Game Over? Computer Game Makers Laying Off Hundreds of Staff

Ka-boom!

Gaming has been one of the economy's stronger growth businesses since the financial crisis and ensuing recession.

But since late last fall makers of some of the most notorious and successful games have laid off hundreds of employees. The producers of 'World of Warcraft,' 'Quake' and 'Doom,' among others have reduced their staffs dramatically. Activision Blizzard, Ngmoco, Vostu, id and Electronic Arts have all cut back.

So what's going on? Is this the end of the gaming boom? The answer to that question appears to be, 'not yet.' Interestingly all of these companies claim to be hiring at the same time they are culling. Some of this may be strategic refocusing on new opportunities and threats. Zynga's success has caused some to pursue new market that are not directly competitive with that buzz saw. Some of it may be churn related to mergers and acquisitions. But some has to do with demographics and the maturing of the market.

While sobering, there is a flip side to that concern, which is the potential growth of 'gaming on gaming,' a discreet way of describing the windfall that gambling based on computer gaming competition may hold in store. Like other tech-related markets, gaming is evolving in ways that are not always predictable with great precision. Which is part of its excitement. JL

The Huffington Post reports:

Blizzard Entertainment says it's cutting about 600 jobs.

The Irvine, Calif., company, which makes the popular "World of Warcraft" games, says that only about 10 percent of the cuts will involve jobs related to game development.
The "World of Warcraft" development team will not be affected.

Blizzard, which is part of Activision Blizzard Inc., says the decision to cut jobs was made after a review of business needs.

Blizzard's development and publishing schedules will not be affected and the company says it's still looking to hire game developers for certain positions.

Blizzard added that expenses related to the job cuts aren't expected to significantly reduce Activision Blizzard's financial results for 2012.