Over 450 Diablo Developers at Blizzard Vote to Unionize Amid Industry Layoffs
More than 450 developers working on the Diablo franchise at Blizzard Entertainment have voted to unionize with the Communications Workers of America. The new union will represent employees from a wide range of disciplines including designers, engineers, artists, and various support staff. This significant move comes during a period of widespread layoffs across the video game industry, including within the gaming division of Microsoft, Blizzard’s parent company.
The Diablo team is not the first group to unionize under the Microsoft umbrella. Quality assurance workers at ZeniMax, another Microsoft-owned studio, successfully negotiated a union contract with the company after two years of talks. Earlier this month, Blizzard’s own Story and Franchise Development team also voted to unionize. Both of these groups are also part of the CWA, which similarly assisted the developers behind Overwatch in their own unionization efforts this past summer.
According to Kelly Yeo, a Diablo game producer and a member of the organizing committee, the recent mass layoffs at Microsoft served as a major catalyst for the union vote. She stated that with each new round of layoffs, the sense of dread among her coworkers intensified, creating a feeling that hard work alone was not enough to guarantee job security. Yeo described the unionization as a first step in joining a broader movement within the industry, where workers are tired of operating in a constant state of fear.
The Communications Workers of America reports that more than 3,500 Microsoft workers have now organized under its representation. This growing trend reflects a larger shift within the tech and gaming sectors. Earlier this year, video game workers in North America announced the formation of the United Videogame Workers-CWA, an industry-wide union created to represent employees across the United States and Canada. The unionization of the Diablo team is the latest example of workers seeking collective bargaining power to address issues like job stability, fair compensation, and workplace conditions.
