Activision and Raven Software fire Call of Duty QA testers

Cut corners: Raven Software’s quality assurance testers are being called into meetings to notify them of pending layoffs. The decision was made despite the company’s higher third-quarter earnings and Activision’s continued promise of a pay increase. The move has the potential to add another self-inflicted injury to Activision’s already badly damaged reputation.

Sometimes it seems like Activision can’t help but shoot itself in the foot. Call of Duty community leader Austin O’Brien’s tweet stated that Activision has begun meeting with the game’s Quality Assurance (QA) test team to inform them of the upcoming layoffs. According to a source close to KotakuThe layoffs have already destroyed more than a third of the QA team and will continue until next week. The layoffs come amid the company’s ongoing struggle with pleadings of harassment and abuse.

O’Brien’s follow-up tweets claim that many of the QA testers were asked to move to the Madison, WI area to work on projects that support the popular franchise. The developers were also told that they would receive pay raises on numerous occasions, although the raises never materialized. Instead, according to the Kotaku source, Activision will hire a handful of testers permanently, leaving the rest of the team unemployed just in time for the holidays.

While news of the layoffs may be negative, O’Brien’s call to friends in the industry with open opportunities may yield some positive results. Contacts of great developers such as Zenimax to local development studios based in Madison, such as Lost children interactive They have responded with leads and openings in hopes of finding a home for the displaced QA team.

Game QA testers are primarily responsible for playing and replaying games (or game sections) to identify bugs, glitches, and vulnerabilities so they can be fixed before or shortly after launch. Games with constant pitches and massive player bases, such as War zone, rely heavily on these testers to ensure releases are functional and not disruptive to players or the surrounding multi-billion dollar industry that has spawned everything from cash tournaments to Warzone-based live streams and podcasts.

Sudden layoffs aren’t the first at Activision. Earlier this year, the company fired more than 190 employees, citing the changes as necessary to save costs and reinvent itself during the pandemic. Meanwhile, CEO Bobby Kotick raised over $ 200 million in bonuses during that same period.

Image Credit: Video player by Sean Do