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Activision Accused Of Illegally Firing QA Testers Over Remote Work Protest
1.3.2023
The Communications Workers of America (CWA) have today filed charges against publisher Activision—a company with a long track record of alleged union-busting—claiming the publisher violated several workplace laws in relation to the firing of two QA testers.Read more
First Mover Asia: Resilient Bitcoin Rebounds Above $24K Despite Investors' Inflation, Labor Market Concerns
24.2.2023
ALSO: CoinDesk analyst Glenn Williams explains the significance of bitcoin funding rates' 10-day, positive streak; bitcoin rebounds above $24K
Activision Blizzard Is Forcing Workers Back To The Office
15.2.2023
While the worst of the pandemic is clearly over, a few years of getting people to work from home has shown that a lot of folks are happier, and even work better, if they get to do it where they live. So decisions to force employees back into the office are understandably going to be met with...
Nintendo Announces 10 Percent Pay Raise For Devs Despite Lower Profits
7.2.2023
Nintendo announced a 20 percent Switch sales drop in its latest financial report, but still plans to institute a 10 percent pay raise, the company told investors Tuesday. While it’s unclear if that hike will trickle down to temporary contractors at the Mario maker’s North American headquarters...
GameStop Manager Fired After $5,000 PS5 Robbery
2.2.2023
Only one person was on shift at the GameStop in Easton, PA when two men tried to rob it last month. Outnumbered and told to put their hands up, the employee backed off as the thieves unloaded $5,000 worth of PlayStation 5s from the back room. A week later, GameStop allegedly fired the 13-year...
Guy Gets Saved From Being Fired Over Gaming On The Job In The Best Way
26.1.2023
The union-oriented Twitter account Daily Union Elections asked the world in a recent tweet, “Union folks, what is the best grievance/[Unfair Labor Practice] that you’ve ever won?” And the world responded in kind. As a proud union girl myself, I thought a few stories stood out, but one came up above...
Blizzard Boston Devs Blame Boss For Torpedoing Union
24.1.2023
Workers at Proletariat Studio, also known as Blizzard Boston, won’t be unionizing after all. The Communications Workers of America Union announced on Tuesday that it will pull its petition for a union election, and blames Proletariat CEO Seth Sivak for treating workers’ organizing efforts as...
Blizzard's 'Workplace Ranking' For Employees Sounds Like Hell
24.1.2023
A story ran on Bloomberg earlier today with the headline “Blizzard Manager Departs In Protest of Employee Ranking System”. It sounds very businessy, maybe something that would land on the Linkedin news feed of a HR manager, but the stuff it’s describing is important because it sounds absolutely...
Xbox's Phil Spencer Says Microsoft's 10K Layoffs 'Hurts' In Email To Staff
20.1.2023
A few hours ago, Xbox CEO Phil Spencer sent out a company-wide email to all full-time employees under Microsoft’s gaming divisions. A copy of the email was shared with Kotaku by a current Xbox employee, we have confirmed its authenticity, and the full text has been transcribed below:Read more
Microsoft Slashes 10K Jobs, Including At Xbox And Halo Studios
18.1.2023
Following rumors earlier this week from Sky News, tech giant Microsoft has announced a slew of layoffs affecting 10,000 workers, some within its game studios, blaming slowing e-commerce sales and a potential economic recession. Kotaku has confirmed that a number of developers at 343 Industries,...
Ubisoft Employees Asked To Strike Over CEO's Comments, Pay Demands
18.1.2023
Ubisoft hasn’t had the best couple of years. A string of flops and disappointments means the company isn’t in the best shape as it heads into 2023, so in an attempt to get everyone firing last week CEO Yves Guillemot sent an email to staff telling them “The ball is in your court”. It did not...
Huobi Layoffs Spark Controversy and Speculation, Justin Sun Claims Everything Is Fine
6.1.2023
The cryptocurrency exchange Huobi is laying off 20% of its employees, according to multiple reports over the past two days. However, Huobi’s advisor Justin Sun, the founder of Tron, told the South China Morning Post that the layoff reports were untrue. A Huobi spokesperson later confirmed...
Biggest Movers: XMR Hits 2-Month High, ADA Extends Recent Gains
6.1.2023
Monero slipped from an earlier two-month high, as December U.S. nonfarm payrolls (NFP) showed signs of a slowing labor market. Figures released today showed that the NFP fell to 223,000, down from a reading of 263,000 the month prior. Cardano was mostly higher, as it rose to a multi-week high....
God Of War Is Still The GOAT For Opening Boss Fights
5.1.2023
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Hot Damn: Another Activision Blizzard Studio Is Unionizing
27.12.2022
Developers at the Boston-based gaming studio Proletariat announced plans to unionize on Tuesday. If successful, roughly 60 employees there who worked on World of Warcraft’s new Dragonflight expansion would join the growing ranks of organized labor across parent company Activision Blizzard...
300 QA Devs Unionize At Microsoft-Owned ZeniMax Studios
5.12.2022
The gaming industry’s recent wave of labor organizing just exploded. Roughly 300 quality assurance staff at ZeniMax studios, which includes Bethesda and games like The Elder Scrolls Online , announced today that they will unionize with the Communications Workers of America. And unlike union drives...
Pour One Out For The Bosses: Activision Blizzard Loses Second Union Vote
2.12.2022
Activision Blizzard’s playbook came up short again. Despite delays, legal appeals, and threats to workers that organizing would lead to lower pay raises, quality assurance developers at the Diablo production studio Blizzard Albany voted 14-0 to unionize today. The Game Workers Alliance Albany...
Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg Firing 11,000 After Company Spends $15bn On Metaverse
9.11.2022
Rumors have swirled this week, and now it’s confirmed: Meta, the owner of Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Oculus VR, is sacking 13 percent of its workforce, a total of around 11,000 employees out of work. This comes in the wake of the company having spent an extraordinary $15 billion on...
Activision Nickel-And-Dimes New Union As Call Of Duty Enjoys $800 Million Weekend
3.11.2022
Quality assurance staff at Call of Duty studio Raven Software unionized back in May, but over five months later the developers say progress is almost nonexistent on the first union contract at a major gaming company. Activision is apparently still denying unionized staff the raises given to...
Activision Tries To Get Civil Rights Lawsuit Thrown Out Again, Fails Again
26.10.2022
For the second time since this year, publisher Activision Blizzard—the subject of historic allegations of sexual harassment and gender discrimination—has tried to get the case against it thrown out. And for the second time, it has failed.Read more