Subsidiaries of Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) and SPYR Inc (OTCMKTS:SPYR) recently made moves that are certainly of interest to investors or prospective investors in these gaming companies.
Perhaps for little background, shares of Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) are up almost 6.3% so far in 2016 and those of SPYR are up 25% in the same period. If you look at the standing of the stocks, you find that shares of Activision are currently trading closer to their 52-week high, while those of SPYR are trading somewhere near the middle of their 52-week low and 52-week high.
Activision subsidiary cuts jobs
A game studio called Z2, which is based Seattle and is afflicted to Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) has cut some jobs. The move is aimed at realigning the business to some strategic goals. If you don’t remember how Z2 became part of ATVI, the game developer was acquired by King Digital Entertainment last year. King paid about $150 million to bring Z2, formerly Z2Live, under its armpit.
But King was later acquired for $5.9 billion by Activision in the same year that it also acquired Z2. So that was how Z2 became an affiliate of Activision.
Strategic goals
As King integrates Z2 into its system, it has deemed it necessary to cut some support functions at the studio to enable it achieve certain strategic goals. King hopes that the layoffs at Z2 will result in the best talents being returned so that the company can deliver the best games to its customers. Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) stands to benefit from those adjustments on the side of Z2 because it owns King.
The areas being targeted by job cut at Z2 are marketing and support departments. But it is not clearly exactly how many jobs are being removed.
SPYR subsidiary inks publishing agreement
As for SPYR, its subsidiary called SPYR APPS, LLC recently entered into a deal with an entity called Kemojo Studios to publish its new game called Drone Wars. The financial details of the deal weren’t disclosed.
