So who gets the ax?

It's inevitable when two companies merge that everyone will keep their jobs, or at least that they will keep their same jobs. There are some jobs that only need a few people no matter what the size of the company, and some are just made totally redundant by a merger. Well, never fear Warcraft fans, Blizzard is safe from the layoff ax. Activision wouldn't dare hurt it's precious cash cow.

“Blizzard has established the most successful business in all of video games,” he told MCV. “It’s not like we need to go there and fix something. Blizzard will continue to operate as they have done in the past – fairly independently.

“They have a top notch management and development team and we have a very high degree of confidence that they know how to run the business and a track record to prove it. In addition, they have an extraordinarily strong product pipeline, with Starcraft, Wrath of the Litch King and Diablo 3.

“It would be a big mistake for us to distract them with new ideas.”

Someone unfortunately does need to go when a merger happens, and it looks like the worst of the layoffs will be coming from Vivendi UK, particularly Sierra Games. Both Activision UK and Blizzard Europe are coming through unscathed, which is sure to cause bad blood because it was previously implied that the new UK branch would be a mixture of the current Vivendi and Activision staff. This lead people to believe jobs from both sides would be lost, but less at each location.

According to senior sources the majority of the Vivendi team, which oversees the Sierra games label among other things, will face job losses - although some will be invited to apply for new roles in the merged company. Meanwhile the staff base at Activision UK will remain largely intact, it is understood.

Activision Blizzard senior management had previously intimated that a mixture of staff from both offices would be retained moving forwards.

It has also emerged that following a new company strategy, a number of Sierra titles are under close scrutiny and some could be axed, although it isn't known at this point which games are under threat or what the timescale is for any decision.

For more information about the Vivendi UK cuts, please check herea=.


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our World of Warcraft Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 29, 2016

Comments