Update: Raven’s QA team is walking out in protest of the layoffs.
Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier is reporting that the walkout will continue until the layoffs are reversed.
Dec. 6th, 11:25 AM Update: Activision has responded.
Original Story:
Raven Software, the studio behind the immensely popular Call of Duty: Warzone, had a team of contracted QA testers laid off by publisher Activision. This was despite the promises of raises for the team.
Austin O’Brien, Associate Community Manager at Raven Software, was none too pleased with the news as he took to Twitter.
Activision, of course, is no stranger to sexism, misogyny, and mistreatment regarding their developers.
Kotaku is reporting that the contractors at Raven Software learned of the news regarding layoffs from word of mouth. “This wasn’t a normal end,” a source told Kotaku. “They just decided to gut the studio. I’ve heard so far that they’ve lost 1/3 of their QA and it is still ongoing into next week.”
The Washington Post reports that some workers did, in fact, receive promotions and a raise of $1.50 an hour, up to an hourly rate of $18.50.
Despite some workers getting what they were promised, there were still people upset by the news. “I feel hurt and betrayed,” a former contractor at Raven Software told the Post after being laid off. “The majority of individuals who have had their meetings were fired. Everyone was told ‘You did nothing wrong,’ after being given the bad news.
At the time of publication, neither Activision nor Raven Software have commented on the news.
