One of the studios behind "Call of Duty" success is apparently firing off QA testers who are supposedly paid $17 an hour for their work on the brand, and that is despite Activision Blizzard confirming that the game brought in $3 billion in 2020.
Creators of 'Call of Duty'
Raven Software was acquired by Activision in 1997 and is currently one of the leading makers of Call of Duty games.
In conjunction with prominent studios at Activision, such as Infinity Ward, the Wisconsin-based firm has worked on titles such as Call of Duty: Black Ops, Ghosts, Infinite Warfare, and others.
As reported by Kotaku, Raven Software has recently been the more prominent face of free-to-play battle royale Warzone, due to the patch notes and developer communications.
Raven is, in other words, an integral part of the Call of Duty machine as it continues to grow.
However, the studio has laid off a third of its contract QA testers.
Team members were invited into individual meetings, according to Raven's Associate Community Manager Austin O'Brien, to be told whether or not they would still have a job come January 28.
Thus far, around a third of the company's QA testers have been laid off, or about a dozen individuals, but it's probable that more may follow.
An anonymous Raven employee stated that everyone was told they had done nothing wrong after receiving the bad news.
'Call of Duty' Activision Employees
Employee advocacy group A Better ABK claims that several of the employees relocated to Wisconsin for the job without any help from Activision Blizzard.
Many of these employees relocated for this work without ABK assistance, placing them in financial and housing crisis in an area with limited options in this industry.
— ABetterABK 💙 ABK Workers Alliance (@ABetterABK) December 4, 2021
O'Brien also tweeted that the company had promised team members raises after Activision (Raven's owner) completed a pay restructure, and that promise may be coming true in a cruel way: those who stay will get a raise from $17 to $18.50 an hour, as well as better benefits and bonuses.
I am gutted right now. My friends in QA at Raven were promised, for months, that Activision was working towards a pay restructure to increase their wages.
— Austin O'Brien - Woodmancy (@eyyohbee) December 3, 2021
Today, one by one, valuable members of the team were called into meetings and told they were being let go.
Several testers he spoke with, according to Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier, can't be sure their status for another week, which implies they'll have to face an uncomfortable weekend before learning whether they'll have to spend the Christmas job hunting.
One studio QA tester said they wouldn't know until Tuesday, December 7, and Kotaku reported that the firm's developers found out about the layoffs through word of mouth rather than an official announcement.
I've been in touch with about half a dozen Raven testers tonight. The company is informing them individually whether or not they're being laid off. But some don't have their meetings scheduled until next week, so they head into the weekend not knowing if they still have jobs
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) December 4, 2021
'Call of Duty' Earning $3 Billion
According to The Verge, Activision Blizzard has a history of firing off employees even when revenue is booming.
After CEO Bobby Kotick declared that the company's 2018 financial results were the best in its history, the corporation lay off about 8% of its workforce in 2019.
After a shareholder vote in June, Kotick reportedly won $155 million. A few months prior, the firm fired off roughly 50 event managers, giving them three months' severance and $200 Battle.net gift cards.
According to Gamesindustry.biz, Call of Duty: Vanguard, a game developed by Sledgehammer Games and distributed by Activision, was the second most popular game released in 2021.
Furthermore, Activision Blizzard has recently been criticized for having poor working conditions and failing to respond to frequent allegations of sexual assault and abuse by employees.
There are also claims that Kotick was aware of the problems for years.
Meanwhile, in less than a week, the corporation will release a Vanguard-themed addition for Call of Duty: Warzone.
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