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    Activision Blizzard Q4 2018 Earnings Call and Layoffs

    Activision Blizzard Q4 2018 Earnings Call and Layoffs
    Kotaku is reporting that Activision Blizzard is cutting positions across its organizations, including Blizzard. Layoffs at Blizzard are limited to non-development teams, both in the US and regional offices.

    • Activision transferred publishing rights for Destiny back to Bungie earlier this year.
    • Blizzard had 35M MAUs in the quarter, as Overwatch and Hearthstone saw stability and World of Warcraft saw expected declines post the expansion release this summer.
    • Activision Blizzard wants to de-prioritize games and initiatives that aren't meeting expectations
    • Activision Blizzard will be reducing certain non-development and administrative-related costs.
    • Investing more for biggest, internally-owned franchises.
    • More upfront releases, in-game content, mobile, and geographic expansion.
    • Investments in esports leagues and advertising
    • 20% increase in development resources in aggregate for Call of Duty, Candy Crush, Overwatch, Warcraft, Hearthstone and Diablo.
    • World of Warcraft already has a regular cadence of releases and content.
    • Diablo's headcount will grow substantially, as the teams work on multiple projects.

  2. #2
    Diablo MMO confirmed.

  3. #3
    Epic! Highelf's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by TheOne01 View Post
    I for one welcome this new age. Every last AAA studio cant go bankrupt fast enough so a new era can rise that is forced to return to players first. They wont have a choice if "players last" bankrupts the industry.
    There are plenty of games to cater to the Players First out there. One just has to look for them.

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by chaud View Post
    • Investing more for biggest, internally-owned franchises.
    • More upfront releases, in-game content, mobile, and geographic expansion.
    i.e. Big investments in Diablo China ... Big investments in micro-transactions, games as a service content, etc. Milking existing customers even more, in the absence of new customers..

    More mobile games...
    Last edited by Vineri; 2019-02-12 at 09:58 PM.

  5. #5
    20% increase in development resources in aggregate for Call of Duty, Candy Crush, Overwatch, Warcraft, Hearthstone and Diablo.
    Does "Warcraft" mean WoW, the franchise in general, or new Warcraft RTS resources?

  6. #6
    The Lightbringer Littleraven's Avatar
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    RIP Starcraft

  7. #7
    They made more money in 2018 then any other year in their history but because they didn't make even more money then they wanted they're going to layoff employees.... This is why publicly owned corporations are just evil.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Amgrod View Post
    Does "Warcraft" mean WoW, the franchise in general, or new Warcraft RTS resources?
    Guessing WoW, to include WoW Classic, which is undergoing a major overhaul to the newer architectures & BattleNet, and driving expenses.

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    So can we get an new Legionish expansion now? BFA needs to go away!

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    It's so sad to see Warcraft and Diablo mentioned in the same sentence as Candy Crush.

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    "Layoffs at Blizzard are limited to non-development teams,"

    Well that means no resourcing impact on WoW, and the fact they are putting their focus back into internally owned (rather than franchised) IP is all good news for WoW.

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    How are people complaining? Didn't you see Candy Crush listed? Do you not have mouths?

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    So another expansion that is generally disliked by many for the first half year or so?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Maklor View Post
    RIP WoW, it was nice to know you.
    They are talking about HoTS, Hearthstone, and potentially Starcraft.

    Quote Originally Posted by Nathiest View Post
    So can we get an new Legionish expansion now? BFA needs to go away!
    BFA is Legionish.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by funkhouser View Post
    It's so sad to see Warcraft and Diablo mentioned in the same sentence as Candy Crush.
    This. So much this.

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Nathiest View Post
    So can we get an new Legionish expansion now? BFA needs to go away!
    So another expansion that is generally disliked by many for the first half year or so?

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Nathiest View Post
    So can we get an new Legionish expansion now? BFA needs to go away!
    orange expansion bad

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Keioshin View Post
    They made more money in 2018 then any other year in their history but because they didn't make even more money then they wanted they're going to layoff employees.... This is why publicly owned corporations are just evil.
    YES! I was looking for someone to comment on that line, hoping I wasn't the only one that saw it! Thank you!
    "Because we only made inconceivable amounts of money, but we could make even more inconceivable amounts of money, we're gonna fire a whole 8% for staff!"

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by funkhouser View Post
    It's so sad to see Warcraft and Diablo mentioned in the same sentence as Candy Crush.
    If someone would've done that years ago they'd been called a fucking idiot, what a shitty timeline.

  20. #20
    Herald of the Titans MrKnubbles's Avatar
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    Activision Blizzard wants to de-prioritize games and initiatives that aren't meeting expectations
    You would think that they would work harder to make those games successful instead of just abandoning them.

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