Activision Blizzard Inc., the video game maker, is preparing to lay off approximately 400 employees across its mobile gaming divisions in Santa Monica and Irvine. This is subsequent to last year’s $75.4 billion merger with Microsoft Corp, leading to redundancy among staff. The California-based Activision Blizzard has already reduced its workforce by over 1000 in various operations in Novato and Foster City in the Bay area and its Southern California offices, marking a significant spate of layoffs.

140 jobs at Blizzard Entertainment in Irvine were flagged to be cut as of October 11th. Among the roles being made redundant are accountants, software engineers, game designers, artists, sound designers and a game director and vice president. Activision Blizzard spokeswoman Delay Simmons stated in an email statement that the affected roles primarily include corporate and supporting roles, as well as some impacts to gaming teams. However, she did not disclose which teams were impacted and their locations. It emerged earlier that layoffs were also announced in January and earlier this month in the Microsoft Gaming division’s Activision Blizzard, Xbox, and ZeniMax Media units, with 1900 and 650 layoffs respectively.

Job losses will also extend to 143 roles at Activision’s Jefferson Boulevard studio at the Reserve Business Park in Playa Vista and 110 jobs at the Olympic Boulevard studio in Santa Monica. Required under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, this cascade of layoffs is planned to be completed all three locations by year end. On the brighter side, for those affected by the layoffs and in need of support, reaching out to edd could be a good first step. Visit eddcaller.com to access resources, make inquiries and speak directly to California unemployment customer service officers.