Activision will triple the size of its key franchise teams off the back of Call of Duty’s strong performance

Activision is looking to triple the size of its development teams by the end of next year, according to a statement made during its latest quarterly earnings call.

Activision held its latest quarterly earnings conference call yesterday, during which CEO Bobby Kotick stated that the company is looking to triple the size of its development teams. This will include new studios and expanding existing teams.

"From the start of 2020 through the end of next year we intend to hire more than 2000 developers. We plan to triple the size of certain franchise teams compared to those team sizes in 2019, and we have aggressive hiring plans around the world including new studios or major expansion in Poland, China, Australia, and Canada." said Kotick.

It’s not hard to guess which franchise teams Bobby is talking about there, with Call of Duty continuing its dominant run. The series' monthly active user count is up 40% on this time last year, with in-game net bookings (such as spending on season passes and other microtransactions) up 60% over the last 12 months too. This was well above Activision's expectations.

It’s not hard to see why Call of Duty is doing so well for Activision at the moment. Call of Duty Warzone is one of the biggest games on the planet right now, and has just kicked off Warzone Season 3 with the new Verdansk84 map. Warzone being free-to-play is helping it reach more players than ever, and many of those players are going on to drop cash on in-game content.

We’re already seeing signs that Activision needs to bring in more developers to keep the Warzone engine running, as Crash Bandicoot 4 developer Toys for Bob was recently shifted over to help work on the massive battle royale.

Are you one of the millions of people playing Warzone right now? Need to get a leg up on the competition? Then check out our Call of Duty Warzone tips page.