Activision Blizzard underwent widespread layoffs today, cutting 8 percent of its staff — or about 750 jobs, despite posting “record-setting” profits for its 2018 fiscal year.
Activision Blizzard leadership made widespread layoffs today, cutting 8 percent of its staff — or about 800 jobs — despite posting “record-setting” revenue for its 2018 fiscal year.
The news comes from Activision Blizzard’s fourth-quarter earnings call with investors today. Those affect by the layoffs were described as being in “non-development roles” on the earnings call by Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, who said the company will still continue to scale up development-focused positions.
“We saw weaker than anticipated retail demand,” said president and chief operating officer Collister “Coddy” Johnson during the call. But “we will not improve retail monetization as quickly as we liked,” referring to the slowing sales of microtransactions within games like Overwatch and Hearthstone.
According to chief financial officer Dennis Durkin, Blizzard does not have a major or “frontline” release planned for the 2019 fiscal year. This means Blizzard has no plans to release a new Diablo (beyond the already announced mobile game) or any other major game. As a result, Durkin attributed the lower income and revised guidance for the upcoming year to disappointing returns from the Blizzard segment of the company.
