Activision Blizzard Reportedly Cutting Hundreds of Jobs on Tuesday

According to a new Bloomberg report, Activision Blizzard is planning to announce a massive round of layoffs on Tuesday that will result in hundreds of jobs lost.

The outlet cities multiple sources familiar with the matter, who reveal the cuts — which come in the face of slowing sales — are part of restructuring aimed at centralizing functions and boosting profit.

As you may know, the company didn’t have the greatest 2018. Back in November during a company conference call, it was acknowledged that key titles — such as Overwatch — saw either flat or declining numbers. Meanwhile, disappointing Destiny 2 sales led the company to part ways with Bungie and its publishing partnership it had with the Destiny series. As a result, annual revenue is expected to take a hit of potentially $400 million.

As Bloomberg notes, the company has seen quite a shake-up at the top over the past year as well, which certainly doesn’t help. CEO of Activision Erich Hirshberg and Mike Morhaime, the boss of Blizzard, both left, while in the beginning of the year, Activision revealed it was firing its CFO Spencer Neumann.

Unfortunately for Activision, this trends seems to be carrying over into the new year, with Tim Kilpin, head of Activision’s consumer-products division, announcing his retirement this month.

More recently, the company’s share dropped again, this time 2.5 percent to $42.88 on Friday, while analysts are predicting its sales to decline by about 2 percent this year to $7.28 billion.

One of the biggest companies in gaming, Activision is thought to employ anywhere from 9,000 to 10,000 employees. In other words, a couple hundred jobs lost is not huge in the context of its numbers, but for this industry, it’s an absolutely massive round of layoffs.

Of course, as of right now, the layoffs should be taken with a grain of salt, as they come via an unofficial report. However, Bloomberg is a very reliable source when it comes to industry news like this, and doesn’t put its name behind a report unless it’s very sure of its validity.

Anyway, be sure to check back on Tuesday for more specifics regarding this story. And in the meanwhile, feel free to leave a comment letting us know what you think. Is this a just a small wobble for Activision Blizzard or the beginning of its decline?

Source: Bloomberg