Another major game developer owned by Microsoft has voted to join a union. This time, about 500 members of Blizzard Entertainment's "World of Warcraft" team voted to join the Communications Workers of America (Communications Workers of America).
Bloomberg reports that the union vote was confirmed by an arbitrator who found that a majority of the World of Warcraft team supported joining the CWA. So far, Microsoft, which acquired Actvision Blizzard in October 2023, has not commented on the union election. The move follows last week's announcement that Microsoft-owned Bethesda Game Studios had voted to join the CWA.
Like Bethesda, Blizzard's new CWA members can now engage in labor negotiations with Microsoft for better wages, benefits, and working conditions.
Microsoft had previously said in 2022 that it would negotiate with these groups if more employees wanted to join unions, saying "we believe in the importance of listening to employee concerns." Later that year, Microsoft reached an agreement with the CWA stating that it would take a "neutral stance" if those employees expressed interest in joining a union after acquiring Activision Blizzard.
Now, Microsoft must enter labor negotiations with at least two major game development studios in the near future. We'll have to wait and see what the outcome of these negotiations will be. It will also be interesting to see how many more Microsoft-owned game studios decide whether to unionize.
For employees in Microsoft’s gaming department, life in 2024 will not be easy. At the beginning of this year, the company laid off 1,900 employees. Later this year, the company completely shut down three development studios and merged a fourth studio with another. The company never disclosed how many team members were affected by the incidents.