Activision Blizzard has reported a huge $1.95 billion Q3 revenue gain.
In an earnings call today, Activision Blizzard reported that Call of Duty had outperformed last year’s game. The company saw an increase in revenue by 38% year-on-year for this quarter.
In an interview with GameBeat, Bobby Kotick said the company needs to now hire more than 2,000 people to meet its production demands. This is despite Activision Blizzard closing its Versailles Studio just a year after 800 staff were laid off from its global operations. Though most of those roles were non-developer roles, it will be little comfort to those that lost their jobs.
They have a Hearthstone expansion that just launched, World of Warcraft: Shadowlands on the horizon, and this year’s installment of Call of Duty set to arrive next month. Activision Blizzard has raised its earnings per share to 88 cents, compared to 38 cents. Analyst extends shares to be 65 cents a share.
Profits rise among staff unrest
With all this increased profit and talk of hiring thousands of new staff members. It’s important to remember that Activision Blizzard is in the process of shutting down its long-running operation in France, costing 800 staff their jobs. As of writing, CGT, SPECIS-UNSA, and CFE-CGC, the unions issued the following statement:
"This comes as a shock for employees who were not expecting that announcement. In 15 years, many of us left their homes from across Europe and beyond to join the company, people truly invested their whole lives into Blizzard’s success.”
285 jobs will be cut at the office, with the union now calling on staff to strike. This would come at a particularly bad time for Blizzard, with World of Warcraft Shadowlands due to release on November 22/23. Blizzard had previously tried to cut 133 jobs in France last year but was stopped by the courts. It tried again in March this year and was again stopped. As an additional note, Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard makes around $30m a year.
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