Activision Blizzard to lay off hundreds in Irvine and Santa Monica starting next month

Video game giant Activision Blizzard will start laying off employees at its Irvine and Santa Monica locations next month as parent company Microsoft Corp. looks to cut costs in its gaming division.

The Santa Monica-based video game maker notified about 400 employees of the layoffs on Sept. 12. By the end of the year, 140 employees will be cut from the Irvine facility and 110 will be laid off from the Santa Monica location, according to a state notification filed by Activision Blizzard.

Additionally, the company’s Playa Vista location will begin layoffs in November and cut a total of 143 employees by the end of the year, according to a separate notice.

The Activision Blizzard layoffs are part of Microsoft’s move to cut 3% of its global gaming employees, or 650 people. Microsoft completed its acquisition of Activision Blizzard last year after much scrutiny by antitrust regulators. The $69-billion deal is the biggest in video game history.

In an email earlier this month to staff, Microsoft Gaming Chief Executive Phil Spencer said the cuts were “part of aligning our post-acquisition team structure and managing our business,” according to Variety. He said the affected jobs were largely in “corporate and supporting functions.”

The Southern California layoffs seemed to reflect this, with eliminated positions coming from areas including recruiting, IT and human resources.