Blizzard’s Overwatch Team Has Unionized: “We’re Not Just A Number On An Excel Sheet”

Blizzard’s Overwatch 2 staff has unionized. The wall-to-wall union–referred to because the Overwatch Gamemakers Guild–includes almost 200 builders, starting from artists and QA testers to writers and engineers. It’s the second union to form at the company since last July, when the staff behind Blizzard’s hit MMO World of Warcraft efficiently fashioned a union of its personal. The Communications Employees of America (CWA) introduced the union in a press launch shared with Kotaku earlier immediately, writing that “an amazing majority of employees” supported the initiative.

“Recreation builders behind Activision Blizzard’s hit franchise Overwatch have joined the Communications Employees of America (CWA), turning into the newest group of online game employees at Microsoft-owned studios to kind a wall-to-wall union,” the CWA wrote. “A impartial arbitrator confirmed immediately that an amazing majority of employees have both signed a union authorization card or indicated that they wished union illustration by way of a web-based portal.”

With the Overwatch 2 staff’s unionization, the variety of unionized sport builders working at Microsoft now exceeds 2,000 workers. Nonetheless, the Overwatch Gamemakers Guild now has to cut price for its first contract–a course of that Microsoft has been accused of dragging out.

In response to Simon Hedrick, a take a look at analyst at Blizzard, the layoffs at the start of 2024 had been largely what motivated the staff to unionize. Hedrick informed Kotaku that “As much as that second I would been actually completely happy in what I used to be doing.” Hedrick after all refers back to the sweeping layoffs by Microsoft final January, during which the tech big lower over 1,900 individuals from its online game division, together with Blizzard president Mike Ybarra.

“Folks had been gone out of nowhere and there was nothing we might do about it,” Hedrick informed Kotaku.

Along with the looming risk of layoffs, the Overwatch 2 staff additionally cited pay disparities, work-from-home restrictions, and wanting sure protections–such as freedom from crunch and assured severance packages–as contributing elements to their unionization. In response to Kotaku, Blizzard workers have repeatedly careworn that “enhancing their working circumstances may result in higher video games,” whereas layoffs and uncompetitive pay makes them worse.

Blizzard UI Artist Sadie Boyd additionally weighed in on the choice to unionize, telling Kotaku “We’re not only a quantity on an Excel sheet. We need to make video games however we won’t do it and not using a sense of safety.”