Radical Entertainment lays off 100 people

[dj_soo]

Ouch

Radical layoffs at Radical Entertainment

Radical layoffs at Radical Entertainment
Marke Andrews and Fiona Anderson , Vancouver Sun
Published: Wednesday, August 13, 2008

VANCOUVER -- Vancouver video game company Radical Entertainment will be laying off about 100 employees, almost half of its staff, the company confirmed Wednesday.

The cut-backs stem from a decision by the company's owner -- Activision Blizzard -- to reduce the number of titles Radical produces by half.

"Activision Blizzard is committed to making the best games possible and has elected at this time to reduce the number of titles that Radical is developing from four games to two," Leah Rubin, Radical's vice-president of human resources, said in an email. "Therefore, we will be proportionately reducing the size of our studio."

The reductions come in the wake of an ownership change last month that saw France-based Vivendi, which owns Radical, and American video software company Activision, join forces as Activision Blizzard.

At the time of the merger, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick told a Variety reporter that if projects didn't meet the company's requirements for return to shareholders and profitability they wouldn't be retained.

Two weeks ago, Activision Blizzard released a statement saying it would "realign staffing" at Radical Entertainment as well as at High Moon Studios, which is located in San Diego, spurring rumours that layoffs were imminent.

Radical was founded in 1991 and bought by Vivendi in 2005 for an undisclosed price. In 2007 the company hired almost 100 people, only half of whom came from British Columbia. Twelve were from other provinces and the rest came from outside Canada. The hiring spree brought the number of employees to more than 200.

Last month, Activision Blizzard said it would go ahead with five games or franchises including Radical's Crash Bandicoot, and Prototype, a new game created by Radical that will debut in 2009. Rubin said Radical would be offering laid-off employees a number of tools and resources to help them find new employment.

[email protected]
[email protected]


© Vancouver Sun 2008

[Kraig]

Yep... although just in the paper today, this is old news. ;-)

High Moon Studios has also laid off half of its staff. Vivendi Games is no more, officially everything is "Activision Blizzard."

[G3N3R4L]

oh snap.. thats unfortunate news.. =/

[thebobman]

HOLY SHIT!!!!!
That's hands-down the worst
headline pun I've seen all year.

[wishbone]

yeah it's pretty gnarly.

[dj_soo]

Originally Posted by Kraig

Yep... although just in the paper today, this is old news. ;-)

High Moon Studios has also laid off half of its staff. Vivendi Games is no more, officially everything is "Activision Blizzard."

oh yea, i knew about the restructuring for weeks - a lot of employees were in the dark tho as there weren't any numbers being thrown around... cutting half your employees sucks tho...

[fritz]

lol @ the rockstar recruiting stencil on the main st skytrain pillar, 1 block from radical

[EPID3MIK-7]

OUCH! That's gotta hurt. Reminds me of the Black Wednesday at EA.

[ppcock]

has anyone played any radical games? I srsly lied in my interview about enjoying radical games. Simpsons blew, hulk was ok, scarface was ok.. shit controls.

Good move on activision, save the company some money.. cut out shit games. Can't wait for prototype though, looks alright.. hopefully that isnt cut.

[Mr Ektion]

Originally Posted by EPID3MIK-7

OUCH! That's gotta hurt. Reminds me of the Black Wednesday at EA.

FOR SURE. but it's not just Radical QA that's getting the chop. it's dev too. I hear the re-alignment is postponed till next week.