Raven Software Employees Win Unionization Vote, Become First Union At Activision Blizzard

Activision Blizzard officially recognizes the Game Workers Alliance union, which is made up of Raven Software quality assurance workers. They are now the second official union in North American videogame industry after Vodeo Games unionized in December 2021 and the first union within an American game publisher. 

According to Washington PostThe Milwaukee branch of NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) counted mailed ballots that were submitted by eligible Raven workers. From 22 ballots, 19 voters voted yes and three voted no. You have till May 31 to make an objection. If none of them does so, the outcome becomes final. 

The story was written in December 2012, following the Activision Blizzard scandal involving sexual misconduct. Unexpectedly, 12 Raven QA employees were laid off by the publisher. This was roughly a third the number of workers in the department. The Wisconsin-based staff included some who had just relocated. Raven workers went on a week-long strike, which was stopped by the formation of the GWA by over 30 people.

Activision Blizzard refused to acknowledge it. The GWA requested that Activision Blizzard do so by January 25, 2012. Instead, Activision Blizzard responded by converting all of its U.S.-based contracted QA testers to full-time employees eligible for benefits and pay raises. Activision didn’t grant pay benefits for Raven workers because they had already been made full-time employees. “legal obligations under the National Labor Relations Board” This led to the GWA seeking a vote thanks to a favorable ruling by the NLRB. Activision challenged the process by attempting to make it so that the entirety of Raven’s 230-person team would have to vote rather than the 21 affected QA workers, but this attempt failed. 

The Activision Blizzard litigations have caused unionization talks to intensify over the past year. More designers are now encouraging studios and organizations to form. Activision is in the midst of being acquired by Microsoft for $69 billion. The Xbox maker stated in March that it would respect either outcome of today’s vote.