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A Formal Thread about Activision/Blizzard
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- Feb 7, 2011
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Microsoft just laid off another 650 people from Activision Blizzard.
That's about 2550 laid off since the beginning of this year (though probably more since there could have been some smaller layoffs that didn't get any media attention, we only hear about major ones).
Yup, this merger sure was great for the company.
That's about 2550 laid off since the beginning of this year (though probably more since there could have been some smaller layoffs that didn't get any media attention, we only hear about major ones).
Yup, this merger sure was great for the company.
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Microsoft will cut another 650 gaming jobs, mostly at Activision Blizzard
Microsoft is laying off another 650 gaming employees in the second round of cuts after the Activision Blizzard merger.
www.si.com
According to that link, its mainly corporate and support. And to be honest, that was entirely expected. Those positions and functions (HR, IT support, policy, governance and other deeply unsexy things) are already being fulfilled by Microsoft's existing staff so keeping these guys, outside of maybe the top twenty across all positions to help the inward transition was likely never on the cards.Microsoft will cut another 650 gaming jobs, mostly at Activision Blizzard
Microsoft is laying off another 650 gaming employees in the second round of cuts after the Activision Blizzard merger.
Which still sucks balls because 600 odd folk just lost their job and unless all their severance packages are like a million bucks in greenbacks, shit is gonna get tough for a while and that's never a good feeling for someone.
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Getting rid of those support positions now rather than when they had their previous layoff earlier this year shows to me that the company is shrinking and has no plans for new projects anytime in the near future.
The previous layoff when they let go of 1900 people was the time when I would have expected unnecessary support staff to be let go.
Also, I've seen some tweets from some Blizzard devs who were also laid off (a bunch of people who do things like storyboarding, work on cutscenes, etc.). It looks like on the Blizzard side they're just leaving people to maintain the products they currently have, and don't really have anything in the production pipeline that would need other support staff.
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Microsoft announced a $60 Billion stock buyback.
So they didn't actually need to lay off any employees, but they wanted to so they could free up more cash to buy back more stock to make their stockholders more money now instead of actually investing the money into new projects and products that would make money later.
Textbook corporate greed, but I'm sure the stockholders are applauding.
So they didn't actually need to lay off any employees, but they wanted to so they could free up more cash to buy back more stock to make their stockholders more money now instead of actually investing the money into new projects and products that would make money later.
Textbook corporate greed, but I'm sure the stockholders are applauding.
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I have some friends who still work at Blizzard, and from what I hear the Blizzard campus is physically shrinking because of all the layoffs.
The Blizzard entertainment campus is like 20ish buildings currently, but with all of the layoffs a bunch of the buildings are now near empty and Microsoft doesn't seem to be planning on hiring more people anytime soon, so it looks like they're planning to start selling off/no longer leasing some of their current buildings, so the people sitting outside of the "core" campus are getting reorganized.
I don't know how many buildings they're getting rid of, but I know it's at least more than 2. It's kind of nuts how much the company has shrank under Microsoft.
The Blizzard entertainment campus is like 20ish buildings currently, but with all of the layoffs a bunch of the buildings are now near empty and Microsoft doesn't seem to be planning on hiring more people anytime soon, so it looks like they're planning to start selling off/no longer leasing some of their current buildings, so the people sitting outside of the "core" campus are getting reorganized.
I don't know how many buildings they're getting rid of, but I know it's at least more than 2. It's kind of nuts how much the company has shrank under Microsoft.
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Microsoft laying off another 9000 people, a bunch of them in the gaming division, and a bunch of them at Activision, Blizzard, and King.
What was the point of buying these companies if they're just going to lay off most of the staff and ship literally nothing new and make no new investments into any games.
Did no one at Microsoft actually think about what they wanted to do with the companies after spending $70 Billion on them?
What was the point of buying these companies if they're just going to lay off most of the staff and ship literally nothing new and make no new investments into any games.
Did no one at Microsoft actually think about what they wanted to do with the companies after spending $70 Billion on them?
During the pandemic Game revenues boomed. And way to many people made projections about how they would get all the money if only they invested more in games. Or had control over a greater share.
Now the opposite is the case. Sales are down. And possible investments look like they might fail.
Additionally there might have been some last-ditch-attempt to save XBox, which they now clearly have abandoned.
There is also the possibility that Microsoft severely underestimated the issues Activision/Blizzard had.
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Sure, but the acquisition didn't happen in the middle of the covid pandemic in 2020 or 2021 when these companies were making bank. It happened at the end of 2023 when it was already clear that game company revenues had already plateaued and that the spike in profits had come solely because people lacked other forms of entertainment during lockdowns which were no longer happening.
Those fuckers at the top don't know what they want anymore. All they care about is people using their stupid, online drm, and crappy live service GP malarkey.
THAT'S THE PROBLEM: THEY DON'T THINK AND ONLY HAVE THOUGHTS OF SHORT TERM GAINS!
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Well, having projections and ideas that promise tons of money and growth make shareholders and investors happy and are good for your carreer.
Bringing bad news after having secured funds have the opposite effect. The merger was announced January 2022, so the relevant decisions had been made in 2021. It only dragge because of anti-trust issues.
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It feels like the only reason this merger went through was because of sunk cost fallacy and both companies would have been better off without it.
All for the sake of fucking AI! That's why all of these recent layoffs at Microsoft are happening!
Report: Microsoft's 2025 layoffs revolve around its desperate $80 billion AI infrastructure investment
The Redmond giant has laid off over 15,000 people in 2025, and a report claims it's all in the name of freeing up spending money to invest more heavily in AI infrastructure to keep pace with the ever-growing AI bubble.
www.windowscentral.com
Yep.All for the sake of fucking AI! That's why all of these recent layoffs at Microsoft are happening!
Report: Microsoft's 2025 layoffs revolve around its desperate $80 billion AI infrastructure investment
The Redmond giant has laid off over 15,000 people in 2025, and a report claims it's all in the name of freeing up spending money to invest more heavily in AI infrastructure to keep pace with the ever-growing AI bubble.
There's a tech blogger who has argued that AI is a systemic risk to the entire tech industry, and this is the sort of thing he means. By checking available figures, he estimates that the tech industry will have spent $400 billion this year, whilst current revenues from AI are about $40 billion. If AI doesn't pan out, it will result in an eye-watering meltdown of investor money, confidence, plus all the lost opportunities in other areas (like gaming) which have been starved of investment to fund it.
I think a lot of it reflects little more than that Microsoft is a big software company and thinks it should have a large footprint in the gaming software industry. Microsoft has constantly tried to have a decent gaming software arm, often with mixed success. This firmly establishes them.
There may be some synergies as well, but it's probably simplest just as the idea that large companies make themselves even bigger and more powerful by buying smaller companies. (There's some sort of saying in the corporate world like "If you're not growing then you're dying".) Microsoft had a load of money lying around, and it could buy Activision, so it did. It needs no other reason.
"If you can't do it, buy someone who can, absorb their knowledge and regurgitate the people" got Microsoft to their position in the tech market. However, gaming doesn't work very well that way.