Activision slashes head count

  • By Curt Feldman, GameSpot
  • Posted Feb 13, 2006 6:24 pm PT

Streets of Santa Monica turn vicious as 150 employees across all divisions are pink slipped--"to better align resources."

As the sun set on Activision's Santa Monica headquarters, the sun similarly set on the careers of 150 staffers--fired by the game publisher, who called the move a "strategic, targeted reduction."

"The reduced head count is to better align resources against our near-term needs in fiscal '07 and our anticipated growth in '08," an Activision rep told GameSpot. The representative said employees were being "redeployed where appropriate," to lessen the number of layoffs required. The cuts are being felt at both North Amercian and European offices. GameSpot was told the cuts will not affect the company's near-term release calendar.

The move comes in a console transition year that seems to be bogged down in ever-worse news of both hardware and software sales. To address its own situation in such a market, the company is slashing staff to save costs and weather the storm ahead.

The Wall Street Journal, which first carried news of the layoffs, estimates a workforce of about 2,200 at the publisher. A staff reduction of less than 7 percent suggests approximately 150 employees were pink slipped in Santa Monica. An Activision spokesperson confirmed those figures late today.

66 Comments

  • cyprus646

    Posted Feb 15, 2006 3:49 am PT

    "to better align resources." Wow thats almost as dum as prostitutes banning GTA, cmon activision just say u fired them cuz ur goin broke from all the crapy Tony hawks games u put out every month.

  • advent6

    Posted Feb 14, 2006 4:17 pm PT

    This is good news for India and China. The people who lost their jobs will be out of work, but the company can now re-deploy these positions in India and China, or Mexico, where they can pay them 1/5 the salary of those who are gone now. I really do feel sorry for them! Big industries sure know how to treat their employees like crap; or should we say that upper-management (who does not have to worry about losing their jobs at 10 times the salary of each person that lost their job) treats that little people like crap. I wonder if any management jobs were cut? Usually they aren't the first to go.

  • Phlakaton

    Posted Feb 14, 2006 3:41 pm PT

    Nobody should think the game industry is a safe harbor or an easy business. It's a tight ship and when the wind doesn't blow people need to get off the ship and push. Sad to hear so many got the layoff.

  • kaziechameleon

    Posted Feb 14, 2006 1:31 pm PT

    seeing as both of those publishers invest mainly in console gaming experiences that would make sense, look at nc soft a pc publisher they are exceeding in sales, i guess that the pc isn't the worst platform to invest in. ha ha.

  • cusoker

    Posted Feb 14, 2006 12:26 pm PT

    ::sigh::

  • runstalker

    Posted Feb 14, 2006 11:39 am PT

    Is isn't cheap being EA or Activision. In 2006, these publishers will be actively supporting ten (10) different game platforms. And for at least 3 of them, the next-gen development costs per major project are becoming enormous. $10+ million. Even the big boys have to cut costs when they're spreading themselves that much. Good. It'll be a kick in the arse to remind the industry it doesn't need to continue down this rut it's in.

  • pie4u

    Posted Feb 14, 2006 11:11 am PT

    thats the industry. working one minute and on the corner the next.

  • WolfSkill5544

    Posted Feb 14, 2006 9:38 am PT

    Wherever it takes to save money for this company, and I feel sorry for the game testers, those are always the first to go.

  • game_Programmer

    Posted Feb 14, 2006 9:00 am PT

    Both EA and Activision said they were realligning resources. When we went from horse and buggies to cars we didnt need buggy makers anymore. In the move to next gen hardware, different skill sets are needed. Thats just a fact. A company should'nt have to carry around dead weight. Shader writers, for example, are in much higher demand than they were on PS2. Evovle ro die !

  • Donkeljohn Site moderator

    Posted Feb 14, 2006 8:57 am PT

    Not a happy story, but a result of a clear decline in game output.

  • golfer13last

    Posted Feb 14, 2006 8:34 am PT

    wow thats bull$|-|IT

  • lion2447

    Posted Feb 14, 2006 8:24 am PT

    Layoffs are normal when moving from one technology to the next. Once they have a plan on working with the new generation systems and can better utilize their resources for the new systems, they'll begin to hire again. This holds true for all the companies out there who seem to be on the low end of profits due to the new systems. All this happened when the PS2, Gamecube, and Xbox first came out.

  • SavoyPrime

    Posted Feb 14, 2006 8:16 am PT

    I'm more than sure that the sales for Gun and True Crime: NYC didn't help the situation.

  • frankeyser

    Posted Feb 14, 2006 8:12 am PT

    games are just becoming cookie cutter ports of other games with a level of polish to them... aly off as many people as you want all publishers. adn get some people in there with original ideas... if i see one more sequal for a bad game... i am going to fire my tv...

  • Mehfuz

    Posted Feb 14, 2006 7:53 am PT

    feel sorry for the 150 people

  • VamNinja

    Posted Feb 14, 2006 7:35 am PT

    Sucks

  • VamNinja

    Posted Feb 14, 2006 7:35 am PT

    the deciline to video games

  • hittin

    Posted Feb 14, 2006 7:11 am PT

    Lol, companies getting POOR!

  • inferno394

    Posted Feb 14, 2006 6:43 am PT

    I feel the only reason these people got fired is because activision is paying someone else up the corporate ladder waaaay to much and the little guy who does all the work gets the boot. Corporate jobs are a joke and are made for the butt kissers and snitches. Getting a job has always been political. You will get a job faster by WHO u know than how much you know. U could be the most stupid manger, thats getting paid like that idoit FEMA guy and still have ur job. Running ur own business is the key istead of being dictated by some stupid boss.

  • hatchetman696

    Posted Feb 14, 2006 6:41 am PT

    I feel like they need to have more people to get the games out faster. This isn't cool, downsizing maybe okay to an extent, but 150! Gosh sounds like GM

  • solidleader

    Posted Feb 14, 2006 6:24 am PT

    Theres only one word for this...recession

  • ufopuller

    Posted Feb 14, 2006 6:15 am PT

    Time to down size again

  • thepyrethatburn

    Posted Feb 14, 2006 4:55 am PT

    My advice for people who want to get into the industry: Don't. This is an industry with very few jobs and a large number of people who want to be in the industry.

    If you decide to anyway, then you should take a realistic grasp of your skills and situation. If you're planning to get in as a ideas man or a music composer, you're setting yourself up for failure. Despite what the game colleges' various propaganda would have you believe, the industry is not waiting with bated breath for you to graduate and unleash your brainstorm on the planet. As for music composer, thanks to the electronic music storage and composition, not a whole lot of people are needed (generally) to compose music for the average game and none of them are irreplaceable.

    Your best bet is to specialize in skills that are also applicable to the computer industry as a whole. As an example, if you know how to program in one of the C languages, even if you don't get into the video game industry, you will have other options for employment.

    Research the company you plan to work for. and not just "which games do they make?". One factor to look at is the company's financial position. If it's real shaky, then you may want to look elsewhere.

    Prepare for a lot of grunt work if you're going to work for an established company. You're not going to be the next Hideo Kojima in a year's time. Chances are you will never be the next Hideo Kojima. People like Hideo Kojima or Ed Boon came in at the beginning of the videogame era when it was easier to become the head of a videogame company because they were setting out as the vanguard of a whole new field of business. The risk was greater then but so was the reward. Now that the industry has settled, the risk has lessened (You will no longer be part of a seven man team whose line of credit, house mortgages, and financial future are riding on a game succeeding) but so has the potential for skyrocketing success. Admittedly, you can still create your own company but you'll be gambling everything on that first game.

    Have a lot of good professional and interpersonal skills. You may be a better programmer than Bob in cubicle 4 but, if Bob is more punctual, dependable, gets along with everyone (not just his boss because noone likes a suck-up and a lot of bosses figure out whether someone's a suck-up quick. Not all but a lot.), and is just a generally more positive person to be around, Bob will have a better chance of succeeding than you will plus he will have a better network (crucial to success in just about any industry) for getting another job if he does get laid off.

    Finally, prepare for a certain amount of your career in the first few years being partially dependent on luck. Sometimes, you can do everything right and it just doesn't work out. Maybe you went to work for Sega's sports division shortly before EA bought (for all practical purposes) bought football. It might not be your fault but you're still going to get the boot.

  • Jedi_Osborn

    Posted Feb 14, 2006 4:39 am PT

    cripes, game related jobs are dropping all over the place

  • pcgothicgamer

    Posted Feb 14, 2006 4:29 am PT

    i hope ur right monkeyman because i want to work for Activision but not as a tester

  • zima_claim

    Posted Feb 14, 2006 2:28 am PT

    i wish the release would specify who exactly was fired. maybe they want to reorange the administrative staff. that's pretty significant. however, if (as someone have said) they fired testers, this is hardly a saving step for them.

  • KiLLer_ba

    Posted Feb 14, 2006 2:21 am PT

    That really sucks for the people got the pink slip

  • Reetesh

    Posted Feb 14, 2006 2:06 am PT

    Ah so sad But Activison should not CLOSE down, definitely I mean

  • olivercon05

    Posted Feb 14, 2006 1:46 am PT

    maybe god bless them in their search for new jobs. And btw, who're those fired staffs ? Regular technician, programmer, engineers or artist ?

  • Cro-azy

    Posted Feb 14, 2006 1:16 am PT

    That's really, REALLY messed up.

  • molivers7

    Posted Feb 14, 2006 1:12 am PT

    Wow, they aren't fooling around. maybe they are just falling apart?

  • WPack911

    Posted Feb 14, 2006 12:26 am PT

    With the Next Gen game's going to cost so much I think we are going to see a lot of this unfortunately. At least the company's falling on bad time or just the one's without all the money needed to make a big budget game, can still make good innovative game's on the Revolution and actually make money this coming generation by doing so. These 3rd parties did not think long term about their future they just blindly took big chances making over priced games that did not sell and then they are firing good people just to make up for it. It's the little guy that will get screwed in the Next Gen because of the bad decision's make by upper management of these company's. I hope instead of risking it all on some huge PS3 or 360 game that blows up in their face and kills company's, that we will see a lot of Revolution content that is good and innovative without wasting the big money. Then when time's are good and it won't cost people their job's, make the big budget dream project's and polish them well, so that they have a better chance of selling because of their greatness. If companies stick to this game plan they may just survive the Next Generation, if not they may go the way of Acclaim and with this report maybe even Activison.

  • Sociologist

    Posted Feb 13, 2006 11:24 pm PT

    True Crime + GUN = Layoffs. It's not like we all didn't see this coming after Activision's awful lineup of games last year (sans Call of Duty 2).

  • azizrulez

    Posted Feb 13, 2006 10:44 pm PT

    thats not a surprise as activision and mixed year

  • Pablo620

    Posted Feb 13, 2006 10:37 pm PT

    Hopefully when the next generation is in full swing many jobs will open up for workers like these of Activision and EA

  • Cunder

    Posted Feb 13, 2006 10:27 pm PT

    My advice for ppl who wanna go into the game industry and in the large famous Game company like Activision,Capcom,Square-Enix,ect. I suggest making friends with every possible person in the building wither they are janitors or accountants,programmers,artist,directors, ect. And make plans of making there very own company before getting a pink slip later on in the future that way if you save enoug money all together you can get together on it and start your own company do something with that and not worry about looking for work. And take all the legal steps to making a offical game company.

  • andrewtyen

    Posted Feb 13, 2006 10:26 pm PT

    that's too bad

  • bigelf72

    Posted Feb 13, 2006 10:06 pm PT

    Um....yeah.. not cool. But hopefully, something good will come out of this. Cause in the past when game companies layed-off employees, some of them decided to start their own companies. Like they always say "Everything happens for a reason"

  • aubstud

    Posted Feb 13, 2006 10:05 pm PT

    well if it works like architecture, or any other design field usually the ones that are more experienced (5-15 years) usually are let go and replaced by people fresh out of school. they can do the labor, ie model and render, but not require the larger salary. a sad but true reality.

  • Freaken_Feline

    Posted Feb 13, 2006 9:40 pm PT

    ouch

  • Jimbokundesu

    Posted Feb 13, 2006 8:57 pm PT

    not like money...more like a resource. and like any resource, it needs to be used efficiently in order for a company to keep the costs to itself down which in turn keeps the cost of its products down. I'm sure there is something else that these former activision employees can do aside from whatever they did at activision; they'll find another job, I'm not worried about that.

    Unions, on the other hand, worry me. It's one thing to fight for decent working conditions and wages, but to railroad a company into concessions that it cannot possibly make while mainaining profitability. With the increase in the cost of resouces (labor), the company has to attempt to recoup the costs by charging more for their final product (in this case, a video game). It's most of what brought Eastern Airlines down, some of what's bringing Delta down, and a lot of why Ford had to have such a massive restucturing.

  • Berserker_2

    Posted Feb 13, 2006 8:52 pm PT

    The headline could be better. "Deactivate" is a bad choice. It isn't analogous to a person. Think of headlines as mini poems. They should roll off the tongue.

  • Ravidrath

    Posted Feb 13, 2006 8:39 pm PT

    As unfortunate as this is, Activision is one of the few companies that actively tries not to lay people off - they almost never lay people off, despite going up against competition like EA that lays this many people off at least once a year.

    Of course, this still sucks - it's unlikely it's any of these peoples' faults they were laid off, since they don't have any control over the games' sales and in the case of GUN and True Crime 2, the year's big losers, they didn't feel either game was ready to ship yet.

    To those interested in game development jobs, the best way to secure yourself against this sort of thing is to not work at a publically-help company. Instead, opt to work at a smaller, independent studio that isn't subject to the whims of the marketplace. There's an entirely different set of challenges in that environment, but if you're laid off, the company has trouble or can't sign a project, at least you can see it coming and it's more directly related to your own actions.

  • i_love_my_ds

    Posted Feb 13, 2006 8:34 pm PT

    damn ppl cant treat workers like money. this is f-ed up.

  • sandz_09

    Posted Feb 13, 2006 8:32 pm PT

    The thing about going to college for Game Design, is that not many people graduate in the end of the course. And with all these lay offs and such, its going to be a tough business. I feel bad for the people who lost their jobs and people like me striving to surive in this industry. The smart people in this business are the ones who can manage their money for times like this. sucks but its the same as construction. Now whenever we get a UNION, then this industry can work well. But until then, who knows how the river flows.

  • NeoJedi

    Posted Feb 13, 2006 8:26 pm PT

    Not the first time... and sadly not the last.

  • Jaclarks

    Posted Feb 13, 2006 8:15 pm PT

    I feel bad for anyone going to college to be a game designer, cus when things do get going again the people who were laid of will get the jobs and the new people will never get a chance... people just need to buy more games, that will fix the whole problem

  • Viquist

    Posted Feb 13, 2006 8:12 pm PT

    This is terrible news, I know how hard it is to find a good job in today's world, I wish these people the best of luck - and I hope Activision survives as well, I really like some of their games

  • Enigma2K99

    Posted Feb 13, 2006 8:02 pm PT

    I bet the removed messages would echo my feelings on this exactly....

  • Tribalinius

    Posted Feb 13, 2006 8:00 pm PT

    Now that's what I called an acti"vision" of this year >.>

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