On December 5, 2021, Activision Blizzard laid off “at least a dozen” quality assurance contractors from the Call of Duty studio Raven Software. The team was shocked by these developments, given that many of the QA testers on the team were now out of a job after being promised increased wages and even being asked to relocate to Wisconsin.
Since Activision Blizzard notified these Raven Software QA contractors that they would be laid off, many actions have been taken by both employees and leadership, including the staging of a walkout and strike, the formation of Activision Blizzard’s first union in the Game Workers Alliance, and much more.
It can be tough to keep track of everything that has happened so far, so we’ve created this timeline of events - much like the one we created for Activision Blizzard as a whole following its lawsuit - that will help you understand the full Raven Software QA unionization story, and we will continue to update this page as further developments occur.
You can see the entire timeline below, or in the following slideshow:
Activision Blizzard laid off “at least a dozen” quality assurance contractors from the Call of Duty studio Raven Software as part of a restructuring effort at the studio. At the time, there was a ton of uncertainty as current employees told The Washington Post that even more contractors “will be informed over the next few days if they have been laid off too.”
Raven Software, which worked with Infinity Ward on Call of Duty: Warzone and developed Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War alongside Treyarch, was said to be meeting with these contractors between December 3-8 to “tell them if they are being promoted or terminated on January 28.”
Austin O’Brien, Raven Software’s associate community manager, shared his thoughts on the situation and said that his “friends in QA at Raven were promised, for months, that Activision was working towards a pay restructure to increase their wages." Furthermore, O’Brien said “these people were asked to relocate to Madison, WI to work here. Now they are out of a job on January 28th."
On December 6, members of the Raven Software QA team announced that they would be holding a walkout to protest the layoffs of over a dozen of the studio's contractors. The walkout quickly gained the support of the wider Activision Blizzard companies, with employees from Texas, Minnesota, and California holding their own walkouts in solidarity.
As the walkouts were being planned and held, Activision Blizzard leadership pushed back on the term layoffs and instead explained that the company had chosen not to extend the contracts of “20 temporary workers.” Raven’s QA team said that was unacceptable given that Activision Blizzard had not only announced plans to turn 500 temporary employees into full-time employees, but that these impacted contractors had been terminated “in good standing” and were not let go due to bad performance.
This was the third Activision Blizzard walkout of the year and followed one in July following the initial lawsuit from the state of California. The second walkout occurred after WSJ reported that Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick was aware of the sexual harassment and assault allegations at the company.
Members of the Raven QA team sent a letter after the group said the studio’s leadership failed to respond to the team’s “singular demand: All members of the Raven QA department must be offered full time positions, including those who were let go.”
“Today, Monday January 3rd, is the start of the third work week in which employees are striking in solidarity with 12 members of QA whose contracts were terminated,” the letter reads. “We have not had any communication from leadership about our singular demand: All members of the Raven QA department must be offered full time positions, including those who were let go.
“We have emphasized that our demonstration is done with the best interests of the studio (and all projects on which the studio works) in mind. The downsizing of the Raven QA department without input from anyone within the department is concerning to us and others throughout the company. In the interest of making positive change for Raven, we would like to reach out to leadership to discuss the current situation.”
Activision Blizzard finally responded to the ongoing Raven Software situation as the ABK Workers Alliance Strike Fund confirmed it had raised over $350,000 in support of the movement.
In a statement to GamesIndustry.biz, Activision Blizzard said that management at Raven Software had been listening to employees in order to listen to their concerns. "Activision is deeply committed to the wellbeing of all of our teams, including our QA workforce," the statement read.
“Raven leadership has engaged in dialogue with its staff to hear concerns and explain the company's overall investment in development resources,” the statement said. “As previously announced, we are growing our overall investment in development and operations resources and converting nearly 500 temporary workers to full-time employees across our studios, the largest conversion in Activision's history.
"For the 12 temporary workers at Raven whose agreements were not extended, we provided an extended notice period, included payment for the two-week holiday break, and will be working directly with those that need relocation assistance. Raven is full of people dedicated to improving the culture at Activision, and we look forward to partnering with employees to do that work together."
As for the ABK Workers Alliance Strike Fund, the money raised will be used to support the wages for striking coworkers and to assist with relocation costs for any Raven QA who the group believes has had to move unassisted “at the behest of A/B/K.”
On January 18, Microsoft announced a landmark deal to purchase Activision Blizzard for a reported $68.7 billion. Assuming no legal issues prevent the deal from being completed, the Xbox brand will soon have access to such IP and games as Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, and so much more.
While nothing was said directly about Raven Software, this deal will undoubtedly have an impact on the employees of the company in the coming years. The deal is said to close “sometime in Microsoft’s fiscal 2023 year ending June 30, 2023,” meaning the companies will remain independent of each other until then.
In a letter to Microsoft employees, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer shared a few words about the company’s intent to continue to create inclusive environments for all of its studios.
“Microsoft is committed to our journey for inclusion in every aspect of gaming, among both employees and players," Spencer wrote. “We deeply value individual studio cultures. We also believe that creative success and autonomy go hand-in-hand with treating every person with dignity and respect. We hold all teams, and all leaders, to this commitment. We’re looking forward to extending our culture of proactive inclusion to the great teams across Activision Blizzard."
A group of Raven Software QA employees officially became the first Activision Blizzard workers to form a union by launching the Game Workers Alliance with Communications Workers of America. Additionally, members of the department requested voluntary recognition from Activision Blizzard management in alignment with the desire of a supermajority of their workforce.
“We formed the Game Workers Alliance (CWA) because my colleagues and I want to have our voices heard and we want to see changes that reflect the wants and needs of both the gaming community and the workers who create these incredible products. It’s extremely important that workers have a real seat at the table to positively shape the company going forward,” said Raven QA Lead Brent Reel.
Communications Workers of America Secretary-Treasurer Sara Steffens shared some words on the formation of the Union and also asked that Activision Blizzard voluntarily recognize “CWA’s representation without hesitation.”
“We ask that Activision Blizzard management respect Raven QA workers by voluntarily recognizing CWA's representation without hesitation,” Steffens said. “A collective bargaining agreement will give Raven QA employees a voice at work, improving the games they produce and making the company stronger. Voluntary recognition is the rational way forward.”
Activision Blizzard issued an extended statement to IGN regarding the newly-formed union.
“Activision Blizzard is carefully reviewing the request for voluntary recognition from the CWA, which seeks to organize around three dozen of the company’s nearly 10,000 employees,” the statement read. “While we believe that a direct relationship between the company and its team members delivers the strongest workforce opportunities, we deeply respect the rights of all employees under the law to make their own decisions about whether or not to join a union.
“Across Activision Blizzard, we remain focused on listening closely to our employees and providing the improved pay, benefits and professional opportunities needed to attract and retain the world’s best talent. Over the past couple of years, this has included raising minimum compensation for Raven QA employees by 41%, extending paid time off, expanding access to medical benefits for employees and significant others, and transitioning more than 60% of temporary Raven QA staff into full-time employees.”
The Activision Blizzard Workers Alliance Twitter account confirmed that, “pending the recognition of our union, the Raven QA strike has ended. Unused strike funds are being stored for future organizing/strike efforts.”
The group confirmed that it was still waiting for positive or negative recognition of its union from Activision Blizzard, but that it was “acting in good faith and asking for good faith” by choosing to end the strike.
Activision Blizzard announced that it would not voluntarily recognize Game Workers Alliance - the union formed by a group of Raven Software QA employees. In a statement to IGN and others, it said that “all employees at Raven should have a say in this decision.”
“At Activision Blizzard, we deeply respect the rights of all employees to make their own decisions about whether or not to join a union,” the statement read. “We carefully reviewed and considered the CWA initial request last week and tried to find a mutually acceptable solution with the CWA that would have led to an expedited election process. Unfortunately, the parties could not reach an agreement.
“We expect that the union will be moving forward with the filing of a petition to the NLRB for an election. If filed, the company will respond formally to that petition promptly. The most important thing to the company is that each eligible employee has the opportunity to have their voice heard and their individual vote counted, and we think all employees at Raven should have a say in this decision.
“Across the company, we believe that a direct relationship between managers and team members allows us to quickly respond and deliver the strongest results and opportunities for employees. As a result of these direct relationships, we’ve made a number of changes over the past couple years including raising minimum compensation for Raven QA employees by 41%, extending paid time off, expanding access to medical benefits for employees and their significant others, and transitioning more than 60% of temporary Raven QA staff into full-time employees. We look forward to continuing a direct dialogue with our team and working together to make our workplace better.”
On the afternoon of January 24, 23 Raven Software QA testers - all of whom had received promotions to become full-time in December 2021 - were told they would “be split into various departments across the studio, including animation, art, audio, design, engineering and live operations production.”
Wilma Liebman, the former chairman of the National Labor Relations Board under former president Barack Obama, said in a statement to The Washington Post that this could be a move by Activision Blizzard management to dilute the group of potential unionizers by moving them around.
“The union would have a decent case to make that by doing this on the heels of a request for recognition and on the heels of all this union organizing activity, that this was somehow unlawful, intended to kill the union strength,” said Liebman. “I would say that having seen these kinds of things many times, that there’s possibly more afoot here than meets the eye.”
CWA agreed with Liebman’s words and shared their own statement on the matter.
“Yesterday Activision Blizzard broadcasted their plans to restructure the Raven Software Quality Assurance department in order to bring the group ‘...into alignment with the best practices of other prominent Activision studios,’” The statement reads. “This announcement, which came three days after Raven QA workers publicly requested recognition of their union – the Game Workers Alliance (CWA) – is nothing more than a tactic to thwart Raven QA workers who are exercising their right to organize.
“When Management uses meaningless buzzwords like ‘alignment, ‘synergy,’ and ‘reorganization,’ they are sending a message to workers: ‘we make all the decisions, we have all the power.’ Workers organize to have a voice at work to rectify these power imbalances. This is why big tech mergers that could increase and further concentrate corporate power, like Microsoft’s proposed Activision Blizzard acquisition, deserve real oversight. This scrutiny is even more important when a company like Activision Blizzard impedes its workers from exercising rights that are protected under U.S. law.
“Whether its covering up sexual harassment, employee surveillance, workplace abuse or violating workers rights, Activison Blizzard seems determined to take the low road. Regulators from the Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission, and states Attorneys General must take a serious look at the proposed merger with Microsoft and enforce our antitrust laws to ensure consumers and workers are not harmed as a result.”
Even without Activision Blizzard’s support, the Raven Software QA members who decided to form Game Workers Alliance announced they would still proceed with filing for a union election with the Nation Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
The 34 workers involved in forming the union said that “they have a supermajority of votes within their department, meaning they can formalize their union via the NLRB without management recognition at Activision Blizzard.”
The union would need to win “50 percent plus one of the votes within the department,” Activision Blizzard would need to begin “bargaining with the group over work conditions in good faith.”
“We, the supermajority of workers at Raven QA, are proud to be confidently filing our petition with the NLRB for our union election,” Game Workers Alliance said on Twitter. “We are deeply disappointed that Raven Software and Activision Blizzard refused to uplift workers rights by choosing to not voluntarily recognize our union in spite of our supermajority support.
“This was an opportunity for Activision Blizzard to show a real commitment setting new and improved standards for workers. Instead, Activision Blizzard has chosen to make a rushed restructuring announcement to try and hinder our right to organize. Once again, when management is given a choice, they always seem to take the low road.
“However, we are proud to file with the NLRB as we enjoy supermajority support for our union and know that together, we will gain the formal legal recognition we have earned.”
Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
Continue reading...
Since Activision Blizzard notified these Raven Software QA contractors that they would be laid off, many actions have been taken by both employees and leadership, including the staging of a walkout and strike, the formation of Activision Blizzard’s first union in the Game Workers Alliance, and much more.
It can be tough to keep track of everything that has happened so far, so we’ve created this timeline of events - much like the one we created for Activision Blizzard as a whole following its lawsuit - that will help you understand the full Raven Software QA unionization story, and we will continue to update this page as further developments occur.
You can see the entire timeline below, or in the following slideshow:
December 5, 2021 - Activision Blizzard Lays Off 'At Least a Dozen' Raven Software Quality Assurance Contractors
Activision Blizzard laid off “at least a dozen” quality assurance contractors from the Call of Duty studio Raven Software as part of a restructuring effort at the studio. At the time, there was a ton of uncertainty as current employees told The Washington Post that even more contractors “will be informed over the next few days if they have been laid off too.”
Raven Software, which worked with Infinity Ward on Call of Duty: Warzone and developed Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War alongside Treyarch, was said to be meeting with these contractors between December 3-8 to “tell them if they are being promoted or terminated on January 28.”
Austin O’Brien, Raven Software’s associate community manager, shared his thoughts on the situation and said that his “friends in QA at Raven were promised, for months, that Activision was working towards a pay restructure to increase their wages." Furthermore, O’Brien said “these people were asked to relocate to Madison, WI to work here. Now they are out of a job on January 28th."
December 6-8, 2021 - Raven Software Walkout Over Recent Layoffs Gains Support From Blizzard and Other Activision Employees
On December 6, members of the Raven Software QA team announced that they would be holding a walkout to protest the layoffs of over a dozen of the studio's contractors. The walkout quickly gained the support of the wider Activision Blizzard companies, with employees from Texas, Minnesota, and California holding their own walkouts in solidarity.
As the walkouts were being planned and held, Activision Blizzard leadership pushed back on the term layoffs and instead explained that the company had chosen not to extend the contracts of “20 temporary workers.” Raven’s QA team said that was unacceptable given that Activision Blizzard had not only announced plans to turn 500 temporary employees into full-time employees, but that these impacted contractors had been terminated “in good standing” and were not let go due to bad performance.
This was the third Activision Blizzard walkout of the year and followed one in July following the initial lawsuit from the state of California. The second walkout occurred after WSJ reported that Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick was aware of the sexual harassment and assault allegations at the company.
January 3, 2022 - Raven QA Members Send a Letter to Leadership Asking for a Response After Three Weeks of Silence
Members of the Raven QA team sent a letter after the group said the studio’s leadership failed to respond to the team’s “singular demand: All members of the Raven QA department must be offered full time positions, including those who were let go.”
“Today, Monday January 3rd, is the start of the third work week in which employees are striking in solidarity with 12 members of QA whose contracts were terminated,” the letter reads. “We have not had any communication from leadership about our singular demand: All members of the Raven QA department must be offered full time positions, including those who were let go.
“We have emphasized that our demonstration is done with the best interests of the studio (and all projects on which the studio works) in mind. The downsizing of the Raven QA department without input from anyone within the department is concerning to us and others throughout the company. In the interest of making positive change for Raven, we would like to reach out to leadership to discuss the current situation.”
January 6, 2022 - Activision Blizzard Strike Fund Passes $350,000 as Management Finally Replies
Activision Blizzard finally responded to the ongoing Raven Software situation as the ABK Workers Alliance Strike Fund confirmed it had raised over $350,000 in support of the movement.
In a statement to GamesIndustry.biz, Activision Blizzard said that management at Raven Software had been listening to employees in order to listen to their concerns. "Activision is deeply committed to the wellbeing of all of our teams, including our QA workforce," the statement read.
“Raven leadership has engaged in dialogue with its staff to hear concerns and explain the company's overall investment in development resources,” the statement said. “As previously announced, we are growing our overall investment in development and operations resources and converting nearly 500 temporary workers to full-time employees across our studios, the largest conversion in Activision's history.
"For the 12 temporary workers at Raven whose agreements were not extended, we provided an extended notice period, included payment for the two-week holiday break, and will be working directly with those that need relocation assistance. Raven is full of people dedicated to improving the culture at Activision, and we look forward to partnering with employees to do that work together."
As for the ABK Workers Alliance Strike Fund, the money raised will be used to support the wages for striking coworkers and to assist with relocation costs for any Raven QA who the group believes has had to move unassisted “at the behest of A/B/K.”
January 18, 2022 - Microsoft Announces Deal to Buy Activision Blizzard for $68.7 Billion
On January 18, Microsoft announced a landmark deal to purchase Activision Blizzard for a reported $68.7 billion. Assuming no legal issues prevent the deal from being completed, the Xbox brand will soon have access to such IP and games as Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, and so much more.
While nothing was said directly about Raven Software, this deal will undoubtedly have an impact on the employees of the company in the coming years. The deal is said to close “sometime in Microsoft’s fiscal 2023 year ending June 30, 2023,” meaning the companies will remain independent of each other until then.
In a letter to Microsoft employees, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer shared a few words about the company’s intent to continue to create inclusive environments for all of its studios.
“Microsoft is committed to our journey for inclusion in every aspect of gaming, among both employees and players," Spencer wrote. “We deeply value individual studio cultures. We also believe that creative success and autonomy go hand-in-hand with treating every person with dignity and respect. We hold all teams, and all leaders, to this commitment. We’re looking forward to extending our culture of proactive inclusion to the great teams across Activision Blizzard."
January 21, 2022 - Raven QA Employees Form Activision Blizzard's First Union
A group of Raven Software QA employees officially became the first Activision Blizzard workers to form a union by launching the Game Workers Alliance with Communications Workers of America. Additionally, members of the department requested voluntary recognition from Activision Blizzard management in alignment with the desire of a supermajority of their workforce.
“We formed the Game Workers Alliance (CWA) because my colleagues and I want to have our voices heard and we want to see changes that reflect the wants and needs of both the gaming community and the workers who create these incredible products. It’s extremely important that workers have a real seat at the table to positively shape the company going forward,” said Raven QA Lead Brent Reel.
Communications Workers of America Secretary-Treasurer Sara Steffens shared some words on the formation of the Union and also asked that Activision Blizzard voluntarily recognize “CWA’s representation without hesitation.”
“We ask that Activision Blizzard management respect Raven QA workers by voluntarily recognizing CWA's representation without hesitation,” Steffens said. “A collective bargaining agreement will give Raven QA employees a voice at work, improving the games they produce and making the company stronger. Voluntary recognition is the rational way forward.”
Activision Blizzard issued an extended statement to IGN regarding the newly-formed union.
“Activision Blizzard is carefully reviewing the request for voluntary recognition from the CWA, which seeks to organize around three dozen of the company’s nearly 10,000 employees,” the statement read. “While we believe that a direct relationship between the company and its team members delivers the strongest workforce opportunities, we deeply respect the rights of all employees under the law to make their own decisions about whether or not to join a union.
“Across Activision Blizzard, we remain focused on listening closely to our employees and providing the improved pay, benefits and professional opportunities needed to attract and retain the world’s best talent. Over the past couple of years, this has included raising minimum compensation for Raven QA employees by 41%, extending paid time off, expanding access to medical benefits for employees and significant others, and transitioning more than 60% of temporary Raven QA staff into full-time employees.”
January 22, 2022 - Members of the Raven Software QA team and Other Activision Blizzard Workers Call Off Strike Action
The Activision Blizzard Workers Alliance Twitter account confirmed that, “pending the recognition of our union, the Raven QA strike has ended. Unused strike funds are being stored for future organizing/strike efforts.”
The group confirmed that it was still waiting for positive or negative recognition of its union from Activision Blizzard, but that it was “acting in good faith and asking for good faith” by choosing to end the strike.
January 25, 2022 - Activision Blizzard Will Not Voluntarily Recognize Raven Software's Union
Activision Blizzard announced that it would not voluntarily recognize Game Workers Alliance - the union formed by a group of Raven Software QA employees. In a statement to IGN and others, it said that “all employees at Raven should have a say in this decision.”
“At Activision Blizzard, we deeply respect the rights of all employees to make their own decisions about whether or not to join a union,” the statement read. “We carefully reviewed and considered the CWA initial request last week and tried to find a mutually acceptable solution with the CWA that would have led to an expedited election process. Unfortunately, the parties could not reach an agreement.
“We expect that the union will be moving forward with the filing of a petition to the NLRB for an election. If filed, the company will respond formally to that petition promptly. The most important thing to the company is that each eligible employee has the opportunity to have their voice heard and their individual vote counted, and we think all employees at Raven should have a say in this decision.
“Across the company, we believe that a direct relationship between managers and team members allows us to quickly respond and deliver the strongest results and opportunities for employees. As a result of these direct relationships, we’ve made a number of changes over the past couple years including raising minimum compensation for Raven QA employees by 41%, extending paid time off, expanding access to medical benefits for employees and their significant others, and transitioning more than 60% of temporary Raven QA staff into full-time employees. We look forward to continuing a direct dialogue with our team and working together to make our workplace better.”
January 24, 2022 - 23 Raven Software QA Testers Told They Will Be Split Into Various Departments Across the Studio
On the afternoon of January 24, 23 Raven Software QA testers - all of whom had received promotions to become full-time in December 2021 - were told they would “be split into various departments across the studio, including animation, art, audio, design, engineering and live operations production.”
Wilma Liebman, the former chairman of the National Labor Relations Board under former president Barack Obama, said in a statement to The Washington Post that this could be a move by Activision Blizzard management to dilute the group of potential unionizers by moving them around.
“The union would have a decent case to make that by doing this on the heels of a request for recognition and on the heels of all this union organizing activity, that this was somehow unlawful, intended to kill the union strength,” said Liebman. “I would say that having seen these kinds of things many times, that there’s possibly more afoot here than meets the eye.”
CWA agreed with Liebman’s words and shared their own statement on the matter.
“Yesterday Activision Blizzard broadcasted their plans to restructure the Raven Software Quality Assurance department in order to bring the group ‘...into alignment with the best practices of other prominent Activision studios,’” The statement reads. “This announcement, which came three days after Raven QA workers publicly requested recognition of their union – the Game Workers Alliance (CWA) – is nothing more than a tactic to thwart Raven QA workers who are exercising their right to organize.
“When Management uses meaningless buzzwords like ‘alignment, ‘synergy,’ and ‘reorganization,’ they are sending a message to workers: ‘we make all the decisions, we have all the power.’ Workers organize to have a voice at work to rectify these power imbalances. This is why big tech mergers that could increase and further concentrate corporate power, like Microsoft’s proposed Activision Blizzard acquisition, deserve real oversight. This scrutiny is even more important when a company like Activision Blizzard impedes its workers from exercising rights that are protected under U.S. law.
“Whether its covering up sexual harassment, employee surveillance, workplace abuse or violating workers rights, Activison Blizzard seems determined to take the low road. Regulators from the Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission, and states Attorneys General must take a serious look at the proposed merger with Microsoft and enforce our antitrust laws to ensure consumers and workers are not harmed as a result.”
January 25, 2022 - Game Workers Alliance Confirms It Is Filing a Petition With the NLRB for Its Union Election
Even without Activision Blizzard’s support, the Raven Software QA members who decided to form Game Workers Alliance announced they would still proceed with filing for a union election with the Nation Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
The 34 workers involved in forming the union said that “they have a supermajority of votes within their department, meaning they can formalize their union via the NLRB without management recognition at Activision Blizzard.”
The union would need to win “50 percent plus one of the votes within the department,” Activision Blizzard would need to begin “bargaining with the group over work conditions in good faith.”
“We, the supermajority of workers at Raven QA, are proud to be confidently filing our petition with the NLRB for our union election,” Game Workers Alliance said on Twitter. “We are deeply disappointed that Raven Software and Activision Blizzard refused to uplift workers rights by choosing to not voluntarily recognize our union in spite of our supermajority support.
“This was an opportunity for Activision Blizzard to show a real commitment setting new and improved standards for workers. Instead, Activision Blizzard has chosen to make a rushed restructuring announcement to try and hinder our right to organize. Once again, when management is given a choice, they always seem to take the low road.
“However, we are proud to file with the NLRB as we enjoy supermajority support for our union and know that together, we will gain the formal legal recognition we have earned.”
Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
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