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On January 25, 2024, Microsoft announced massive layoffs to reduce their gaming workforce. This significantly impacted Activision Blizzard's division, including every Call of Duty development team. The layoffs were addressed in Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer's memo, which stated that out of 22,000 employees, approximately 1,900 would be let go due to identified areas of overlap.
With this massive layoff, the future of Call of Duty may face significant hurdles, particularly as a new title is reportedly set to launch in 2024, while MW3 and Warzone will continue to receive new content. So, with the reduced workforce, the timely delivery and quality of updates may be impacted.
This article will delve deeper into the layoff details and how it may hamper the Call of Duty franchise.
Microsoft's massive layoff has significantly impacted several Call of Duty development teams
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On January 18, 2022, Microsoft announced its plans to acquire Activision Blizzard for approximately $70 billion, and the deal was finalized on October 13, 2023. Despite becoming the world's most valuable company with a market cap (market capitalization) of $3 trillion, just four months after the acquisition, Microsoft announced a massive workforce reduction, laying off approximately 1900 employees.
Activision's divisions experienced significant layoffs, with Sledgehammer Games, Toys for Bob, and High Moon Studio reportedly losing over 30%, 40%, and 10% of staff, respectively. Additionally, Treyarch, Infinity Ward, Raven, Solid State Studios, Beenox, and Demonware also saw staff reductions.
Future of Call of Duty explored
The recent layoff has caused substantial challenges for the CoD development team, possibly impacting the performance and outcomes of future CoD games and updates. Given the plan to release a new CoD title in 2024 and provide various content and seasonal updates to both Modern Warfare 3 and Warzone, regular monitoring and careful attention will be required to ensure a flawless experience for players to enjoy. However, with reduced staff, the finalized product may have several issues.
Some observers even speculate that CoD could follow a similar path to Halo Infinite, which experienced a drastic player decline of 98% after Microsoft laid off 10,000 employees.
Spencer assured that the performance will not degrade:
"We'll continue to invest in areas that will grow our business and support our strategy of bringing more games to more players around the world. Although this is a difficult moment for our team, l'm as confident as ever in your ability to create and nurture the games, stories and worlds that bring players together."
This covers everything there is to currently know about Microsoft's reduction in workforce.
