The World of Warcraft development teams have successfully unionized with the help of the Communication Workers of America (CWA), forming the World of Warcraft Gamemakers Guild (WoWGG-CWA). This new union, consisting of over 500 Blizzard developers from various departments in California and Massachusetts, is the largest wall-to-wall union under Microsoft.
This significant milestone follows previous unionization efforts within Activision Blizzard, marking a new era for employee representation in the gaming industry.
Highlights
- World of Warcraft devs successfully unionized with CWA, forming the largest wall-to-wall union under Microsoft with over 500 Blizzard employees.
- WoWGG-CWA consists of employees from various departments in California and Massachusetts.
- QA testers at Albany and Raven Software were first Activision Blizzard studios to unionize in 2022.
The World of Warcraft development teams announced their successful unionization with help from the Communication Workers of America (CWA). Called the World of Warcraft Gamemaker”s Guild (WoWGG-CWA), the new union is the largest wall-to-wall union under Microsoft, consisting of over 500 Blizzard developers across departments such as quality assurance, art, and engineering.
However, the formation of the World of Warcraft Gamemaker”s Guild is not the first attempt at unionization that Activision Blizzard undertook. In 2022, QA testers at Blizzard Albany and Raven Software became the first Activision Blizzard studios to unionize despite various delays and union-busting efforts that happened during the process. Following Microsoft”s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, over 600 QA workers successfully unionized as Activision Quality Assurance United (AQAU-CWA). Microsoft voluntarily recognized the union as part of its neutrality agreement with the CWA.
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Following the successful unionization of Bethesda Game Studios, hundreds of World of Warcraft developers followed suit. According to The Verge, WoWGG-CWA consists of over 500 Blizzard employees from the QA, Sound, Design, Art, Production, and Engineering teams. As a wall-to-wall union or a union formed of members from multiple departments in both California and Massachusetts, WoWGG-CWA is the largest of its kind under Microsoft. Considering the tech giant”s neutral stance toward unions, WoWGG-CWA was formed with that policy in mind. Ergo, it made organizing and forming the union easier to manage openly. The World of Warcraft Gamemaker”s Guild was announced on social media, with a poster of a soldier in red and blue armor giving a thumbs-up to the audience. The colors of red and blue were symbolic of the Alliance and the Horde factions in World of Warcraft joining together for a common cause.
World of Warcraft Developers Announce Gamemaker”s Guild Union
The new union under Microsoft is just the third to be announced within the summer. In late June, Bethesda Game Studios Montreal announced its intent to unionize amid the layoffs that have impacted the video game industry across the board. The motion, which was filed with the Quebec Labor Board, was also in response to Microsoft”s shuttering of Tango Gameworks, Arkane Austin, and other Bethesda-owned studios. In response to the news, several Twitter users congratulated the World of Warcraft developers on forming WoWGG-CWA.Close
The founding of the World of Warcraft GameMakers Guild came just a month before the launch of The War Within, the game”s tenth expansion. With Bethesda Game Studios and the World of Warcraft developers now unionizing, it remains to be seen if more studios will follow suit.
World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft is an incredibly successful MMORPG that has been going strong for almost two decades. It”s one of the highest-grossing franchises in history and is widely considered the most popular MMORPG ever made.
Franchise
Warcraft
Platform(s)
PC
Released
November 23, 2004
Developer(s)
Blizzard
Publisher(s)
Blizzard
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