Blizzard’s Overwatch 2 group has unionized. The wall-to-wall union–referred to because the Overwatch Gamemakers Guild–includes practically 200 builders, starting from artists and QA testers to writers and engineers. It’s the second union to type on the firm since final July, when the group behind Blizzard’s hit MMO World of Warcraft efficiently shaped a union of its personal. The Communications Staff of America (CWA) introduced the union in a press launch shared with Kotaku earlier right now, writing that “an awesome majority of employees” supported the initiative.
“Recreation builders behind Activision Blizzard’s hit franchise Overwatch have joined the Communications Staff of America (CWA), changing into the most recent group of online game employees at Microsoft-owned studios to type a wall-to-wall union,” the CWA wrote. “A impartial arbitrator confirmed right now that an awesome majority of employees have both signed a union authorization card or indicated that they needed union illustration by way of a web based portal.”
With the Overwatch 2 group’s unionization, the variety of unionized sport builders working at Microsoft now exceeds 2,000 workers. Nevertheless, the Overwatch Gamemakers Guild now has to cut price for its first contract–a course of that Microsoft has been accused of dragging out.
In keeping with Simon Hedrick, a check analyst at Blizzard, the layoffs at first of 2024 had been largely what motivated the group to unionize. Hedrick advised Kotaku that “As much as that second I might been actually completely happy in what I used to be doing.” Hedrick in fact refers back to the sweeping layoffs by Microsoft final January, during which the tech large lower over 1,900 folks from its online game division, together with Blizzard president Mike Ybarra.
“Folks had been gone out of nowhere and there was nothing we might do about it,” Hedrick advised Kotaku.
Along with the looming menace of layoffs, the Overwatch 2 group additionally cited pay disparities, work-from-home restrictions, and wanting sure protections–such as freedom from crunch and assured severance packages–as contributing elements to their unionization. In keeping with Kotaku, Blizzard workers have repeatedly careworn that “enhancing their working circumstances also can result in higher video games,” whereas layoffs and uncompetitive pay makes them worse.
Blizzard UI Artist Sadie Boyd additionally weighed in on the choice to unionize, telling Kotaku “We’re not only a quantity on an Excel sheet. We need to make video games however we won’t do it with out a sense of safety.”
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