Unionization efforts have been swelling across the video game world in recent months — a GDC 2022 survey showed just how interested developers are in labor organization. Vodeo Games became the first officially recognized union of game developers in North America in December of last year, and now a watershed vote at Raven Software has created the first union at a major studio.
Many were awaiting the results of today’s union vote, and Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reported the results on Twitter. Out of 22 total votes, there were 19 for and 3 against. With this vote, the testers at Raven Software are now “the US video game industry’s first major union.”
This affirmed union vote comes after a long story of union-busting efforts from Raven Software’s parent company Activision Blizzard. In fact, it came on the same day that another Bloomberg report detailed alleged illegal threats against Activision Blizzard staff. Reportedly, the company had a social media policy that infringed on workers’ rights. Former employee Jessica Gonzales, who organized labor campaigns, stands out as an example of someone who utilized social media in a way that would’ve been infringed upon.
Furthermore, labor efforts from Raven Software are one aspect of what had a group of U.S. senators worried about Xbox’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Lawmakers were concerned that such a merger would overshadow the troubles that employees were voicing. CEO Bobby Kotick himself is already the target of a New York City lawsuit against the company — it alleges that Kotick rushed the deal along to escape culpability for toxic workplace allegations. At the very least, Microsoft pledged that its merger would not affect unionization efforts.
That’s only one aspect of the troubles Activision Blizzard faces, however. It recently settled a sexual harassment lawsuit for $18 million, but it’s still on the chopping block for another. Ongoing issues aside, it’s good to see the organizers at Raven Software win its vote. The precedent is now set for similar efforts across the game development scene.
