According to reports, the Activision Blizzard teams behind Warcraft Rumble and Call of Duty Warzone Mobile have been affected by Microsoft’s shocking cutbacks in the gaming industry.
Gamexta has confirmed that Xbox CEO Phil Spencer delivered a note to employees yesterday outlining 650 further layoffs at Microsoft’s gaming division. With the 1,900 layoffs earlier in the year, the total number of layoffs since Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard for $69 billion last year has reached an alarming 2,550.
Activision Blizzard’s development teams for Warcraft Rumble and Call of Duty Warzone Mobile were reportedly impacted, according to Game File, despite Spencer’s insistence that no games were canceled or studios closed this time.
In addition to offering battle royale for up to 120 people and cross-progression with the PC and console Warzone, Modern Warfare 2 and 3, and the future Black Ops 6, Call of Duty Warzone Mobile debuted in March on iOS and Android. The Call of Duty Warzone Mobile review from Gamexta received an 8 out of 10. “Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile incorporates all of the best features from the original Warzone, but it also uses cross-progression and matchmaking to speed up and streamline gameplay, making it a substantial addition to the classic experience.”
Activision was hoping that Warzone Mobile would create a stir in the cutthroat mobile shooter industry, where Tencent-owned TiMi Studio Group’s immensely popular Call of Duty Mobile is already well-established. Activision and Tencent split the revenue from Call of Duty Mobile, which has had 650 million downloads since its release. Conversely, Call of Duty Warzone Mobile is fully produced in-house at Activision, meaning that each time a player spends money on a battle pass or cosmetic, the firm receives a larger portion of the revenue.
Activision may not have been satisfied with Call of Duty Warzone Mobile. Warzone Mobile “did not hit as big as predicted,” according to Stephen Totilo of Game File, and although it will still be available online, its staff “is being reduced down.”
