Raven Software Strike Ends Following Successful Unionization Vote, QA Organizational Changes In The Works

Raven Software employees have been busy this week, as has Activision Blizzard Studios. Quality Assurance members of the studio who have been on strike for several weeks following the termination of employment of contracted workers have decided to cease striking following a successful vote for unionization on Friday. 

On Saturday, the ABetterABK tweeted that the decision was made to end the strike. It stated, “Pending recognition by our union, Raven QA strike is over.” The strike money that was not used is being saved for any future organizing/strike activities. So, while these QA members are going back to work, the onus is on Activision Blizzard to recognize the union or face another potential strike in the future. 

While the Game Workers Alliance Union is yet to be acknowledged by the brass at the prolific publisher, more news came out today about a QA reorganization within Raven Software. Game Informer was provided a letter sent to Raven staff from studio head Brian Raffel outlining the changes to Quality Assurance and their relationship with other departments within the studio. Raffel says in the letter, “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.” Brian mentions later that embeddingQA teams with other studios is common at Activision and Raven will be more aligned with the company’s overall operating model. “It’s more important than ever that we foster tighter integration and coordination across the studio – embedding will allow for this,” writes Raffel. 

Activision Publishing’s spokesperson said that Brian Raffel believed this would “enhance collaboration work” between all the teams involved in supporting its products. According to the spokesperson, this is “the next step in an ongoing process, which has been well thought out and in progress for some time.” Raven’s structure also aligns with best practices from other Activision studios. As our teams try to offer best-in class coordination in real time, live service operations, this milestone is also a part of our larger plan for integrating QA more in the development process.

While it seems like there’s some progress in changing how the QA team is handled within Raven Software, this statement doesn’t mention or acknowledge Friday’s vote to unionize, nor does it look like it has been officially acknowledged by management at all. Any developments stemming from any of these changes will be reported on in the next days or weeks.