Less than a week after Activision Blizzard underwent a round of layoffs, a company representative has confirmed to Games Industry that the management isn’t done axing its workforce yet. This time, it’s employees in Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain, and UK that are in the line of fire.
According to Activision Blizzard’s representative, development and customer support employees will not be affected. However, publishing staff will be let go because “players are increasingly choosing to connect with our games digitally.”
“We have shared plans with our teams in Europe for how we would evolve as an organization, adapting to this change to serve our players and best positioning the region for future growth,” reads the statement provided to Games Industry. “We will be taking extensive steps to support all employees and ease the transition for those of our colleagues who might be impacted by these proposed changes.” These layoffs come amid record profits for Activision Blizzard. What’s even more preposterous is Chief Executive Officer Bobby Kotick‘s reported $200 million payout, which investor group CtW has sharply criticized. As reported by Kotaku, this figure is based on performance. Under Kotick, Activision Blizzard continues to meet financial targets and due to a ?shareholder value creation incentive? clause in his contract, he continues to collect millions on top of his base compensation – also worth...