Activision and Blizzard Layoffs

If you’ve ever been through an acquisition or merger you’d have expected this news to come, but for those new to the concept it’s simple: you can’t keep everyone. After a complete merger you end up with two sales departments, two IT departments, etc.

Do you really need them all? No, not really. You’ll need to keep some on board in order to “brain dump” your job onto others and hopefully stick around for the long hall. Some employees will probably be shuffled to other job responsibilities while some get packages and a thank you card.

These are some of the growing pains when working towards a successful merger, so don’t be surprised or start spreading rumors when a few people are let go. As someone who’s gone through it in two big mergers I can say that certain departments already know their fate ahead of time. Many IT and sales folk start looking for new jobs the minute the merger is announced.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Post

Star Wars Galaxies Shutdown BacklashStar Wars Galaxies Shutdown Backlash

Despite the announced shutdown of Star Wars: Galaxies and the approaching new Star Wars-based MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic, loyal subscribers don’t want Galaxies to end. They’ve begun a petition to try to convince Sony to let the MMO live on as a free-to-play MMO.

The petition asks Sony to convert the game to a ‘freemium’, microtransaction-based MMO, and that Sony consolidate players onto a smaller number of servers and facilitate character transfer to reduce operational costs in order to keep the game running. The petition has already gotten thousands signatures in a few days.

One of the petition leaders posted:

We are not your typical gamers.

We are not a commodity.

But if you look at the recent decision by Lucasarts to shut down Star Wars Galaxies, you might be inclined to think we are both of those things. Lucasarts thinks that we are a non-perishable commodity that can be shoved into a shipping crate and moved down the road to their next project. That is not the case. Not even close.

We are a vibrant community. We have seen our ups and downs, but we are only stronger because of it. We have endured all manner of broken promises and misleading “improvements” to this game, and throughout all of it, we have continued to build our community, and show support and loyalty to this great game. But we didn’t do it because of a game. We did it because of our community here.

(more…)

Episode 549: PS4 CrossplayingEpisode 549: PS4 Crossplaying

The crew realize how prickly gamers are getting. Lootboxes may make them complain, but it won’t stop them from paying. Exclusive DLC? That seems to be a bridge too far.

The news includes:

  • Modern Warfare fans are cancelling pre-orders over Spec Ops exclusivity
  • PS4 cross-play features reportedly out of beta, now available to all developers
  • French CS:GO players can preview loot box contents now, but still have to claim them

Let us know what you think.

Episode 458: Dark Souls the Board GameEpisode 458: Dark Souls the Board Game

This week’s episode features a report by Jonah Falcon from Toy Fair NY, raving about the co-op board gane version of Dark Souls. T.J. continues to rave about Nioh and Scott texted while the podcast was going on, but you’ll have to wait for an outtakes episode to hear that story.

This week’s news includes:

  • Square Enix may have accidentally announced NieR: Automata‘s PC release date
  • Ed Boon would entertain the possibility of Street Fighter/Mortal Kombat crossover
  • Dragon Quest Heroes I and II too big for Switch drive

Let us know what you think.