Report: Activision will be hit with substantial layoffs next week

Bloomberg is reporting that Activision Blizzard will announce job cuts on February 12 that could number in the hundreds. The report says that the cuts come as part of a restructuring "aimed at centralizing functions and boosting profit."

The cuts will follow a tumultuous stretch for Activision, which reported stable Overwatch monthly active users in its Q3 2018 earnings report but a decline in Hearthstone, and also expressed disappointment in the performance of Destiny 2: Forsaken. Bungie subsequently split from Activision Blizzard last month, ending the companies' partnership earlier than expected.

Activision Blizzard has also recently lost several high-profile executives: long-time Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg, Blizzard co-founder and president Mike Morhaime, Activision Blizzard CFO Spencer Neumann, and Blizzard CFO Amirta Ahuja.

Despite the apparent belt tightening, Activision Blizzard saw fit to award its new chief financial officer, Dennis Durkin, a bonus worth $15 million for accepting the job, on top of his $900,000 salary and $1.35 million target bonus. Analysts expect Activision's sales to slide by about two percent for the year, to $7.28 billion.

Among the traditional giant publishers, Activision Blizzard is not alone in its woes: The Bloomberg report notes that Electronic Arts' share price fell by 13 percent earlier this week following a report of disappointing sales, and Take-Two Interactive also tumbled after forecasting sales for the quarter that were below analyst forecasts.

Update: Activision has declined to comment on the report.

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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.