The World of Warcraft development team, consisting of approximately 500 members, has successfully unionized under the Communication Workers of America.
This marks the culmination of a tumultuous three-year period for Activision-Blizzard, tarred and feathered due to allegations of harassment, sexual misconduct, and abuse that led to numerous employees departing in 2021.
Activision-Blizzard’s Legal Woes
The unionization comes on the heels of significant legal battles for Activision-Blizzard. In 2022, the company settled an $18 million sexual harassment lawsuit with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The following year, a separate California civil rights suit was settled for $54 million, with an additional $47 million allocated to support employees.
Despite these settlements, the conclusion was that there was “no widespread harassment or recurring pattern or practice of gender harassment.” Former CEO Bobby Kotick’s response to the employee complaints was notably contentious.
He described the situation as “a very aggressive labor movement working hard to try and destabilize the company,” although he claimed he was not “anti-union.” Kotick eventually stepped down after Microsoft acquired Activision-Blizzard, which marked a turning point for the company’s labor relations.
WoW Senior Producer Speaks Out
In an interview with The Gamer, WoW senior producer Samuel Cooper highlighted the positive impact of the Microsoft acquisition on union efforts. Cooper emphasized that Microsoft’s pro-union stance provided a safer environment for unionization. “Legally, a company can’t retaliate against you for organizing. But that doesn’t make it any less scary,” Cooper stated. “It becomes un-scary when you see hundreds of your fellow co-workers out there, side by side with you. And neutrality allowed us to be very visible on campus.”
Cooper also noted that the departures in 2021 played a crucial role in the union’s formation. “There was this series of walkouts… The way that was able to come together so quickly without any prior laying of groundwork really became a proof of concept. We knew we could do that. We could make big changes together, and we knew we had a lot of shared values to rally around,” he explained.
Activision-Blizzard’s Neutrality
Despite Kotick’s claims of neutrality, Activision-Blizzard has a history of anti-union actions. In 2022, the company did not recognize a QA union at Raven Software. The US Labor Relations Board later found that raises were withheld from the team in retaliation for their unionization efforts. In 2021, a statement urging employees to “take time to consider the consequences of your signature on the binding legal document presented to you by CWA” was criticized as “tired anti-union talking points straight from the union-busting script.”
The relationship between the Communications Workers of America Union (CWA) and Blizzard’s owners has improved under Microsoft’s leadership. “We’ve had CWA representatives and members from other video game unions like Sega and ZeniMax on the campus, talking to folks,” Cooper noted.
Industry Bleeding With Evermore Layoffs
However, the transition to Microsoft has not been without issues. Following the acquisition, a wave of layoffs affected 1,900 employees across Xbox and Blizzard, causing significant upheaval. Microsoft also shut down four studios, including Tango Gameworks and Arkane Austin.
These developments occur against a backdrop of continuing layoffs across the gaming industry as more studios are consolidated by larger corporations. As we reported last week, Bungie’s own layoffs continue to rock the industry. And as YouTuber RazorFist mentioned in a video when Microsoft made the purchase of Blizzard, it had already owned a large segment of the gaming creative ecosystem.
And as more companies are purchased and absorbed into larger studios, more and more positions become redundant. This could mean that Microsoft’s own move of not proactively fighting off the unionization of its developers could mean they’ve already cut the fat post-purchase of Activision-Blizzard.