Unions have become an important factor for job security, especially in the video game industry where people can lose their job through no fault of their own. The crew who work on Blizzard’s World of Warcraft have realized this, announcing that they are now unionizing, a first for this company.
According to IGN, this union is called World of Warcraft Game Makers Guild, or WoWGG. Over 500 employees are part of this union group, from designers and engineers to the game’s artists, it seems everyone is all in on this. This union is part of the Communications Workers of America, adding to their legitimacy.
In addition to WoWGG, another group of QA workers working for Activision Blizzard was also made, calling themselves Texas Blizzard QA United. Unlike the WoWGG, this won’t be a part of the Communications Workers of America, but this is still officially recognized under Microsoft.
The video game industry has mixed reactions to unions, with some companies not hiring voice actors if they’re part of one. Since Microsoft is choosing to recognize these groups, it seems that gaming might be able to progress a bit with unions. Hopefully, these employees will be able to keep their jobs, though previous budget cuts make this seem pretty doubtful.
Various gaming companies have used “budget cuts” as a reason to cut their employees, even if they’re making a ton of money. Activision Blizzard is notorious for this, as they once fired hundreds of employees, only to brag about how much money their games make.
Microsoft is also pretty infamous for its budget cuts, recently shutting down successful studios like Tango Gameworks despite working on games like Hi-Fi Rush. To make this hurt even more, the company ended up opening a new studio to work on a new IP, making that “budget cut” feel false.
World of Warcraft is available now on PC, so MMO fans curious about the game should check it out.