Call of Duty devs Raven Software are planning walkout following layoffs

After roughly a dozen quality assurance contractors have been laid off from their positions, the entire QA team and other members at Raven Software are planning a walkout in protest. 

“The Raven QA team and other members of Raven’s staff will be walking out with a singular demand,” said Raven Software workers in a statement to the press. “Every member of the QA team, including those terminated on Friday, must be offered full-time positions.” According to a report from Polygon, the workers are planning the demonstration, “with the continued success of the studio at the forefront of their mind[s].”

Currently, those who have been laid off will have their last day on January 28. According to a tweet from Austin O’Brien, Associate Community Manager at Raven Software, a number of those affected by the layoffs had specifically moved for the job. Some members of staff had been promoted to full time, with a pay increase of $1.50 per hour. Raven Software co-created Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, and also works on CoD: Warzone.

These people were asked to relocate to Madison, WI to work here. Now they are out of a job on January 28th.

Our QA team does incredible work but this will not only increase their workload but crush morale.

If any industry friends have open positions, please share them.

— Austin O'Brien – Woodmancy (@eyyohbee) December 3, 2021

The layoffs come after months of missteps from Activision Blizzard, a company that made $3 billion from Call of Duty in 2020. In July, the state of California filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard alleging gender discrimination and harassment. Since then, the company hasn’t done much to make any definitive change. With how poorly they have handled the situation, it’s unclear whether the walkout from the devs at Raven Software will have an effect.