Employees of the Raven Software studio have launched a procedure to create a union. A first in the American AAA video game, and an act that is important to analyze.
For several months, the life of the employees of the Activision Blizzard group has been at the center of many current topics in the video game industry. Microsoft’s massive takeover of Activision Blizzard should not overshadow CEO Bobby Kotick’s future, nor the social issue that Microsoft should inherit if the takeover is successful. Among the files on the table, the hottest is undoubtedly that of the Raven Software studio, in charge of the development of Call of Duty Warzone. This is a defining issue for the industry at large, and we’ll see why.
Video games: a “passion” industry without a union
If you follow video game news, you know that for several years many studios have been at the center of business involving employee management problems. We are talking here about the biggest studios in the industry, those who make the popular AAA high-budget games: The Last Of Us, Red Dead Redemption, Assassin’s Creed, Mass Effect or Halo Infinite.
No need to go over each case, the patterns always repeat themselves: problem of sexual harassment or not, serial burnout, change of strategy in constant development, low job security and crunch repeatedly are the most highlighted problems. the crunch designates periods of a project where the weekly working hours multiply. Here is called into question the fact of shortcut to the crunch over most of the duration of the project and untimely.
The creation of video games is a sector which often interests by passion and which can use this passion to accept workloads under bad conditions. Like the tech sector, video games are also a sector that does not know unionization. The Raven Software case could just change that.
The problem with “QA” in video games
On January 21, a group of 34 employees of the Raven Software studio in the QA branch announced their intention to form a union, or union in English, the Game Workers Alliance. This deliberately generalist name should make it possible to recruit members from other studios in the industry in the future.
QA, or Quality Assurance, refers to the department responsible for testing and finding bugs in software. It is a branch generally very badly considered, where employees can be considered as disposable resources and in which we find the lowest salaries in video games. Activision Blizzard isn’t the only company with QA issues.
A first AAA syndicate
The Raven Software studio had been on strike since December 6. In question, the elimination of a dozen jobs in the QA branch. The employees of the QA departments in the video game are usually contract workers, to whom we will dangle the hope of a more stable contract, closer to a French CDI. We mentioned the crunch More specifically, Raven Software employees repeatedly complain of very frequent overtime, extending into the night and the weekend for several months in a row.
If the procedure were to succeed, it is the first union in a major studio, listed on the stock exchange. It would therefore be a major event for the industry. A first step towards the negotiation of better working conditions for a systemic problem that we find from start to finish in the industry. In France, we can mention that there is the Trade Union of Video Game Workers, or STJV, whose branches already include several studios from Ubisoft, Dontnod and Amplitude.
What are Raven Software employees asking for?
The Game Workers Alliance has published a list of demands on Twitter.
- Have a seat at the negotiating table with leaders
- Propose healthier work for employees, including a reduction in crunch
- More transparency from management, especially on the timing and planning of a game’s development
- More equitable earnings for QA testers with the rest of society
- More diversity and representation
Activision slows down the procedure
The procedure for creating a union is complex. After the employee group announcement, the next step could have been an acknowledgment from Activision Blizzard management. The latter refused. Employees should therefore create a petition with the National Labor Relations Board and obtain the signature of at least 30% of the workers in the division concerned.
But now, Activision has announced an internal reorganization of Raven Software where the QA department disappears as a division, in favor of a distribution of employees in other divisions. As a result, it is no longer just the QA department that employees have to convince, but 30% of Raven Software’s 350 employees.
Why is this a major issue in video games?
As we said, the procedure launched by the employees of Raven Software is a first in the world of American AAA gaming. This is another important step in the long process of recognizing the systemic problems that particularly affect the video game industry. It would also be the first union to integrate Microsoft if the takeover is successful.
The Redmond firm has in fact never experienced a trade union movement, even by Phil Spencer’s admission. On the other hand, it liquidated its QA department attached to Windows several years ago, and uses outsourcing when it comes to QA for video games. The internal studio 343 industries, in charge of Halo Infinite, also had its share of problems during the development of the game, particularly due to a very high turnover caused by short contracts not renewed. It is therefore an understatement to say that the stakes will be high for the employees and their demands once under the direction of Microsoft.
Even if the creation of the union does not succeed, the procedure will have marked an additional milestone for a healthier industry.
To follow us, we invite you to download our Android and iOS application. You can read our articles, files, and watch our latest YouTube videos.