Tag: Layoffs

In 2018, Activision Blizzard Got $228 Million From Taxpayers For Existing


If you live in the United States and thought you could get away with not giving Activision money simply by not buying their products, you’re in for a nasty surprise.

ITEP, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, posted a list of 60 companies avoiding all federal income taxes in 2018.

“For decades, profitable Fortune 500 companies have manipulated the tax system to avoid paying even a dime in tax on billions of dollars in U.S. profits. This ITEP report provides the first comprehensive look at how corporate tax changes under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act affect the scale of corporate tax avoidance. The report finds that in 2018, 60 of America’s biggest corporations zeroed out their federal income taxes on $79 billion in U.S. pretax income. Instead of paying $16.4 billion in taxes at the 21 percent statutory corporate tax rate, these companies enjoyed a net corporate tax rebate of $4.3 billion.”

Activision Blizzard notably started out 2019 with the best results in company history, which they celebrated by firing nearly a thousand workers. While celebrating their major financial success and putting hundreds of people out of work, Activision also wound up claiming a -51% effective tax rate. Yes, Activision got $228 million from US taxpayers simply for existing.

We should all get a ride on Bobby Kotick’s private plane. We helped pay for it after all.

Source: ITEP

[Breaking] Daybreak Undergoing Fourth Set Of Layoffs In Two Years


Daybreak Game Company is laying off more people, a statement that has become all too familiar over the past couple of years. While an official statement has not been made by the company, Daybreak (now ex) programmer Alex Hoffman posted that today was his last day at the company as part of a “studio wide layoff.” There have been no confirmations of how many were let go or how many remain at the studio.

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MMO Fallout has contacted Daybreak and will update this piece if we receive a response.

Amazon Game Studios Suffers Layoffs, Cancellations


Amazon Game Studios confirmed this week that it has laid off dozens of employees in a report published by Jason Schreier of Kotaku.

Affected employees have been told that they have 60 days to seek new positions within Amazon or they will receive a severance package upon dismissal. An Amazon spokesperson stated to Kotaku:

“These moves are the result of regular business planning cycles where we align resources to match evolving, long-range priorities. We’re working closely with all employees affected by these changes to assist them in finding new roles within Amazon.”

Amazon began building its gaming division in 2014 and so far the company has yet to produce much of anything. The layoffs accompany the cancellation of multiple unannounced titles.

Electronic Arts Lays Off 350


Electronic Arts today announced that 350 positions will be cut from the company as part of a reorganizational effort to “meet the needs of our players.” In addition, the publisher plans on ramping down its operations in Russia and Japan. The entirety of the announcement by CEO Andrew Wilson has been posted below.

Today we took some important steps as a company to address our challenges and prepare for the opportunities ahead.  As we look across a changing world around us, it’s clear that we must change with it.  We’re making deliberate moves to better deliver on our commitments, refine our organization and meet the needs of our players.  As part of this, we have made changes to our marketing and publishing organization, our operations teams, and we are ramping down our current presence in Japan and Russia as we focus on different ways to serve our players in those markets.  In addition to organizational changes, we are deeply focused on increasing quality in our games and services.  Great games will continue to be at the core of everything we do, and we are thinking differently about how to amaze and inspire our players.

This is a difficult day.  The changes we’re making today will impact about 350 roles in our 9,000-person company.  These are important but very hard decisions, and we do not take them lightly. We are friends and colleagues at EA, we appreciate and value everyone’s contributions, and we are doing everything we can to ensure we are looking after our people to help them through this period to find their next opportunity. This is our top priority.

Source: EA

ArenaNet Braces for Layoffs As NCSoft Tightens Its Belt


Kotaku’s Jason Schreier is reporting today that ArenaNet employees have been told to brace for big layoffs. According to the article, CEO Songyee Yoon emailed employees to inform them that due to declining revenue, the company will be cutting costs across the organization, and merging NCSoft and ArenaNet’s publishing divisions in the process.

There has been no word on how many employees will be affected by the layoffs.

Source: Kotaku

Activision Blizzard Celebrates Record Results With Mass Layoffs


Activision CEO Bobby Kotick announced in an investor earnings call today that the company will lay off nearly 800 employees, mostly in non-game-development areas. The layoffs are expected to impact Activision, Blizzard, and King studios. The decision comes after the company achieved “record results” in 2018, however not as high as investors had hoped for.

Last year Activision parted ways with Bungie following the less than stellar launch of Destiny 2’s latest expansion. Last year’s announcement of Diablo Immortal, a mobile spinoff in development in conjunction with Netease, was very poorly received. Black Ops IIII meanwhile has proven to be very popular with its Blackout battle royale mode.

Bobby Kotick stated:

 “While our financial results for 2018 were the best in our history, we didn’t realize our full potential. To help us reach our full potential, we have made a number of important leadership changes. These changes should enable us to achieve the many opportunities our industry affords us, especially with our powerful owned franchises, our strong commercial capabilities, our direct digital connections to hundreds of millions of players, and our extraordinarily talented employees.”

MMO Fallout sends our regards to those affected by the layoffs. In response to the layoff announcement, support has been pouring in from around the internet with various developers posting their job openings and offering assistance to those affected. According to Activision, laid of employees will receive a severance package, health benefits, and career placement assistance. Activision stocks jumped by about $2 in after-hours trading.

The recently unemployed (or even others) are encouraged to check out this Google doc in which dozens of developers have been listed with openings.

Daybreak Game Company Hit With More Layoffs


Daybreak Game Company has decided to round out 2018 by laying off more employees, marking the second round for 2018 and one of many over the past few years. In a statement to Gamasutra, the developer referred to the layoffs as “optimizing our structure” to ensure continued success in the years to come. While Daybreak has not confirmed exact numbers, former head honcho John Smedley posted on Twitter that upwards of 70 people are now without jobs. Smedley has since deleted his tweet.

“We are optimizing our structure to ensure we best position ourselves for continued success in the years to come. This effort has required us to make some changes within the organization and we are doing everything we can to support those impacted in this difficult time. As we look to improve efficiencies and realign resources, we remain focused on supporting our existing games and development of our future titles.”

Ex-Daybreak employees have seen the usual outpouring of support that follows layoffs of this size, with open job offers from other developers oddly enough including NantG Mobile, the company headed by Jace Hall who MMO Fallout readers will recall is currently partnered with Daybreak and actively developing Z1 Battle Royale on PC.

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Source: Gamasutra

Gamigo Buys Trion Worlds, Immediately Fires Most Of Company


Trion Worlds has been purchased by MMO publisher Gamigo, a story that might come off as a little more positive if it weren’t for the fact that they also sealed the deal by firing most of the company’s staff. According to a statement obtained by Gamasutra from an inside source, only 25 employees are remaining of the over 200 that Trion had previously employed.

“A source speaking to Gamasutra, however, has indicated that those layoffs may have affected the vast majority of the studio. According to that source, only 25 or so employees were given the opportunity to continue on with the studio.”

The Trion Worlds team has posted the following statement to the press and their community:

Greetings — We can confirm that there has been a transaction involving Trion Worlds and its games.

While many of the names and faces you’ve come to know in our studios will remain on through this transition, others will not be making the journey. To those who are leaving us, we are forever grateful for your incredible work and contributions over the years.

We’d like to assure our communities that the games will continue on in capable hands moving forward, as everyone involved is aiming to make this transition as smooth as possible for you. We will have more information to reveal as soon as we possibly can.

From the bottom of all of our hearts, we thank you for your time and dedication to our games and hope that you’ve enjoyed the experience as much as we have. From spending time with you in game, to seeing you at conventions, to talking with you on livestreams and forums, it’s been our pleasure to be a part of this exceptional community with you since our first launch more than seven years ago.
Please know that you have our deepest gratitude. As for our games, we hope you continue to enjoy playing them far into the future!

The Trion Worlds Team

Perfect World Entertainment Offers Statement on Motiga Layoffs


MMO Fallout has received an official statement from Perfect World Entertainment following reported layoffs at Gigantic developer Motiga, confirming that a team will remain on board and continue development of future content. In addition, the closure of the Seattle office at Runic Games is unrelated to the layoffs at Motiga. The statement in its entirety is below.

“Following the news that Motiga has reduced the staff of its studio, Perfect World Entertainment can confirm that as the publisher of Gigantic, the game will continue to be available on our platforms. A core team of developers remains at Motiga, who will work with us to support the game and its players, including moving full steam ahead with the upcoming November update and future content. We cannot thank everyone enough for their contributions in making Gigantic the outstanding experience it is today.

Perfect World Entertainment recently closed the Seattle office of Runic Games as part of the company’s continued strategy to focus on online games as a service. We’re grateful to the team for all of their hard work bringing incredible experiences like Torchlight, Torchlight II and Hob to life. Runic Games will remain a part of Perfect World Entertainment’s portfolio of studios, and its games will continue to be available to players, as we stay committed to supporting and growing Runic Games’ beloved franchises.

The staff reduction at Motiga and the closure of Runic Games Seattle were unrelated. Perfect World Entertainment stands committed to delivering the best massively multiplayer online gameplay experiences to our players.”

(Source: Perfect World Entertainment provided to MMO Fallout)

Only A Couple of Months Left Before Wildstar Sunsets, According To Insider


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The wounds haven’t even begun healing from the announcement earlier today that Carbine Studios would be cutting as much as 40% of its work force, and according to insider reports the layoffs are not complete. In fact, if this source is to be believed, NCSoft has already made the decision to pull the plug. According to an article on Polygon, employees were notified following today’s layoffs that more are to be expected in the run up to the game’s closure later this year.

NCSoft later responded to the article, confirming not only the layoffs but that the plans to launch Wildstar in China have been scrapped. Despite this, the publisher is still standing by its claim that it remains committed to continued operations in North America and Europe.

Earlier this morning, Carbine Studios completed a reorganization of its operating structure. Moving forward, the studio will focus on operating and updatingWildStar as a live game in the US and Europe. As part of this change, the studio has canceled its plans to bring WildStar to China.

It’s interesting to note that it was just a few days ago in 2008 that producer Starr Long posted a statement to assure players that NCSoft was still committed to Tabula Rasa before announcing it shuttering later that year. See if you can find the similarities between Long’s statements regarding layoffs in 2008:

“Once all is said and done, we will still have a substantial live team for industry standards… NCsoft has committed a lot of money and resources into continuing post-launch development of Tabula Rasa.”

And NCSoft’s statement to Polygon today.

“As for WildStar, we remain committed to the game. Over the next few weeks and months we will deliver a significant update to the game, kick off a variety of community events, and continue our work on new content that we will talk more about in the near future.”

In my previous coverage of Wildstar, I noted that the game’s future rests heavily on a successful Chinese launch. With those dreams shattered, perhaps the Wildstar community should begin shopping around for a new home.

At this point in the timeline, it looks like the upcoming China launch may be Wildstars best, and only, bet at salvation. Assuming NCSoft is willing to shoulder the title to that milestone, we’ll likely be hearing in 2017 about whether or not this title goes on the chopping block.

(Source: Polygon)