The layoffs at Activision Blizzard They will have a profound impact on the development of your next games. While the cut significantly affected Blizzard, the majority of studios responsible for Call of Duty They reported casualties in their staff.
In accordance with CharlieIntel, Sledgehammer Gamesdeveloper of the most recent Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, lost 30% of its staff. QA leader Michael Guerra said the cut affected his entire team. The head of quality control revealed that he found out about the layoffs just like the general public: through social networks.
On the other hand, High Moon Studios and Toys for Bobtwo support studies in various deliveries of Call of Duty, also suffered from layoffs. High Moon Studios lost 10% of its employees, while Toys for Bob cut 30% of its staff.
“Today’s layoffs have affected me. “I’m devastated and heartbroken, but I can’t say I’m surprised,” said Matt Hansen, an animator at High Moon Studios. “We did some really amazing things there. “I am grateful for the opportunity, I learned a lot and met great people,” he declared.
According to internal sources, the cut affected all Activision Blizzard studios, including Treyarch, Infinity Ward, Ravern Software and Beenox. Tyler Diaz, game systems designer for Call of Duty at Treyarch, confirmed that yesterday was his last day at the studio.
Contrary to what is reported, the layoffs were not focused on duplicate areas after the closing of the merger between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard. The More severe cuts were recorded at Blizzard, where entire development teams were eliminated and only some employees managed to relocate to other projects.
Call of Duty could become another Halo Infinite
At this moment it is difficult to predict the true impact that the layoffs will have on the development of the next Call of Duty. Microsoft stated a while ago that it would cash in on all of Activision’s dormant intellectual properties. Rumors pointed to a change of direction in the franchise’s annual deliveries of shots, freeing up support studios to explore other projects.
The truth is that Call of Duty It’s a money making machine and Microsoft did not pay $69 billion to explore Activision’s creativity. Although the technology giant has not confirmed what its plans will be, it is almost a fact that the studio’s focus will continue to be shooter. The merger also means that development studios would adopt a contractor-based model.
Microsoft, like many companies, They use this scheme to save on the benefits they offer to their employees. of plant. This practice was subject to a class action lawsuit known as permatempwhere Microsoft paid $97 million to settle the case in December 2000.
According to the journalist BloombergJason Schreirer, 343 Studios contractors had an 18-month limit, so the studio was constantly losing personnel. Activision Blizzard also uses this model, although only in departments such as quality control or 2D and 3D art. The pillars of gameplay They are the responsibility of the development team, made up mostly of employees.
If Treyarch or Infinity Ward become Turn 10 or 343 Studios, we could get an idea of what’s in store for them. Call of Duty and other company games.