Activision Blizzard Employees Organize a Union with the Communications Workers of America

Video game employees of Activision Blizzard Inc. in Boston organized a union with the Communications Workers of America. This includes designers, animators, engineers, producers, and quality assurance workers.

(Photo : DAVID MCNEW/AFP via Getty Images)
Employees of the video game company, Activision Blizzard, hold a walkout and protest rally to denounce the companys response to a California Department of Fair Employment and Housing lawsuit and to call for changes in conditions for women and other marginalized groups, in Irvine, California, on July 28, 2021.

Seeking to Unionize

Activision Blizzard's Proletariat Studio announced that a supermajority of workers are forming to unionize, as they filed for a union representation election with the National Labor Relations Board on Tuesday, December 27th.

According to the released statement of Communications Workers of America (CWA), the management was asked to recognize their union and respect the right to organize without retaliation or interference. As of now, no confirmation was released by the company on whether they will or will not recognize the formed union.

"We believe that leadership should follow in the steps of Microsoft and commit to a Labor Neutrality Agreement so that any and all workers throughout our company may unionize without fear of retaliation or interference," the statement added.

This is the third group of Activision Blizzard employees to file for union representation with CWA. If the effort succeeds, this will be the first gaming union in the company to compromise workers outside of quality assurance. These are also the same employees that were considered underpaid, despite doing one of the most hardworking jobs in the industry.

Game Rant reported that the unit includes 57 workers that are animators, designers, engineers, producers, and quality assurance workers.

Proletariat Software Engineer Dustin Yost stated, "By forming a union and negotiating a contract, we can make sure that we are able to continue doing our best work and create innovative experiences at the frontier of game development."

He added that discussions regarding unionization started to circulate when Activision Blizzard announced its plans to acquire Proletariat earlier this year. Knowing the company's reputation in the workplace, Yost was one of the employees who wanted to protect the great culture in their company, hence the unionization.

Proletariat, along with its 100 employees, was acquired by Activision last June as an effort for its World of Warcraft franchise. Warcraft General Manager John Hight stated that acquisition efforts started in May before the team was integrated into the MMO.

Activision's Response

Bloomberg reported that the company values the contributions of Proletariat employees since joining Activision Blizzard this summer. As per a spokesperson from Activision, "We've received the petition, and will be providing a formal public response." The response will be sent to the National Labor Relations Board.

The announcement of the union comes amid the attempt of the Federal Trade Commission to block Microsoft from acquiring Activision Blizzard in a $69 billion deal.