By Ellen M. Zavian, Esq.
Many believe it is time that Gamers started joining the other employees in the esports industry and create a players’ association to maintain a collective voice. However, it seems those behind the video screens are taking the lead.
To start, Activision Blizzard (AB) employees (quality assurance testers within Raven Software, a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard), voted 19-3 to unionize in early 2022. This bold move is a first for a major U.S. video game company. With ‘Call of Duty’ part of Raven’s inventory, these employees believed they had the leverage to unionize under the National Labor Relations Act.
To no surprise, this vote did not happen overnight. In December 2021, the employees were facing layoffs at record numbers. It was at that point the employees attempted to unionize, only for AB to refuse to recognize them as a union. The NLRB rejected AB’s argument that the group of employees were not an appropriate bargaining unit and with a stroke of a pen, the union was ratified as the Game Workers Alliance (CWA).
This success launched the Campaign to Organize Digital Employees (CODE-CWA) in the U.S. and Canada. CODE-CWA desires to bring together all those working as temp, vendor, and contractor workers in the video gaming industry by improving working conditions, end hiring, wage and retention discrimination, and ensure the future of the tech, game, and digital industries.[1]
CWA was not alone in their efforts at the end of 2021. Workers at Beast Breaker developer Vodeo Games unionized, creating another video game studio union in North America. Although not the size of AB, Vodeo intends to release one game a year. With the company being entirely remote, their staff of about 13 employees and contract workers across the U.S. and Canada have hopes in representing all eligible employees, including independent contractors.
In a larger effort, Gamer Workers Unite, an international grassroots labor movement focused on unionizing the game industry through educating, training, and empowering workers has recently launched 25 local chapters, across five continents, according to their website. [2] Although GWU is not a union itself, it is seeking to support such efforts around the world.
These unity movements leave us asking the ultimate question, “When are the Gamers going to unionize?” Although these efforts have popped up here and there, a true union has not been created…. JUST YET.
[1] https://www.code-cwa.org/
[2] https://www.gameworkersunite.org/
