Call of Duty, Activision promises higher wages and then layoffs start

Call of Duty

According to what was reported on Twitter, Activision would have fired a large part of the QA team of Call of Duty present in Raven Software after having promised a salary adjustment for months. Austin O'Brien, community manager of the development team, revealed what happened within the software house, which developed Warzone (the shooter's Battle Royale mode), in a long and decidedly controversial tweet against the publisher.

O'Brien revealed what happened in the Italian night. “I am amazed. My friends on Raven's QA team have been inundated with promises, for months, of a salary adjustment from Activision. Today, one by one, very valid elements of the team have been fired ", wrote O’Brien. The post obviously does not stop there and continues: O'Brien revealed that several people had requested a transfer at the offices in Madison (in Wisconsin) and will now have to leave their jobs on January 28, 2022.

“If it's still not clear, that's nonsense,” O'Brien continues. “It's not fair to promise people something better and then throw them out. I am infuriated ”. It is not a pleasant situation: Raven Software is the author of one of the most played modes of Call of Duty and which requires, among other things, many tests before launching any update and with the situation that Activision is experiencing, today also removed from The Game Awards 2021, definitely not a good sign for the publisher.

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.

Today, one by one, valuable members of the team were called into meetings and told they were being let go.

- Austin O'Brien (@eyyohbee) December 3, 2021



O’Brien asked to share any open positions in the QA teams with all his contacts. Activision and Raven Software have not yet exposed themselves at the communications level. Similar practices (promising better working conditions and then firing at the end of the employment relationship) are very common in several sectors, including video games. The publisher of Call of Duty, however, is not going through a good time, between the complaints and allegations of sexual harassment, even covered by the CEO. We look forward to any official announcements from Irvine, which may better clarify this controversial situation.

Battlefield 2042 is available on offer for PlayStation console on Amazon.