Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella arrives to court in San Francisco on June 28, 2023. Microsoft and Activision Blizzard CEOs are expected to testify to influence a federal judge in California to reject the Federal Trade Commission’s effort to dam their $69 billion deal.
Shelby Knowles | Bloomberg | Getty Images
A bunch of roughly 600 software testers at Activision on Friday formed the U.S. video game industry’s largest union to date.
The union is the first to prepare under a latest labor agreement negotiated as a part of Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision in October, the company’s largest takeover yet.
The agreement required Microsoft to stay neutral about employees who express interest in unionizing and supply adequate lines of communication and data for those staff to come to a decision. That labor neutrality agreement took effect after the Microsoft-Activision deal closed in October following months of regulatory pushback.
“We maintained our commitment to stay neutral during the organizing campaign, and following this vote,” Microsoft lawyer Amy Pannoni said in an announcement.
In January, Microsoft laid off 1,900 staff in its gaming division.
Activision Quality Assurance United-CWA, the name of the union, is in search of higher wages and more profession opportunities, QA tester Kara Fannon said in an announcement.
The staff, who work for Activision’s quality assurance division in California, Texas and Minnesota, joined the Communications Employees of America to form their record-breaking alliance.
“Microsoft continues to maintain its commitment to let staff determine for themselves whether or not they desire a union,” said CWA President Claude Cummings Jr. in an announcement.
Labor organizing in the tech industry has proliferated over the years as Big Tech firms have grown and are available under more scrutiny for employee protections.
QA staff at Activision, who vet games for glitches and bugs, have particularly emphasized the need for labor protections, noticing their roles feeling undervalued in comparison with software engineers or developers.
Before the Microsoft-Activision deal closed, QA staff at the video game-maker’s Albany branch had also formed a union.
“QA is currently an undervalued discipline in the games and software industries,” the Albany wrote on social media at the time. “We try to foster work environments where we’re respected and compensated for our essential role in the development process.”