In the future, WoW developers will stand together as the “World of Warcraft Gamemakers Guild” this union has made history, as something like this has never happened before at Blizzard.
The formation of this union is a bombshell for the gaming world and especially for those who develop all the games we love to play: a few days ago, on July 24, 2024, the Communications Worker’s of America (CWA) announced that over 500 employees at Blizzard had joined forces to form the first “wall-to-wall” union at Blizzard. And in doing so, they are following a very clear trend that also means changes for the future.
Revolutionary Step for the Developers at Blizzard
At X, the members solemnly declared who is united under their banner as the “World of Warcraft Gamemakers Guild”. In fact, it is actually various departments that are all involved in the development of WoW and have a say in the new union: Q&A, Art, Sound, Design, Engineering and Production!
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This milestone is a welcome addition to Bethesda , which had previously also formed a “wall-to-wall” union. Both WoW and TESO will now be created by creative minds united in unions. This is a valuable achievement for the games industry, after all, there have been accusations of overwork and inadequate compensation for years. In salary negotiations, more can be achieved with a united union.
Microsoft Did Not Stand in the Way of Unions
The whole thing also goes back to the fact that those in charge at Microsoft had concluded an agreement on labor neutrality when they took over Activision Blizzard: employees at the newly acquired studios are thus allowed to “freely and fairly make a decision about union representation.” What sounds obvious is, as I said, a big step for the industry – especially for a leading and prominent gaming giant like Microsoft. Over 1,750 employees at Microsoft who work on video games are now represented by a union.
