A group of quality assurance workers at Blizzard Albany, the Activision Blizzard developer previously named Vicarious Visions (known for Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 and Skylanders), are working to unionise.
As reported by The Washington Post, the group of around 20 employees has filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and asked Activision Blizzard management to voluntarily recognise the union.
Today, we announce a new union at Activision Blizzard.
QA is currently an undervalued discipline in the games and software industries. We strive to
foster work environments where we are respected and compensated for our essential role in the
development process. 1/5— GWA Albany (@WeAreGWAAlbany) July 19, 2022
Activision Blizzard has not confirmed whether it will or not, however, but said a decision will be announced formally and publicly to the NLRB. A spokesperson told The Washington Post that "we deeply respect the rights of all employees under the law to make their own decisions about whether or not to join a union."
The efforts of quality assurance workers at Raven Software – who formed Activision Blizzard's first union in January – encouraged the employees of Blizzard Albany to unionise themselves, as associate test analyst Amanda Laven said "it's been very, very helpful and inspiring" to see other employees show it's possible.
"Seeing their process, it’s been demystifying to see them do it first and have an idea of how things go and how the company might respond," she added. "We’ve already gotten to see some someone do it in our own company, and they’ve been very forthcoming with us talking to us about what things are like and what problems they encountered."
The unionisation effort has been growing through the games industry, seemingly slowly but surely. Quality assurance testers working on Dragon Age: Dreadwolf for external support company Keywords Studio also officially voted to unionise in June.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.