Jason Schreier from Bloomberg reports that Activision Blizzard has told its staff that it will be converting 1,100 quality assurance (QA) testers within the company to full-time. All QA testers will receive a new contract, and their pay will be raised to at least $20 per hour.
This news comes not too long after the wake of many worker revolts and the call to unionize that is spreading throughout the United States. This decision by Activision Blizzard comes during a time when the company has been in the spotlight for multiple Earth-shattering revelations.
The company has been part of multiple lawsuits, with many speaking out against the company’s “frat boy” workplace environment. Activision Blizzard has also recently been set to be acquired by Microsoft. Converting a good portion of its QA testers to full-time may be the positive headline that the company is desperately trying to gain ahead of the impending merger.
QA testers are the workers who test software and find any issues wrong with the software. Their goal is to improve the software through constant testing and see if they can come across a problem that would need to be addressed. Within the world of video gaming, it is a QA tester’s job to play a game and rigorously look into every element of the game to see if they can spot something that can break it. Video game QA testers are essential in making sure a game is up to standard before being shipped out to the masses.
