Activision Blizzard didn't mention anything about layoffs in today's financial press release but during today's Q&A with investors at its weekly conference call, execs for the publisher finally admitted that it would in fact be saying "good bye" to about seven percent of its work force. That means 500 people will soon be looking for work. The layoffs were caused in part by the decision to shut down its Guitar Hero division.

Activision execs tried to spin the bad news, saying that hiring was ramping up in other divisions of the publisher including its Call of Duty business and at Blizzard for its upcoming and still officially unannounced MMO game. The execs stated that by the end of 2011 its work force numbers will not be "materially different" than they are right now.