Activision Blizzard restructures management and organisation

Activision Blizzard has reorganised its senior management and restructured internally into four divisions to cover its portfolio of titles.

More details are at the LA Times, which reports that one division will focus on Call of Duty, a second will handle other Activision-owned titles including Guitar Hero and Tony Hawk, a third will handle licenced properties and the fourth division will effectively be Blizzard (which ofc Activision has said publicly several times it wants to be ‘independent’ under the Activision umbrella).  There has also been a number of management reshuffles, the effect of which (according to the LA Times) is that the only executive now reporting directly to CEO Bobby Kotcik is Thomas Tippl (former chief financial officer and chief corporate officer, now chief operating officer).

GI.biz reports that it is believed the reshuffle will lead to some job losses, including the UK.  This suggests that this restructuring process is not just about better corporate/legal organisation but also involves actual consolidation – which suggests this is at least partly a cost-cutting exercise.  In which case, you can expect a redundancy/consultation process for the affected Activision UK employees in the near future.

Of course, it is likely this is also about control, since the reorganisation follows soon after the recent fall out between Activision and the former management of Infinity Ward, developer of Modern Warfare 2, which has of course led to a very public lawsuit and Activision announcing steps to reinforce its control over the Call of Duty franchise by setting up a dedicated unit for it.

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