Activision Blizzard: Protests for redundancies in Raven software

Last week, contract employees of the Call of Duty Studios Raven were affected by layoffs in which a dozen employees of the QA department have lost their job.

At the studio, the layoffs caused a turmoil, especially since it concerned about one third of employees in quality assurance. Some affected were even recently adjusted by a transfer there and paid that, sometimes even from their own pocket.

In the last week there was already protests from Raven Software, while supporting other Activision Blizzard branches.

At the beginning of this week, another protest took place, in which employee resounded their work. Once again, they got support from branches in Minnesota, Texas and even from the headquarters in Irvine California.

It is called for all employees, including the dismissed, a full-time site in the QA department.

To protest Activision Blizzard said:

We support their right to express their opinions and concerns in a safe and respectful way without fear of sanctions.

Compared to Game Informer, the company also said that the layoffs are part of a comprehensive restructuring:

Activision Publishing increases its total investment in its development and operating resources. We will convert about 500 temporary workers in full-time employees in the coming months. Unfortunately, in the context of this change, we also communicated 20 temporary workers in the studios that their contracts are not extended.

Brian Rafael, Head of Raven Software, apologized for the confused communication regarding the dismissals. All you have decided not to extend some temporary employment contracts.