Staff in the beleaguered Blizzard offices have just established the first World of Warcraft union.
Joining a guild might not be something new for the developers and players in World of Warcraft, but the World of Warcraft Gamemakers Guild is something else. US workers responsible for the world of Azeroth to life formally voted to unionize the Blizzard studio with the Communication Workers of America, marking a massive change for the company that brought you the recent Season of Discovery.
The news of this change broke last night, on the social media posts, and it’s notable because the hundreds of workers involved in the new arrangement have had a tumultuous ride up until now. Blizzard has faced repeated claims of harassment, calls from employees to clean up the workplace environment, more than one expose in the main stream press, staff walkouts, and a lawsuit. California even sued the studio over the alleged harassment, frat boy culture, unequal pay, and widespread sexual harassment. This isn’t even mentioning the unstable financial situation gaming has seen since the flood of covid investment started drying up.
With all this said, this World of Warcraft union isn’t the first to appear in the US end of the industry. The QA teams at Activision are among the largest of unionized game workers. They joined the CWA earlier this year too. Whether you feel that this will be a burden on the studio making your next raid encounter or the protection needed to allow devs to focus on making the best game possible, it’s a notable day for Blizzard and its staffers.
