It's been announced this week that over 450 developers on the Diablo series have voted for union representation with the Communications Workers of America (CWA), voicing their concerns about potentially being laid off at Microsoft.
In a press release shared yesterday, various employees and organising committee members discussed how developers across the games industry "live in fear" of losing their jobs, and therefore they're "standing our ground".
Here are a few example quotes from that press release:
"With every subsequent round of mass layoffs, I've witnessed the dread in my coworkers grow stronger because it feels like no amount of hard work is enough to protect us," said Kelly Yeo, Team 3 Game Producer on Diablo and organizing committee member. “I am overjoyed that we have formed a union—this is just the first step for us joining a movement spreading across an industry that is tired of living in fear. We are ready to begin fighting for real change alongside our Diablo colleagues.”
“I grew up playing Diablo, and I feel lucky that I get to work at Blizzard on a game that’s very special to me and the gaming community,” said Skye Hoefling, Team 3 Senior Software Engineer II on Diablo and organizing committee member. “But passion can’t protect us from job instability. Our union allows us to focus on making magical experiences for our players instead of worrying about the unstable job industry.”
“My entire career as a developer has seen my peers and I paying the ‘passion tax’ for working in an industry that we love,” said Nav Bhatti, Team 3 Senior Software Engineer and organizing committee member. “At some point you have to choose between fight or flight, and forming a union is us doing just that — standing our ground in the industry.”
As mentioned by fellow Diablo developer Ryan Littleton, the idea behind union representation is to "organize across the industry to make great games and protect the developers who create them from the constant pressures of layoffs, passion tax, and crunch."
It's not the first time we've heard about this recently either, with Call of Duty studio Raven Software notably unionising this month after nearly three years of negotiation. Overall, it's said that over 3,500 Microsoft workers have organised with the CWA, "fighting for fair compensation, job security, and a seat at the table to improve workplace conditions."