Fed up with ‘living in fear’ of mass layoffs, Diablo developers take action against Microsoft: ‘We are ready to begin fighting for real change’

2025-08-28 14:54:00
www.pcgamer.com

The Diablo team is the next in line to unionize at Blizzard. Over 450 developers across multiple disciplines have voted to form a union under the Communications Workers of America (CWA), and they’re now the fourth major Blizzard team to do so.

Game developers, artists, designers, engineers, and support staff all “voted strongly in favor of union representation” by signing an authorization card via an online portal, according to a news release from the CWA. After the voting closed in April, Microsoft recognized the union.

Since acquiring Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion in 2023, the trillion-dollar tech giant has cut more than 3,000 jobs across its group of studios. Blizzard’s survival game—which was over six years in the making—was cancelled as a result. Widespread layoffs are the unionizing team’s primary concern, according to the developers quoted by the CWA.

“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,” producer Kelly Yeo said. “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.”

The use of AI, crediting, and remote work are on the list of things the union hopes to bring to the bargaining table, according to developers Aftermath spoke to. Union organizers plan to survey members and create a list of high-priority issues to consider before negotiating a contract.

A wave of unions have formed at Blizzard in the last year, including the World of Warcraft, Overwatch, and Story and Franchise Development teams. Elsewhere at Microsoft, Bethesda, ZeniMax Online Studios and ZeniMax QA testers have also unionized.

Over 16,000 game developers from all kinds of studios were laid off in 2023 and 2024, prompting industry-wide unionization efforts. In March, North American game developers started the “United Videogame Workers” union under the CWA for anyone to join regardless of their employer.

The CWA says over 3,500 Microsoft workers have now organized to fight for fair compensation, job security, and improved working conditions. With the Diablo team on board, I wouldn’t be surprised to see more developers at Blizzard vote in favor of a union in the coming months.

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