Activision Blizzard’s Argument Rejected By NLRB, Blizzard Albany Workers Unionize

QA workers at an Activision Blizzard studio in Albany, NY have officially unionized. The vote came after Activision Blizzard appealed to the National Labor Relations Board to have the entire studio vote rather than its QA staff, but the body rejected the argument for a second time.

At Blizzard Albany–formerly known as Vicarious Visions–workers celebrated the move, with one telling the Washington Post that it was “extremely exciting and gratifying.” Albany is now the second Activision Blizzard studio to have its QA workers organize, after Call Of Duty developer Raven Software. Blizzard Albany is currently working on the Diablo series.

Activision Blizzard tried the same strategy to prevent the QA workers at Raven from unionizing, arguing that the entire studio should vote, rather than just the QA workers. In both cases, the NLRB explained that the QA staff are sufficiently different enough to vote by themselves, citing their separate department, supervision, and lower wages than other employees at the company. It’s unclear if these studios are the beginning of a larger movement towards unionization in the industry.