Vivendi UK to bear the brunt of Actiblizz redundancies

Details of the restructuring following the completion of the Activision Blizzard deal are beginning to leak, with staff at Vivendi's UK arm apparently set to bear the brunt of redundancies in the country, GamesIndustry.biz has learned.

According to senior sources the majority of the Vivendi team, which oversees the Sierra games label among other things, will face job losses - although some will be invited to apply for new roles in the merged company. Meanwhile the staff base at Activision UK will remain largely intact, it is understood.

Activision Blizzard senior management had previously intimated that a mixture of staff from both offices would be retained moving forwards.

It has also emerged that following a new company strategy, a number of Sierra titles are under close scrutiny and some could be axed, although it isn't known at this point which games are under threat or what the timescale is for any decision.

However, Blizzard's European activities will be left alone, with the Paris-based team remaining intact to oversee the company's properties in the region as before.

Activision Blizzard was officially formed on July 10, a merger between Vivendi Games - which owned the Sierra and Blizzard companies - and Activision. Vivendi Universal remains the majority shareholder of the new entity.

Both Activision UK and Vivendi Games UK declined to comment at this time.