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Activision Lays off 150 Employees

Posted by Zonk on from the who-will-make-the-shiny-things dept.

Distressing news from the games industry job market continues to surface, as Activision lays off about 7% of its workforce, or 150 people. From the Gamasutra report: "The cuts are said to be across the board, with no specific developer or publishing unit announced as being affected more than another, with spokesman Ashley Dyer commenting that the layoffs were part of an effort to 'realign' the company's operations for the next two years."

19 comments

  1. "Laying off across the board" ?? by webmistressrachel · · Score: 2, Funny

    Maybe Activision had 150 people on it's board. That'll be why they are laying off - too many chiefs!

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    1. Re:"Laying off across the board" ?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I guess that's just one of the pitfalls of working at a computer game company.

  2. Mechwarrior by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Good idea for them to sell of the Mechwarrior rights to Microsoft where it can be neglected properly.

    Wouldn't a dx9 Mechwarrior 5 kick ass right about now?

  3. Typical of public companies by IAAP · · Score: 5, Interesting
    FTFA: "We're just trying [to] strike a balance between our near-term needs in '07 and our anticipated growth in '08," said Activision's Dyer to TheStreet.com. The company will attempt to redeploy workers where possible, after having notified them last week of the layoffs. Shares of Activision closed the regular session up 12 cents to $13.07.

    FTFL: Kotick maintains that Activision's future is bright, however: "In the long term, we are planning for market growth that historically follows the introduction of new console hardware. To leverage this future growth and prepare for fiscal 2008, which we expect will be the biggest year in Activision's history, we will continue to focus on investment in our product development resources and intellectual property portfolio, growing our international operations and optimizing our worldwide cost structure and resource allocation."

    This is completely asinine. These layoffs are for the short-term to appease Wall Street - in the short term. In the meantime, they're destroying employee moral and hurting their long-term performance. And I bet they have the gall to demand loyalty from their employees.

    1. Re:Typical of public companies by karnal · · Score: 1

      This is completely asinine. These layoffs are for the short-term to appease Wall Street - in the short term. In the meantime, they're destroying employee moral and hurting their long-term performance. And I bet they have the gall to demand loyalty from their employees.

      Geeesh. I understand how you can be upset that layoffs have to happen from time to time, but come on. I've been through 3 layoffs so far, and while your response is the typical knee-jerk response, you're really just being a grouch.

      I'm glad you don't work with me.... Having a layoff anywhere near you would bring morale down another 2 steps.

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      Karnal
    2. Re:Typical of public companies by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Man, you're a sucker!

    3. Re:Typical of public companies by IAAP · · Score: 1
      Geeesh. I understand how you can be upset that layoffs have to happen from time to time, but come on. I've been through 3 layoffs so far, and while your response is the typical knee-jerk response, you're really just being a grouch.

      Have you ever been laid off? You say you've been through them, but you haven't said if your were actually laid off yourself.

      The other thing is that I've worked for companies that demand loyalty from their employees. I don't know if you ever had those types of interviews or company meetings. Demanding 60+ hours a week and not getting compensated for it. Then, as soon as earnings are down a little or worse, they don't meet analysts exxpectations - you're out the door. Have you ever witnessed that?

      I've had some really shitty experiences and seen some really shitty things done to people in corporate life.

      How would you feel if you were canned to send your whole department off to India - this after just buying a house and a new car, and after management said that everything was going great? It's happened. And if the company is laying off, you can be sure that another one may be coming. I was at a company where there was one lay-off to get rid of the dead wood - I survived. Then another one to get rid of the bulk of the people going, and then a last one for god knows why. I survived all of them. You know why? No, not because I was the best. There were people who smarter than you and me put together. I was left behind becuase I was willing to be paid $10,000 less than I was worth. I then smartened up and left for a $12,000 raise. Come to find out, I was still underpaid. I've learned now.

      So, before you start name calling, you need to consider that some people have been really screwed over and/or seen their friends lose everything because of incompetent management.

      Have a nice Valentines and I hope you don't end up like of these folks.

    4. Re:Typical of public companies by Brian+Stretch · · Score: 1

      This is completely asinine. These layoffs are for the short-term to appease Wall Street - in the short term.

      Agreed. Looks like the market isn't buying it though. ATVI was down 39 cents today. I've been an Activision stockholder for many years. I was going to hang onto it and ride out the new console transition but now I'm not so sure.

      The one big company I made the mistake of working for pulls stunts like this routinely. If anything threatens their "consistent 15% EPS growth rate", layoffs ensue (but never for the managers who got them into the mess the engineers warned them was coming). It's run by Democrats, including a NJ senator, just in case anyone actually buys that propaganda about all big businesses being run by Republicans.

    5. Re:Typical of public companies by oncebitter · · Score: 1

      They'll demand loyalty of their employees then screw them over so long as they can continue to do so. There's a line of fresh-out-of-college "Gee, can I be a game programmer?" faces out the door who are willing to work 60 hours for bad pay. Is their work any good? Probably not, compared to an experienced engineer. But that's not the shareholders' problem.

      Until engineers start standing up for themselves in the workforce, this will continue to happen. You feel you're underpaid? You probably are! Find a new job! Be proactive on it. Don't wait around, hoping for the company to take care of you as they slowly suck the life out. Go find your own fortune at one of the many companies that do care about quality work and employee morale.

  4. Looks like... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Activision ran into a major "Pitfall" and are on the brink of going "Kaboom".

    (Doh. Why wasn't there Slashdot back in the days of the Atari 2600. Then at least this comment would have been current...)

  5. people who are left by Joe123456 · · Score: 0

    ALL EMPLOYEES Must Now Work 120 Hours a Week With No OT To Keep On Time. That is all

  6. Realigning? by panaceaa · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "The cuts are said to be across the board, ... part of an effort to 'realign' the company's operations for the next two years."

    How do across the board cuts help realign anything? If they were really realigning the business, one would think they would cut from areas that aren't their future focus.

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    1. Re:Realigning? by Rob+T+Firefly · · Score: 1

      They're "realigning" the business from one which spends part of its money paying those 150 employees, to one that keeps that money to make their books look a bit better for a little while.

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      Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
  7. It's "shake out" time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm not surprised. Many have been predicting a shake-out for the last year now. Makes sense. Walk into any EB and the quanity of games is overwhelming. Too many titles, not enough time to play them all. Many of them end up budget priced within months of release. It all adds up to shrinking profit margins.

    Expect many more lay-offs and company closures in the next year.

    1. Re:It's "shake out" time by Sylver+Dragon · · Score: 1

      Funny, the last time I walked into a game store, I was looking over the titles and kept thinking, "crap, crap, huh, what's this?" pick up box, read back, "oh, crap. There are very few titles currently out, or comming out that I really want. I was really looking forward to Rainbow Six: Lockdown, until I played the demo. Rainbow Six has been a series where they tried to ground it in reality, to some extent they succeeded. The Lockdown demo felt way too much like a console shooter, which is to say that it sucked. This isn't to say that it's all bad, just mostly. I am waiting for Moonpod to finish up War Angels and Mr.Robot, both of which will probably be purchased right after release. But I have had a lot of trouble finding games which I would say I was interested in recently.

      --
      Necessity is the mother of invention.
      Laziness is the father.
    2. Re:It's "shake out" time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Good or not, there are too many titles.

  8. How many are left... by mentaldrano · · Score: 1

    I bet they had to hire people just so they had 150 people to fire. ;)

    A mathematician watches the Activision CEO go into a building, then ten minutes later 150 people waving pink slips walk out. So the mathematician thinks to himself, "Ah, if they hire 149 more people, the building will be empty!"

  9. no worries by wwmedia · · Score: 2, Funny

    not to worry theyll probably use game piracy as an escape goat