Cutting corners: Raven Software's quality assurance testers are being chosen into meetings to notify them of pending layoffs. The decision was made despite the company's increased Q3 profits and Activision'due south ongoing promise of a wage increase. The movement has the potential to add nonetheless another self-inflicted wound to Activision's already heavily damaged reputation.

Sometimes it seems like Activision can't help but shoot themselves in the pes. Call of Duty community leader Austin O'Brien'south tweet stated that Activision has begun meeting with the game's quality balls (QA) test team to inform them of upcoming layoffs. According to a source close to Kotaku, the layoffs have already gutted more than one third of the quality assurance team and will proceed into next calendar week. The layoffs come amidst the company's ongoing struggle with allegations of harassment and abuse.

O'Brien'south follow-up tweets state that many of the QA testers were asked to move to the Madison, WI, area to work on projects supporting the popular franchise. The developers were likewise told they would exist receiving pay raises on numerous occasions, though the increases never materialized. Instead, according to Kotaku's source, Activision volition hire a scattering of the testers permanently, leaving the residue of the team unemployed merely in time for the holidays.

While news of the layoffs may be negative, O'Brien's telephone call to manufacture friends with open opportunities may yield some positive results. Contacts from large developers like Zenimax to local Madison-based development studios such as Lost Boys Interactive have responded with leads and openings in hopes of finding a habitation for the displaced QA team.

Video game QA testers are primarily responsible for playing and replaying games (or sections of games) to identify bugs, glitches, and exploits and then they can be remediated before or soon subsequently launch. Games with abiding releases and massive histrion bases, such as Warzone, are heavily reliant upon these testers to ensure releases are functional and do not disrupt the players or surrounding multi-million-dollar industry that has spawned everything from cash tournaments to alive streams and Warzone-based podcasts.

The sudden layoffs are not a first for Activision. Earlier this year the company laid off more 190 employees, citing the changes as necessary to salvage costs and reinvent itself during the pandemic. Meanwhile, CEO Bobby Kotick raked in more than $200 million in bonuses during that same menstruation.

Image credit: Video gamer by Sean Do