Activision lay off thirty employees, plan to release fewer licensed games this year

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Activision have laid off around thirty staff as part of a move to reduce the number of licensed games produced by the publisher's various development studios. While the cuts were originally rumoured to affect Black Ops 2 developer Treyarch, an Activision spokesperson confirmed to Kotaku that other studios were also involved.

"In 2013, we expect to release fewer games based on license properties and as a result are realigning our structure to better reflect the market opportunities and our slate," reads the statement. "Approximately, 30 full-time employees have been impacted globally, which represents approximately one half of one percent of Activision Blizzard's employee population."

While it's sad to see jobs being lost, I don't think many will mourn the loss of more licensed titles, especially given Activision's recent form. "Highlights" include the 20% scoring Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse, and the 16% scoring 007 Legends. Admittedly, their Transformers games have been much more positively received.

As for the cuts to Treyarch, Activion's spokesperson says, "Now that we have launched Black Op II, we are taking a minimal reduction in staff to better align our development talent against the needs of DLC development. The release of the DLC will not be impacted by this move."

Thanks, Gamasutra .

Phil Savage
Phil Savage
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Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.