134 of its employees in France (and much more in the world) in anticipation of a 2019 year that will prove, according to Activision Blizzard, to be difficult.

Of the 400 employees at Activision Blizzard's European head office in Versailles, 134 would soon be made redundant through a job-saving plan. Of all the offices of the American group, those of the Hexagon would be the most proportionally affected, the divisions housed in France (public relations, marketing, esport ...) being those targeted by the restructurings.

A statement also points to the fact that some of the jobs eliminated in France, including customer service, have been reopened in the Irish offices of Blizzard, as was also learned a few months ago via Kotaku, denouncing a "relocation that does not say his name" to save on costs.

This statement clearly points the striking contradiction between the record results posted by Bobby Kotick's group last year (a turnover of 6.6 billion euros for a net profit of 1.6 billion euros) and the extent of the restructuring, which translates to "more redundant dismissal than economic"
"Even though our 2018 results are the best in our history, we have not realized our full potential," said CEO Bobby Kotick.

It was also learned that the mobile subsidiary King is also severely affected with the outright closure of two development studios in San Francisco and Seattle, the latter employing 78 people.


With the help of "Force Ouvrière", the unions promise assistance to employees who wish to dispute their dismissal at the Labor Court if Blizzard does not "find his wits" and does not put "the necessary means on the table in view of the situation" .


Source (in French sorry)
Blizzard France : le syndicat Solidaires Informatique dénonce un "plan social honteux"
Communiqué de presse

 

[angelic]

Can't say im sad for activision people, and definitely not King people. Fuck em.

 

[nowhat]

But what will us guys that do have a cell phone do now?

 

[MiyazakiHatesKojima]

The less the clutter, the more the quality of production increases.

 

[Yoshi]

The devil is at it again.

 

[Fuz]

Games industry is fucked up. Completely and irreparably.

Devs should abandon those big, dehumanized companies in droves and start making games "the old way".

 

[Dontero]

Games industry is fucked up. Completely and irreparably.
Devs should abandon those big, dehumanized companies in droves and start making games "the old way".

You mean like indies who invest their savings spend hours which would put to shame stories about crunch and 9/10 of them fail at this ?
I agree, weak should fail for something good to grow.

Making games is an artform, it is not 9-5 job, but a passion project only those who can properly go with the flow and sacrefice everything for their passion can achieve success and create something good.

 

[pr0cs]

Making games is an artform, it is not 9-5 job, but a passion project only those who can properly go with the flow and sacrefice everything for their passion can achieve success and create something good.

Well said and seriously understated in our society where idiots are suggesting that a 'union' is necessary for gaming

 

[Kataploom]

WTF is going on with this thread? Am I missing something? These are people losing their jobs ffs, I hope they can find another or succeed in their personal projects, since they're not to be blamed for their bosses decisions (which also led them to that situation)

 

[wipeout364]

I’m usually supportive of cost savings but not when in the same sentence your company is talking about record profits and the CEO is giving himself a raise.

Frankly the board should fire Kotick; they would still save money. What exactly is Kotick’s strategy? Drive an IP into the ground certainly doesn’t take much CEO brain power to stay on that course.

He just got lucky with COD that infinity ward made such a solid template and treyarch are Nerdy work horses who can literally make a solid copy of any game you put in front of them.

 

[Chittagong]

WTF is going on with this thread? Am I missing something? These are people losing their jobs ffs, I hope they can find another or succeed in their personal projects, since they're not to be blamed for their bosses decisions (which also led them to that situation)

There are basically three reasons for corporate layoffs:

1 - Redundancy. This happens e.g. when distribution becomes digital, and you don’t need big sales teams, trade sales teams, trade marketing teams, regional marketing teams, since everything goes through a global digital storefront.

2 - Efficiency. This happens e.g. when running infrastructure becomes inefficient in smaller locations, or wages and rents rise too high compared to another location.

3 - Underperformance. This happens when a studio simply can not get a successful enough game together, despite trying.

Two first reasons are structural and no individual can do much about them, it just happens. The third is because of people, and may be up to bad management, but equally to insufficienctly skilled labour.

Most publishers face all three these days. While each layoff is an individual personal tragedy, in proportion to their size, Activision layoffs are incredibly small. They are bound to have more just underperforming individuals, structural changes aside.

 

[SirKicksalot]

I assume this is because of Legend of Solgard failed to gain much traction. Excellent game (because it copies Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes) but the monetization was not that great.

 

[Kadayi]

Can't say im sad for activision people, and definitely not King people. Fuck em.

Can you show us on the doll where they touched you?

 

[Kacho]

WTF is going on with this thread? Am I missing something? These are people losing their jobs ffs, I hope they can find another or succeed in their personal projects, since they're not to be blamed for their bosses decisions (which also led them to that situation)

People being laid off is common in any business and it’s not something worth getting emotional about.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

People being laid off is common in any business and it’s not something worth getting emotional about.

I don't get it either.

Gaming is definitely one of the industries where a studio gets cut and people go apeshit.

Every other industry has cuts too, yet I bet 99% of said people don't give a shit.

Keeping a job isn't hard. As long as you aren't a dick, aren't performing bad, aren't overpaid, and the company is doing well, a company will keep you.

Companies don't want to lose good people for the heck of it.

 

[angelic]

Can you show us on the doll where they touched you?

my cock and my wallet

 

[JoeyWestSide]

Was this part of the 800 already announced? Jw cuz I know more stories popped up about a similar situation with Ford where it was many months later when the layoffs were in affect.

 

[Bolivar687]

I"m surprised the dude is still up there and not just guiding everything through a proxy CEO.

 

[EverydayBeast]

Activision-Blizzard's legacy will be based off of Call of Duty and World of Warcraft's success the later you could make an argument you can't expect to be perfect with no console presence.

 

[Saber]

It's aways sad to me to see people being fired like that. Not that I have pity for these kind of companies...but losing a job is not a pretty sight.

 

[Dontero]

I’m usually supportive of cost savings but not when in the same sentence your company is talking about record profits and the CEO is giving himself a raise.

Frankly the board should fire Kotick; they would still save money. What exactly is Kotick’s strategy? Drive an IP into the ground certainly doesn’t take much CEO brain power to stay on that course.

He just got lucky with COD that infinity ward made such a solid template and treyarch are Nerdy work horses who can literally make a solid copy of any game you put in front of them.

From what i know Kotick is majority stakeholder in Acti-Blizz he is not just CEO.
Secondly why board would fire someone who made Activision from small company to absolute behemoth and made them filthy rich ?
His job is to earn money for shareholders and aside from him there isn't anyone in industry who could say they do it better.


Acti-blizz is just another corpo. They don't give a flying fuck about people but about money.
If they have to fire half of their workers because they believe it will generate more profit they will do it and won't bat an eye.

You are right that they got lucky with Modern Warfare but that luck doesn't matter anymore because due to that they bought other behemoths like Blizzard and SuperCell who print money. To sink such leviatan you need a lot more than modern warfare failture. Each of their IP is enough to fund 100s of games for the future and i am pretty sure they have enough money in tax heavens for them to make games for next 100 years and every single one of them being failure.

People just don't realize what it means to get WOW money alone every single month. For the past 10+ years month in month they effectively earned money that would put biggest AAA hits money in shame just from WOW alone. EVERY SINGLE MONTH FOR 10+ YEARS and that is not counting micro.

 

[MayauMiao]

Aren't game studios partly to blame when they sold their sold to share holders?

 

[Fuz]

You mean like indies

I mean smaller companies. Something like the old Sierra, Lucasarts, Ocean. Or something like CDPR, for example.

Aren't game studios partly to blame when they sold their sold to share holders?

Yep. Crocodile tears.

 

[wipeout364]

From what i know Kotick is majority stakeholder in Acti-Blizz he is not just CEO.
Secondly why board would fire someone who made Activision from small company to absolute behemoth and made them filthy rich ?
His job is to earn money for shareholders and aside from him there isn't anyone in industry who could say they do it better.

I don’t know, Maybe because under his watch shareholders lost half their investment in the last 6 months. The company value dropped from 66 billion to 33 billion, I think that might be enough to remove him. But given that most boards are a bunch of crony assholes who only care about lining their own pockets you are probably right.

 

[Dontero]

I mean smaller companies. Something like the old Sierra, Lucasarts, Ocean. Or something like CDPR, for example.

All of them crunched and sacrificed tears and blood for their games.
Also since when Lucasarts, Sierra are small companies ? Especially Lucasart and Sierra which at the time were the biggest companies out there.

I don’t know, Maybe because under his watch shareholders lost half their investment in the last 6 months. The company value dropped from 66 billion to 33 billion, I think that might be enough to remove him. But given that most boards are a bunch of crony assholes who only care about lining their own pockets you are probably right.

So what it went down from 66 to 33 ? Under his rule it went up from barely bilion to 66 and unlike most of companies they are not growth company, they bank roll their money so stock price is only secondary issues for them.

When Acti-Blizz will be in trouble they will just use their funds and will buy another huge fish and will start to suck its blood.

 

[angelic]

Do fish have blood?

 

[SlashBringingHasher]

Games industry is fucked up. Completely and irreparably.

Devs should abandon those big, dehumanized companies in droves and start making games "the old way".

those same devs are the ones that sold their studios to these big companies.

 

[Burrito Bandito]

I’m usually supportive of cost savings but not when in the same sentence your company is talking about record profits and the CEO is giving himself a raise.

Frankly the board should fire Kotick; they would still save money. What exactly is Kotick’s strategy? Drive an IP into the ground certainly doesn’t take much CEO brain power to stay on that course.

He just got lucky with COD that infinity ward made such a solid template and treyarch are Nerdy work horses who can literally make a solid copy of any game you put in front of them.

how do you acheive record profits? certainly not by continually keeping redundant employees and offices on payroll. this is a move that ANY CEO would make in any industry. this is why they are the CEO, they make decisions that increases a companies earnings, not decisions that hold back earnings.

and who deserves a raise during a time of record profit if not the main person who actually caused said profit?

And CEOs dont just give themselves raises, it is approved by their board and stakeholders. If they thought they could get similar performance at a cheaper cost the. they would have ousted him

 

[deriks]

So they bought the company just to fire later...

 

[JoeyWestSide]

I don’t know, Maybe because under his watch shareholders lost half their investment in the last 6 months. The company value dropped from 66 billion to 33 billion, I think that might be enough to remove him. But given that most boards are a bunch of crony assholes who only care about lining their own pockets you are probably right.

You know there's a trade war going on right? Markets are very volatile right now. That's the biggest cause of it dropping since last fall is politics.

 

[Holdfing]

Do fish have blood?

Can confirm that they do. Not much, though.

Large corporations always give me the creeps with their treatment of employees. I guess above a certain size they can't help but treat them as "human resources" for the sake of efficiency.

 

[Zog]

I wish game consumers were as pro-consumer as they are pro-developer.

 

[Fuz]

Also since when Lucasarts, Sierra are small companies ? Especially Lucasart and Sierra which at the time were the biggest companies out there.

Sill way smaller and more humane than EA and Actiblizzard. Just go read Ron Gilbert's stories of the Lucasarts at the time. The insane crunch stories and all those firings are pretty recent trends due to shareholders' need to infinitely increase profit.

those same devs are the ones that sold their studios to these big companies.

I know, and I already pointed out that they're crocodile tears.

 

[SlashBringingHasher]

Sill way smaller and more humane than EA and Actiblizzard. Just go read Ron Gilbert's stories of the Lucasarts at the time. The insane crunch stories and all those firings are pretty recent trends due to shareholders' need to infinitely increase profit.

I know, and I already pointed out that they're crocodile tears.

not the small guy that works at a desk. they were betrayed by the ones that founded the studio. you know. the game devs that were there at first and the company grew under and then they sold

the last of them right now is Ted Price at insomniac. hes not selling am sure he was offered millions of dollars many times but hes a good person genuinely.

 

[Dontero]

Sill way smaller and more humane than EA and Actiblizzard. Just go read Ron Gilbert's stories of the Lucasarts at the time. The insane crunch stories and all those firings are pretty recent trends due to shareholders' need to infinitely increase profit.

I know, and I already pointed out that they're crocodile tears.

But they crunched as hell there ! Any studio at the time who was worth anything crunched.
Crunch is the default state of industry. The smaller you are the more crunch there is.

 

[HaveButOneLife]

Being laid off isn't the same as being fired.

 

[royox]

Despite record results and a salary of Robert Kotick (CEO of Activision-Blizzard) rising, the company has decided to lay off 134 of its employees in France (and much more in the world) in anticipation of a 2019 year that will prove, according to Activision Blizzard, to be difficult.

Of the 400 employees at Activision Blizzard's European head office in Versailles, 134 would soon be made redundant through a job-saving plan. Of all the offices of the American group, those of the Hexagon would be the most proportionally affected, the divisions housed in France (public relations, marketing, esport ...) being those targeted by the restructurings.

A statement also points to the fact that some of the jobs eliminated in France, including customer service, have been reopened in the Irish offices of Blizzard, as was also learned a few months ago via Kotaku, denouncing a "relocation that does not say his name" to save on costs.

This statement clearly points the striking contradiction between the record results posted by Bobby Kotick's group last year (a turnover of 6.6 billion euros for a net profit of 1.6 billion euros) and the extent of the restructuring, which translates to "more redundant dismissal than economic"
"Even though our 2018 results are the best in our history, we have not realized our full potential," said CEO Bobby Kotick.

It was also learned that the mobile subsidiary King is also severely affected with the outright closure of two development studios in San Francisco and Seattle, the latter employing 78 people.


With the help of "Force Ouvrière", the unions promise assistance to employees who wish to dispute their dismissal at the Labor Court if Blizzard does not "find his wits" and does not put "the necessary means on the table in view of the situation" .


Source (in French sorry)
Blizzard France : le syndicat Solidaires Informatique dénonce un "plan social honteux"
Communiqué de presse

That guy looks like a goblin.

 

[AV]

Classic WoW's about to make them millions of dollars every month with little overhead. Hopefully that creates a few new jobs somewhere within the company, even if it's GMing Classic...

 

[Screamer-RSA]

"Don't you guys have jobs?"

In all seriousness Kotick being Kotick, a scumbag with fuck you money.