Quality Union

Happy Monday! Hope everyone enjoyed their Mario Day!

Confused? Much like March 14th is considered “pi day” for 3.14; March 10th is MAR10.

—Tim

MAIN QUEST: 390 yes - 8 no

Almost 600 Activision quality assurance (QA) workers have joined forces with the Communications Workers of America (CWA), marking the largest unionized group of video game workers in the United States. Led by concerns over low pay and job insecurity, the unionization effort reflects a broader movement within the gaming industry to address longstanding issues faced by QA workers. Unlike previous union campaigns, Activision QA workers reportedly encountered no union-busting tactics, thanks to a labor neutrality agreement between Microsoft and CWA. This agreement streamlined the unionization process, ensuring that managers remained neutral and eliminating the need for lengthy National Labor Relations Board elections.

By forming a union, these workers aim to negotiate better pay, benefits, career development opportunities, and job security. Furthermore, unionization provides a platform for workers to advocate for improved severance packages and protection against layoffs, as demonstrated by recent successes in other gaming companies. Beyond tangible benefits, unionization fosters a sense of solidarity among workers and serves as inspiration for others in the industry to consider organizing. As negotiations with Microsoft loom, Activision QA workers stand united, hopeful for a brighter future empowered by collective bargaining.

Step Back: The video game industry can treat its workers poorly from massive layoffs to poor pay and being overworked with former Blizzard employees having several stories to share. Hopefully, with a vote tallied at 390-8 to form the union, this move is a step in the right direction for protecting these underappreciated but necessary roles.

HUD

• SAG-AFTRA’s national executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland has stated the probability of a strike in the next 2 months is about “50-50.” This stems from a belief that negotiations have broken down between video game companies around the use of AI voice acting.

• Player First Games set a return date of May 28th for MultiVersus. The Warner Bros. fighter captured over 10 million players in its beta last year and was taken down to be rebuilt in Unreal Engine 5 ahead of this release.

• A Take This survey compiled by Nielsen shows that safety in gaming is a top concern of the 18-24 age group and 20% spend less money on gaming because of the hate and harassment.

MAJOR W

• 💻️ Final Fantasy 16’s producer Naoki Yoshida stated that the PC version is in the last stages of optimization. He did not say when the 2023 PS5 exclusive will launch on the platform but did mention a demo will be available ahead of release.

• 🧔 Players are already dumping time into Dragon’s Dogma 2’s character creation tool and making well-known characters from other IPs ahead of the game’s official release.

F IN THE CHAT

• 👎️ Deviation Games closed without releasing any games after PlayStation canceled the AAA title they were working on.

• 😶 Warner Bros. Discovery will delist all Adult Swim games on Steam over the next 60 days. Additionally, they refuse to transfer the games to the developer accounts who made them because it would only be “fair to transfer no one’s games since they can’t do them all.”

CAREER CORNER

• Program Manager, Player Support — Netflix (Los Angeles, CA)

• Director, Workplace — Take-Two Interactive (London, UK)

• Sr. Corporate Communications Manager — The Pokémon Company International (Bellevue, WA)

HIVE MIND

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