CoD: Warzone Developers Form a Union, Against Activision's Efforts
After weeks of striking, a group of testers from the Raven Software studio has begun the process of forming a trade union. If they succeed, it will be the first such organization formed within a large American game publisher.
- After weeks of strike, a group of testers at Raven Software have begun the process of forming a union;
- They are demanding voluntary recognition by Activision Blizzard;
- Otherwise, a vote will be held, and if half of the participating workers vote in favor of unionization, the publisher will be forced to recognize it;
- this union would be the first in a major U.S. game publisher and the second in this industry in the U.S.
The announcement of Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard has become the biggest event of January in the gaming industry. There are also echoes of the bullying and sexual harassment scandal in the latter corporation. So it was easy to forget that there is an ongoing strike of Raven Software employees. The conflict between developers and the publisher has just entered a new phase - the former began forming a trade union.
The straw that broke the camel's back for Raven Software employees were the layoffs of many people in the quality control department. What's worse, this happened after months of promising them salary increases. Developers who remained in the studio began a protest, because they considered the publisher's decision to be absurd. The team is currently focused on the development of Call of Duty: Warzone, which is expected to generate $5.2 million in revenue per day, so getting rid of members of the quality control team was bizarre.
Several dozen members of the team have been on strike since early December. Activision Blizzard not only failed to respond to their demands, but according to the protesters the company also allegedly intimidated and spied on them. In addition, specialists were hired to sabotage the process of establishing trade unions.
This did not discourage the developers and 34 of them, all from the quality control department, started a union called the Game Workers Alliance, which will join the Communications Workers of America, the largest labor organization in the US. They demanded that Activision Blizzard voluntarily recognize the union's formation within its ranks. If this does not happen, the workers will go through the procedures of US labor laws. These will include a vote and if a majority of those taking part are in favor of the union, the publisher will be forced to recognize it.
This could be a historic event - if the Game Workers Alliance is formally recognized, it would be the first union formed at a publicly traded American publisher. Moreover, it would be only the second labor union in the U.S. game industry at all - the first of them, formed in the studio Vodeo, was formed in December last year. There, the management did not make problems for employees and voluntarily accepted the formation of the union.
