Activision Blizzard is cutting jobs at its Asia Pacific offices

Activision Blizzard is reportedly planning to cut another 30 jobs as it transitions its non-development workforce to a full outsourcing setup.

Following the closure of offices in Versailles, France and The Hague, Netherlands this year, MCV reports the Call of Duty publisher is also set to reduce its headcount in the Asia Pacific region.

Marketing, PR and publishing teams will all face redundancies, according to the site.

“We’ve been exploring how we might best integrate our capabilities across the business and be efficient as we evolve to meet growth opportunities and stay competitive in Asia Pacific,” an Activision Blizzard spokesperson told MCV.

“To that end, we have begun conversations with employees regarding a plan to centralize some roles across the region in our Sydney office. Decisions of this nature are never easy and supporting our employees through this process is our number one priority.”

Activision Blizzard said last February that that it planned to reduce its headcount by eight per cent in 2019, representing approximately 800 job losses, mainly consisting of “support staff”.

More recently, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick said the company planned to hire more than 2,000 people within a year to meet upcoming production demands.

“Over the next year, Activision Blizzard is aiming to hire over 2,000 employees so that our incredibly talented teams can continue making epic entertainment,” he tweeted in May. “Now more than ever, we know our global community needs jobs – and we are proud to help.”

Most of the publisher’s games have seen record levels of engagement during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Kotick.

He said during Activision Blizzard’s third quarter earnings call in October that Blizzard has its “largest team ever” working on World of Warcraft content.

During the same presentation, Activision said Modern Warfare’s first year sales were the highest in Call of Duty’s history.