Raven Software Has Formed a Union
Activision’s Raven Software have formed a union, and that is incredible news. The Quality Assurance team, a team who is often overworked and underpaid all throughout the games industry, have formed the union. They are currently asking for voluntary recognition. This would make them the first union in a major game company in North America.
This news comes just days after we were all shocked by Microsoft acquiring Activision Blizzard. This caused many workers to fear their plight would be forgotten with the huge news. Them forming a union after being on strike certainly puts them back in the conversation, which is a good thing. These workers deserve to have their struggles heard and deserve a good workplace.
Right now, the union going by the name Game Workers Alliance, is focusing largely on QA workers. They want to end the practice of crunch and are calling on more diversity, equity, and transparency with decision-making.
It isn’t surprising that the Raven Software’s union would form from QA workers. They are routinely mistreated with impossible workloads and promises of full-time contracts only to be terminated before that can happen. They have been treated as nothing but tools that you can just throw away once you are finished with them.
Our Principles:
-Solidarity: The voices of workers should be heard by leadership. By uniting in solidarity, we can ensure our message is further reaching, and more effective. (1/8)
— Game Workers Alliance 💙#WeAreGWA (@WeAreGWA) January 21, 2022
Now, we wait and see just what Activision Blizzard does about this. They are not a fan of unions and have done all they can to bust any ideas of unionization. Right now, their big plan seems to be to ignore it and hope it goes away, but that doesn’t seem to be working particularly well right now. Hopefully, Game Workers Alliance is recognized and can start a trend in every major studio. It won’t be easy, but it seems to be a necessary step.