It feels like the world of gaming is in a dire place right now. Things such as increased prices for both games and consoles, publishers moving away from physical media, and game ownership have been ever-present topics in the last several months, and it paints a situation that’s bad for your average player. However, some good news sprung up today as the Communications Workers of America, or CWA, announced that they had ratified contract with workers from Blizzard Entertainment. This contract covers around 1,900 Blizzard employees within the company’s gaming and shared services divisions, including those who have worked on titles such as World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Hearthstone, and Diablo, as well as those within quality assurance, platform & technology, and story and franchise development.
The new contract comes with numerous benefits for Blizzard employees, including wage increases, grievance procedures, a three-day in-office hybrid work week, “just cause” protections, and remote work and disability accommodations. Alongside this, Blizzard has to “discuss, evaluate, and bargain over the usage of artificial intelligence in the workplace”, workers can be recalled into open positions across any Blizzard bargaining unit for 14 months after the date of their layoff, and 4 extra severance months have been for all union members.
“This contract marks the beginning of a new era at Blizzard Entertainment, but it doesn’t stop with us. I look forward to the day that everyone in the industry can enjoy the protections that this contract affords us, like increased severance and recall rights in the event of a layoff and the ability to grieve injustices in the workplace”, says Overwatch bargaining committee member and Quality Analyst Simon Hedrick in the CWA announcement. This is certainly a step forward in the right direction, but it isn’t the whole war won- working conditions across countless gaming studios are abysmal, and more change is certainly needed, but for now it’s at least a tiny thing to celebrate.