Brian Bulatao became the new administrative director of Activision Blizzard. Previously, he was the CIA’s Director of Operations and worked in the Donald Trump administration. The company itself did not announce the appointment publicly.Brian Bulatao (source: Exchanges Photos)

Less than a week after the next mass layoffs at Activision Blizzard, as it became known — the publisher is already preparing for new ones. The media reports that this time the company plans to close most of its European offices responsible for the publication.

While 50 Activision Blizzard employees are out of work, its CEO will receive a huge bonus. Bobby Kotick will be paid $200 million for the fact that the company’s shares continue to grow. However, a group of investors considers such payments excessive and wants to revise the amount of remuneration for the publisher’s management.Bobby Kotick can count on such an impressive bonus thanks to a clause in his contract called “Shareholder Value Creation Incentive”.

Another wave of cuts in Activision Blizzard. On Tuesday, the company announced the dismissal of 50 employees involved in organizing esports tournaments and other offline events for Overwatch and Call of Duty. But journalist Jason Schreier talked to his own sources and said — in fact, there may be much more dismissed.

Activision Blizzard shared last year’s financial results. The publisher’s revenue during this time exceeded $ 8 billion.  Half of this amount was brought by the Activision division. All thanks to Call of Duty.

American screenwriter Clayton Haugen sued Activision Blizzard. He stated that the company stole the appearance of his character for the image of Mara, a girl soldier from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.

The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Unions (AFL-CIO) has approached Activision Blizzard with a proposal to increase inclusivity and interview at least one representative of racial minorities for each vacancy. The company called such an initiative unworkable.The essence of the AFL-CIO’s proposal is to include non-white citizens and women with relevant experience in the list of candidates for open vacancies.

Yesterday it became known that Vicarious Visions (the authors of the successful remakes of Crash Bandicoot and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater) became part of Blizzard. The studio was reorganized and assigned to work on a remake of Diablo II.

Activision Blizzard quotes have reached record levels. Against the background of the COVID-19 pandemic, the value of one share of the company managed to overcome the $95.08 milestone for the first time in 37 years.

Blizzard has reported sales of World of Warcraft: Shadowlands. In the first day after its release, it sold 3.7 million copies, which allowed it to become the fastest-selling PC game in history (according to Activision).The company told about this in a new report.

At the end of 2018, Netflix entered into negotiations with the CFO of Activision and eventually lured the employee to himself. Now the game publisher has sued the streaming service for interfering in contractual relations. At the same time, Netflix has been seen in similar actions with top managers of other companies before.The reason for the lawsuit was the transition of Activision CFO Spencer Neumann to a similar position at Netflix.

Another 100 employees will be laid off from Activision Blizzard. This time, those who were responsible for the maintenance of the company’s titles in the Asia-Pacific region fell under the knife.

Activision Blizzard has announced its intention to move all of its major franchises to mobile devices. This was influenced by the success of Call of Duty: Mobile, which earned $480 million in its first year.The company’s executives announced their plans during a conversation with investors, which traditionally took place after the publication of the quarterly report.

Activision Blizzard did not have time to share successful results in the third quarter of 2020, as its CEO made an additional statement. It turns out that the company lacks two thousand employees to continue to close all production needs.

Activision Blizzard has reported for the third fiscal quarter of this year. The publishing house’s revenues came close to $ 2 billion, and the most successful titles of the publishing house were Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Candy Crush.

The launch of the Call of Duty: Mobile shooter took place in October 2019. Since then, the number of installations of the game has exceeded 300 million.

After Blizzard announced the closure of its office in France, local trade unions called on employees to go on strike. According to the organizations, the company just wants to get away from European taxes.This became known from a joint statement of three trade union organizations, including the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), which represent the interests of Blizzard employees in France.

Activision Blizzard has taken on serious cuts. The company is closing a branch in Versailles, France, where about 400 people worked at the beginning of 2019.

During the year, Call of Duty: Mobile managed to become one of the most successful mobile shooters. Sensor Tower reports that the revenue of the game has approached $ 500 million, and the project has a release in the Chinese market ahead.General information on Call of Duty: Mobile