Blizzard narrative team votes in favor of union one week after Call of Duty workers did the same, pushing back against mass layoffs at Microsoft that saw 9,000 jobs lost in favor of AI

(Image credit: Blizzard)

Blizzard story and franchise development team members responsible for many of the studio’s cutscenes have voted in favor of union representation only one week after Call of Duty developer Raven Software did the same. Both groups made their decisions just over a month after parent company Microsoft laid off 9,000 to apparently make space for more AI investments.

“After more than a decade working at Blizzard, I’ve seen all the highs and lows,” Blizzard principal editor Bucky Fisk says in a Communications Workers of America (CWA) press release. “For years, Blizzard has been a place where people could build their careers and stay for decades, but that stability’s been fading.”

Associate producer Sammi Kay adds, “These past couple of months have felt both important and cathartic given what’s happened to video game workers across the industry.” Especially at behemoth publishers like Microsoft, with its relentless pursuit of AI tech, the video game industry has seemingly become a junkyard of torched studios and scrapped projects.

“At multiple points in my life,” Kay continues, “I’ve always been told to accept the way things are. But with organizing, we’re able to build a future better than we found it.”

Cinematic producer John Giarratana agrees, saying, “I’m excited that we have joined together in forming a union to protect my colleagues from things like misguided policies and instability as a result of layoffs.”

“People at our studio love working here,” Giarratana continues, “and I think that organizing gives us an opportunity to make our workplace better and safer.”

Microsoft confirms it made $27 billion after laying off 9,000 people, and its CEO physically cannot stop talking about AI: “Cloud and AI is the driving force of business transformation across every industry and sector.”

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Ashley is a Senior Writer at GamesRadar+. She’s been a staff writer at Kotaku and Inverse, too, and she’s written freelance pieces about horror and women in games for sites like Rolling Stone, Vulture, IGN, and Polygon. When she’s not covering gaming news, she’s usually working on expanding her doll collection while watching Saw movies one through 11.