Blizzard’s story and franchise development division votes to unionize

Developers working in Blizzard’s story and franchise development (SDF) division have unionized, joining nearly 3,000 workers at Microsoft-owned studios who have organized with the Communications Workers of America (CWA).

The workers “strongly voted” in favor of union representation, either by signing a union authorization card or indicating that they wanted union representation via an online portal. Employer Microsoft has recognized the union.

The SFD team works on Blizzard’s in-house cinematics, animation, and narrative team, producing trailers, videos, in-game cutscenes, and other narrative content for Blizzard franchises.

“These workers are setting the standard for animation, cinematics, and storytelling across the video game industry, creating the breathtaking cutscenes, trailers, and other narrative content that fans have come to love across all Blizzard franchises. We are excited to have them join our union family,” said CWA Local 9510 president, Jason Justice.

“Their decision to organize is another powerful step toward ensuring that every worker at Blizzard and Microsoft has a seat at the table to shape the conditions under which their art is made.”

“After more than a decade working at Blizzard, I’ve seen all the highs and lows. For years, Blizzard has been a place where people could build their careers and stay for decades, but that stability’s been fading,” added Bucky Fisk, a principal editor and member of the organizing committee. “With a union, we’re able to preserve what makes this place special, secure real transparency in how decisions are made, and make sure policies are applied fairly to everyone.”

Back in August last year, unionized workers at Wisconsin-based Raven Software filed a complaint against the studio and its parent companies, Activision and Microsoft, for allegedly refusing to bargain. Just last week, however, workers at Raven secured a historic contract with Microsoft.