Microsoft's World of Warcraft Workers Vote to Unionize

The move adds more than 500 to the unionized video game staff at Microsoft, which has pledged to remain neutral on organizing efforts.



A World of Warcraft character at a gaming convention held by Blizzard Entertainment in Anaheim, Calif., in November.Credit...Jeff Gritchen/The Orange County Register, via Associated Press

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/25/business/world-of-warcraft-microsoft-union.html

By John Yoon
July 25, 2024

More than 500 workers in the team behind World of Warcraft, one of the most popular video games in the world, have voted to unionize, the Communications Workers of America said on Wednesday.

The move expands the ranks of organized labor at Microsoft, which acquired the video game giant Activision Blizzard — whose subsidiary Blizzard Entertainment produces World of Warcraft — for $69 billion last year. To satisfy the regulators overseeing the mega-acquisition, Microsoft promised to remain neutral on unionizing efforts, an unusually permissive policy in the tech industry.

An arbitrator determined on Wednesday that a majority of the World of Warcraft workers, including designers, engineers, artists and quality testers, supported the C.W.A., the union said in a statement.

Blizzard Entertainment recognized the union, increasing the number of unionized game workers at Microsoft to more than 1,750, the C.W.A. said.

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