{"id":3284,"date":"2017-02-13T18:26:01","date_gmt":"2017-02-14T02:26:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kmtechblog.com\/?p=3284"},"modified":"2017-02-13T18:26:01","modified_gmt":"2017-02-14T02:26:01","slug":"activision-studios-including-infinity-ward-hit-layoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kmtech.blog\/?p=3284","title":{"rendered":"Activision studios including Infinity Ward hit with layoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Layoffs happen in video games all the time. It\u2019s common, but it always sucks. The latest in the long list is Activision which, according to\u00a0Kotaku,\u00a0<\/em>has laid off 5% of its workforce.<\/p>\n

Some of those are members of Activision\u2019s corporate offices, but game studios were included in that as well. Infinity Ward, the developer behind 2016\u2019s\u00a0Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare<\/em>, saw 20 members of its team let go, while Beenox\u2019s in-house quality assurance team has been shut down completely. Gamasutra says the latter still has 150 people working, so it seems the studio itself isn\u2019t in trouble.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

But why\u00a0those<\/em> teams?<\/h3>\n

Studios often employ developers for the course of development on a single game and them dump them when the game is out the door or as they ramp down support for a game. These layoffs coming from Activision, though, seems especially bizarre. The company had an absurdly good year in 2016.\u00a0Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare<\/em> was one of the\u00a0best-selling games of the year, despite not resonating with fans. The company made bucket loads of money off of in-game purchases and saw revenues up by almost 50%.\u00a0While\u00a0Infinity Ward\u00a0<\/em>was working on\u00a0Infinite Warfare<\/em>, Beenox was helping Raven Software with\u00a0Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Remastered<\/em>, another huge game.<\/p>\n

Another\u00a0Call of Duty<\/em> is coming later this year. It hasn\u2019t been announced, but let\u2019s not kid ourselves. Sometime\u00a0in the first two weeks of November, we\u2019ll have a new\u00a0Call of Duty\u00a0<\/em>game on shelves. And surely the teams cracking away at that could use the extra help.<\/p>\n

A statement from the company said it was \u201crealigning\u201d its resources to support upcoming projects and to \u201cadapt to the accelerating transition to digital, including opportunities for digital add-on content.\u201d We hope anyone affected by the layoff is able to find a new home soon.<\/p>\n