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Activision Blizzard Clears Itself Of Any Wrongdoing
16.6.2022
Nearly year after an explosive lawsuit by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing kicked off a firestorm of sexual harassment and discrimination allegations at Activision Blizzard, a Board of Directors working group investigating the company has released its findings. Led by...
Activision Blizzard Recognizes QA Workers' Union
10.6.2022
Bobby Kotick announced today that Activision Blizzard will recognize Raven Software’s union of quality assurance testers. He promised that “we will engage in good faith negotiations to enter into a collective bargaining agreement” with Communications Workers of America.Read more
The Human Toll Of Fallout 76’s Disastrous Launch
8.6.2022
“No one wanted to be on that project because it ate people. It destroyed people,” one former developer on Fallout 76 told Kotaku. “The amount of people who would go to that project, and then they would quit [Bethesda] was quite high.” Read more
Dragon Age QA Workers Votes Unanimously To Form Labor Union
6.6.2022
This morning, quality assurance testers on Dragon Age: Dreadwolf unanimously voted to form Canada’s first video game labor union. They filed the motion on April 20, and the election concluded 16-0 in favor of unionizing. This came after the devs mounted an organized campaign focused on bad pay...
Microsoft Promises To Play Nice With Future Unions Too
2.6.2022
Microsoft is trying to strike a more conciliatory tone with organized labor as it looks to get its $69 billion mega video game merger with Activision Blizzard OK’d by the Federal Trade Commission. Vice chairman and president Brad Smith wrote that the company is “committed to creative...
Xbox Boss Says He Will Recognize Raven Software's Union After Acquisition Closes
26.5.2022
In today’s internal all-hands meeting with Xbox Game Studios employees, Head of Xbox Phil Spencer said that he would recognize Raven Software’s union. This came after the QA testers at Raven voted to form the first labor union at a major studio.Read more
Reggie Fils-Aime: Companies Need To ‘Embrace’ Unions If That’s What Employees Want
24.5.2022
In an interview yesterday, former Nintendo of America boss Reggie Fils-Aime was asked about his thoughts on unions, which currently barely exist in the video game industry. Fils-Aime’s answer was not a ringing endorsement of unions, with the former exec saying they aren’t good or bad, just...
Gaming Gets Its First Union At A Major U.S. Studio
23.5.2022
Despite months of negative talking points by Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard, quality assurance staff at its Raven Software studio voted to unionize Monday, becoming the first union at a big studio in the U.S. The successful vote comes with talk of labor organizing picking up across...
The 10 Best Star Wars Games Ever Made
6.5.2022
Looking online it seems there have been approximately 64,534 Star Wars games released since the first film hit theaters in the ‘70s. (Editor’s note: That’s incorrect.) But, while many of them are good, some are really, really good. These are the kind of games that are so great that even non-Star...
Activision Shareholders Approve Xbox Deal, But Wall Street Has Doubts
28.4.2022
Shareholders at Call of Duty and Overwatch 2 publisher Activision Blizzard voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to approve a $69 billion sale to tech giant Microsoft. The deal gives golden parachutes to top execs at Activision, including embattled CEO Bobby Kotick. But despite gaming’s biggest...
Dragon Age 4 QA Devs Say They're Unionizing Over Bad Pay And Covid Safety
27.4.2022
The video game industry is currently undergoing a small but unprecedented wave of developer organizing. Last week it even reached the halls of famed RPG maker BioWare, where a group of QA contractors working on Dragon Age 4 revealed their intention to unionize. The two biggest reasons why? Bad...
BioWare Contractors Supporting On Games Like Mass Effect Seek To Unionize
25.4.2022
Keywords Studios developers working in support of Dragon Age 4 maker BioWare are seeking to unionize. That’s according to an April 20 application filed with the Alberta Labor Relations Board. The staff is preparing for a union vote following recent labor organizing efforts at other game...
The Nintendo of America Contractors Who Feel Like Second Class Workers
22.4.2022
A union-busting complaint recently filed with the National Labor Relations Board accused Nintendo of America and contract worker agency Aston Carter of surveillance, retaliation, and other unfair labor practices. According to four sources familiar with the incident, that complaint, first reported...
Nintendo Worker Files Complaint With National Labor Relations Board
19.4.2022
On April 15, an anonymous employee filed a complaint against Nintendo and contracting company Aston Carter with the National Labor Relations Board. The public case docket lists allegations of coercive statements, discharge, retaliation against concerted activities, and surveillance. Read more
Call Of Duty Maker Announces Raises For QA Workers Amid Unionization Fight
7.4.2022
Activision Blizzard announced a big win for its part-time developers today as it battles an ongoing union push at one of the big studios behind Call of Duty: Warzone. Contract QA staff across the company will be converted to full-time, and also see their minimum hourly rate raised to $20. That’s...
Call of Duty: Warzone Can’t Get More Maps Because Install Size Is ‘F**king Crazy’
28.3.2022
Free-to-play battle royale Call of Duty: Warzone only has one main map, unlike other, similar shooters like Apex Legends or PUBG. And while many players and even the devs behind the game would love to add more, the game’s infamously large install size is apparently stopping them from expanding...
Call Of Duty Execs Accused Of Using Microsoft Deal To Line Their Own Pockets
26.2.2022
Two Activision Blizzard shareholders have filed lawsuits against the Call of Duty publisher for making allegedly inadequate disclosures in its recent filings with the SEC about its deal to sell to Microsoft for $68.7 billion. The investors further alleged that big payouts for CEO Bobby Kotick...
Report: Warzone Devs: "We F**ked Stuff Up. We Broke It."
11.2.2022
In a reported meeting between Call of Duty developers and select content creators and influencers, the Warzone devs admitted that the free-to-play battle royale was in a bad state, telling those in attendance that they had “fucked up” and that the current state of the popular online shooter...
Activision Blizzard Allegedly Wouldn’t Let Call Of Duty Twitch Streamer Run A Team Due To ‘Oversexual’ Posts
4.2.2022
Activision Blizzard, a publisher under a government investigation revolving around sexual harassment at the company, allegedly stopped a Call of Duty personality from leading her own team within a tournament held by her own organization. The reason? She’s claiming that the publisher...
Activision VP Posts Anti-Union Message In Company Slack
1.2.2022
Raven’s QA workers winning the right to unionize was a short-lived victory; in the days since returning from their strike Activision has announced plans to split everyone up, and then reveal a larger strategy that’s aimed at crushing this movement before it’s allowed to take hold.Read more