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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 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...
Call Of Duty QA Testers Form Activision Blizzard’s First Union
21.1.2022
Thirty-four quality assurance testers at Raven Software, the Activision Blizzard studio in charge of its massively popular battle royale, Call of Duty: Warzone, announced today that they are unionizing after weeks of striking over recently announced layoffs in their department. Calling themselves...
Raven QA Testers Form Activision Blizzard’s First Union
21.1.2022
Thirty four quality assurance testers at Raven Softwarew, the Activision Blizzard studio in charge of its massively popular battle royale, Call of Duty: Warzone, announced today they are unionizing after weeks of striking over recently announced layoffs in their department. Calling themselves...
Report: Bobby Kotick Meeting Leaves Activision Blizzard Staffers Unimpressed, Worried
20.1.2022
This morning, Bobby Kotick held an all-hands meeting with Activision Blizzard employees to address Microsoft’s acquisition of the company for $68.7 billion dollars. He stated that Microsoft would be trying to “retain as many of our people as possible,” and that he planned to stay on as the CEO...
Call Of Duty: Warzone's Flying Car Problem Is Back In Latest Map
19.1.2022
If you’ve played Call of Duty: Warzone recently, you might’ve seen flying objects in the sky that appear to be aircrafts like helicopters or planes. Well, you’re wrong. They’re actually regular old vehicles such as motorbikes and SUVs that cheaters have hacked to take to the skies…again....
Microsoft Closing In On $50 Billion Deal To Buy Activision Blizzard
17.1.2022
In an extraordinary turn of events, the Wall Street Journal is reporting today that Microsoft is getting near to a deal to buy Activision Blizzard. Which not only would be one of the most major shake-ups in the gaming industry in years, but also could finally spell out the end for its horrendous...
Xbox Boss Not Interested In 'Virtue Shaming' Activision
10.1.2022
Back in November, the head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, told staff he was “evaluating all aspects” of the Microsoft gaming division’s relationship with Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard following a bombshell report by The Wall Street Journal of workplace misconduct and coverups at the massive...
Activision Sues Call Of Duty: Warzone Cheat Maker For Selling To 'Tens Of Thousands' Of Players
5.1.2022
Call of Duty publisher Activision is kicking off 2022 by asking a court to shut down Warzone cheat maker EngineOwning, opening up a new legal front in its never-ending war against the hackers plaguing its popular online battle royale. In addition to lost revenue, the company currently under fire...
Call Of Duty Fans Exasperated As Games See Big Problems For Days
21.12.2021
Call of Duty is a sprawling machine with complex moving parts spread out across multiple games and studios, and it appears to currently be overheating, especially on consoles. For days now players have been complaining that 2019’s Modern Warfare is all but broken, while even Warzone players...
Indie Studio Forms First Video Game Union In The Country
15.12.2021
Developers at Vodeo Games, the indie studio behind this year’s excellent turn-based pinball RPG Beast Breaker, revealed over at Polygon today that they’ve unionized. Management at the studio is voluntarily recognizing the newly formed group, called Vodeo Workers Unite, making it the first of...
Activision Exec To Organizing Workers: Pwease Don’t Unionize ????????
10.12.2021
With Activision Blizzard employees more organized than ever in the wake of the company’s multiple sexual harassment lawsuits and layoffs in quality assurance, a top executive apparently felt the time was right to send out a fear-mongering email warning workers about the vague “consequences”...
Geoff Keighley Opens Game Awards With Disappointing Vagueness
10.12.2021
Host Geoff Keighley opened the 2021 Game awards by calling on “everyone” to build a “better, safer” environment for games by voting with their time and their dollars.Read more
Inside The Revolt That Led To Activision Blizzard Workers' Historic Unionization Push
9.12.2021
Several Call of Duty developers have revealed to Kotaku that Activision Blizzard’s internal unwillingness to directly respond to the recently announced Raven Software layoffs was what ultimately sparked the just-revealed, broader labor organizing effort at the troubled publisher. Read more
Call Of Duty: Warzone Devs Stage Walkout Over Layoffs
6.12.2021
Quality assurance testers and other developers at Raven Software, the Activision studio in charge of the extremely lucrative free-to-play battle royale Call of Duty: Warzone, are walking out on the job today to protest surprise layoffs that were foisted on staff beginning last Friday. The group...
Call of Duty QA Testers Face Layoffs After Reportedly Being Promised Raises By Activision
4.12.2021
Today, contract testers at the Call of Duty studio Raven Software were told that the studio would face layoffs on January 28th of next year, a Call of Duty community manager said on Twitter. A source familiar with the goings-on at the company confirmed to Kotaku that for the next few days in early...
15 Years Later, Call of Duty Fan Gets Credit For Game-Changing Control Scheme
15.11.2021
In 2006, quadriplegic video game tester and streamer Randy Fitzgerald helped create “NOM4D,” a button layout for Call of Duty designed for disabled players. At the time, he says, he was told he’d be credited by name in the game, but that didn’t happen. All CoD titles since then have omitted...