Overview

• The new CWA unit comprises about 160 to 169 employees responsible for Blizzard’s in-house cinematics, animation, narrative content and franchise archives
• The vote raises the number of unionized workers at Microsoft-owned game studios to nearly 3,000, adding to existing CWA chapters at Raven Software, ZeniMax QA and the World of Warcraft team
• This drive marks one of the first unionizations of a North American in-house cinematic, animation and narrative production group within the gaming industry
• Organizers pointed to fading long-term stability, demands for greater transparency and Microsoft’s recent AI-focused layoffs of around 9,000 staff as key reasons for unionizing
• While bargaining for the Story and Franchise Development unit has not yet begun, other Microsoft-owned studio unions such as Raven and ZeniMax QA have recently ratified contracts after extended negotiations