A group of heroes gathered together to fight a monster in World of Warcraft: The War Within artwork

World of Warcraft Devs Form Blizzard's First Wall-to-Wall Union

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Published: July 25, 2024 9:28 AM

A group of World of Warcraft developers at Blizzard have banded together to create the studio's first wall-to-wall union, which comprises workers from across the QA, art, and sound departments, plus more.

The World of Warcraft Gamemaker's Guild is the first union at Blizzard to consist of workers from several different departments, and as well as the aforementioned departments, it also includes workers from Blizzard's design, engineering, and production divisions.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter) announcing the union's formation, the Gamemaker's Guild says it's standing for a "democratized workplace" and that at a "crucial moment in games", the union "stand[s] together as one".

Two World of Warcraft characters standing in front of a cave entrance
World of Warcraft developers have formed Blizzard's first wall-to-wall union.

This union was formed in conjunction with the Communications Workers of America union, and per the CWA, the new union's formation means that more than 1,750 workers across Microsoft's various gaming divisions are now unionized.

Speaking to The Verge, Blizzard employees Kathryn Friesen and Paul Cox explained why the union was formed, and it turns out the desire to create the union came from one of Blizzard's core values, namely "every voice matters".

Friesen says that World of Warcraft characters genuinely care about each other and the game, and that this spurs them on to "stand together to fight for collective bargaining rights".

Cox, meanwhile, points to the lawsuit brought against Blizzard by the state of California over discrimination claims made against the studio. Cox says Blizzard's responses felt "corporate", which led Blizzard employees to walk out en masse, kicking off efforts to unionize across the studio.

A Warband of cross-faction characters in World of Warcraft: The War Within
World of Warcraft's tenth expansion is due to launch in August.

Blizzard's World of Warcraft devs aren't the first to unionize at Activision Blizzard; others include Call of Duty developer Raven Software, as well as QA workers at Activision Blizzard Albany.

Reportedly, employees' attempts to unionize haven't been met with the fondest of responses by Activision Blizzard's management; one internal email supposedly urged employees to engage in "active, transparent dialogue between leaders and employees" rather than "simply signing an electronic form offered to you by CWA".

The Blizzard Albany union subsequently accused Activision Blizzard of trying to mount a "futile" effort to engage in "union-busting", a concern that Activision's later move to delay a union vote tabulation certainly did nothing to alleviate.

It looks like one thing is for sure, at any rate; efforts to unionize on the part of gaming industry employees aren't going to stop any time soon. For what it's worth, a Microsoft spokesperson told The Verge that the company intends to "engage in good faith negotiations" with the CWA going forward, so that's encouraging, at any rate.

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More Info About This Game
Learn More About World of Warcraft
Game Page World of Warcraft
Platforms
PC
Release Date
November 23, 2004 (Calendar)
Genre
RPG, MMO
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