Activision Blizzard to reorganize Raven QA workers amid union efforts

Activision notified its workers on Monday about a reorganization of the department, just days after Raven Software QA workers had announced that they would unionize with Communication Workers of America. This news was made public by the company to employees on Monday, the day Raven QA workers resumed work following a long strike.

“In November, we began the process to convert our temporary employees to [full-time employment] status,” Raven Software studio head Brian Raffel said in an email to staff. “Now, I’m excited to share that our QA colleagues will embed directly within various teams across the studio, including Animation, Art, Design, Audio, Production and Engineering.” In the email, Raffel said the “move to embed our QA team” has been in the works for “several months.”

An Activision Publishing spokesperson confirmed to Polygon that the studio was transiting its QA workers to “embed” with different departments. This is the full statement.

Raven Software has shared an organizational update today that will continue the work they began in November. Quality Assurance team members will now work alongside the Animation, Art and Design teams. This will improve the collaboration between our teams to support players and games, and increase the opportunity for talented QA personnel.

Raven will now be able to follow the good practices of other Activision studios. As our teams aim to offer best in class coordination and live service operations, this milestone is also a major step in our plan to include QA in the development process.

Though an embedded QA model is reportedly consistent across other Activision Blizzard studios, CWA organizing director Tom Smith called the move “nothing more than a tactic to thwart Raven QA workers who are exercising their right to organize.” Smith is also urging the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission to look into the Microsoft merger announced last week, which will move Activision Blizzard under Microsoft Gaming.

“When Management uses meaningless buzzwords like ‘alignment, ‘synergy,’ and ‘reorganization,’ they are sending a message to workers: ‘we make all the decisions, we have all the power,’” he said. “Workers organize to have a voice at work to rectify these power imbalances. This is why big tech mergers that could increase and further concentrate corporate power, like Microsoft’s proposed Activision Blizzard acquisition, deserve real oversight. This scrutiny is even more important when a company like Activision Blizzard impedes its workers from exercising rights that are protected under U.S. law.”

Activision Blizzard has not responded to Polygon’s question regarding how this may impact the union, but the spokesperson offered further details about the work structure.

“It’s accurate to say that Raven QA analysts will work directly within various departments, essentially side-by-side with those department employees, on the same platforms, and under departmental supervision,” the spokesperson said. “They will also receive day-to-day assignments from these departments. There will still be a QA manager, who will still be responsible for broader work assignments and overall career growth, in conjunction with departmental supervision.”

Activision’s embedded QA team is a new standard in the videogame industry. This means that QA assurance staff are not isolated from other game developers and they do not have to be able to work independently. Activision Blizzard QA staff told Polygon, August, that they sometimes felt disconnected from development and in some cases were even asked to refrain from speaking to developers. Embedding QA helps remove these obstacles and integrates the department into a larger group.

“For lack of a better term, it really helps to humanize the QA process because they’re truly a part of the team,” one QA tester told Polygon. “They’re in meetings, they’re providing feedback, they’re constantly talking to the devs they directly work with every day, they’re not just siloed off waiting for the next thing to check.”

They continued: “In my personal opinion Embedded QA is one of the most important things in development and can really make or break a game, so the fact that they’ve been working on a franchise this large without it is kind of ass backwards honestly.”

Other industry professionals from across both triple A and indie studios expressed similar views on social media in response to Raven Software’s reorganization news.

The problem for Raven Software’s QA workers is tied to how that will impact their status and classification as workers. Raven Software’s union, Game Workers Alliance, is currently awaiting a response from Activision Blizzard regarding whether the company plans to voluntarily recognize the union. The workers from QA will be able to vote at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), if the company does not choose to. Part of that process — outside of voluntary recognition — means the NLRB will decide whether a group of workers can be classified as a union.

Polygon heard from a Raven Software QA worker, that they are still trying to figure out how the unionization of the company will impact it.