Just days after reports of Activision Blizzard Inc. gearing up for massive cuts in their staffing, the company has now seen their stocks drop once again amid the rumors of the changes to their staffing going into effect later this week.
While Activision Blizzard Inc. employees brace for major cuts in staffing, the company has now seen an adverse reaction in their stock values amidst the news. Stock values dropped as much as six percent today and are most noteworthy due to the latest breaking news surrounding the company.
The biggest reason is that there are already cutbacks rumouredly being planned as part of the companies “restructuring aimed at centralizing functions and boosting profit.” A move that seems to be putting Blizzard Entertainment at risk more than anyone else. The company is already employing roughly 9,800 people at the end of 2017, which puts them as one of the biggest publishers to date.
Additionally, there are also experts stating that Activision Blizzard is already expecting their total sales to dip as low as two percent to $7.28 billion USD when their earnings reports are released tomorrow morning according to The Los Angeles Times. However, these predictions quite possibly seem in place as investors could see the sudden changes in Activision Blizzard’s changes as a downturn they aren’t willing to risk.
Investors, typically, would like to see positive growth trajectories in their investment, and the predictions of a downturn have seemed to drive a handful of them off. According to Jason Schreier of Kotaku, he has spoken close to people at Activision Blizzard on Monday and they have told him they’ve not heard anything about the potential upcoming layoffs that are expected to occur on Feb. 12, 2019, when Activision Blizzard reveals their latest earnings reports.
One of the biggest blows caused by this sudden downturn could be related to the Destiny team’s – Bungie in this case – having parted ways in the past few weeks, which could have affected the impromptu layoff rumors. Along with their restructuring and recent business moves, Activision is still recovering from recent C-suits having left the company in recent times.
The departures of Activision Publishing CEO Erich Hirshberg, former Blizzard founder, and CEO Mike Morhaime, and the recent firing of CFO Spencer Neuman over the New Years break, has left the company in a tough spot in recent days. Along with the major departures comes Blizzard’s CFO, Amrita Ahuja, who recently joined Square Enix back in January. The company is still also recovering from the departures of Tim Kilpin (Consumer Products Division Boss), Michael Condrey and Glen Schofield, both of whom founded Sledgehammer (Call of Duty: WWII), in 2018.
Condrey himself having recently revealed he is opening up a new 2K studio in Silicon Valley. The projects he will be overseeing having yet to be announced. It’s been a tough time for not just Activision Blizzard, but even other giants such as Electronic Arts who is already seeing a difficult quarter after Battlefield V failed to meet expectations, but saw positive returns with the release of Respawn Entertainment’s release of Apex Legends, which boasts more than twenty-five million active players at the time of writing.
We’ve ourselves, even stated why it may be time for Activision and Blizzard to part ways if sales projections between the two companies continue to fail meeting their needed goals.
Stay tuned as we’ll be reporting on the major changes and Activision Blizzards earnings report tomorrow.
About the Writer(s):
Dustin is our native console gamer, PlayStation and Nintendo reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the borders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPG’s, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His elitist attitude gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter or Facebook.