09/10/2026
Congratulations! Union strong
Today, nearly 1,900 video game workers across Blizzard Entertainment have ratified historic video game contracts with CWA after two years of bargaining with the Microsoft-owned company.
The terms of the breakthrough first contract will now extend to all units across Blizzard’s game teams and shared services, including union-represented workers at World of Warcraft, Quality Assurance, Hearthstone and Warcraft Rumble, Overwatch, Diablo, and Blizzard’s Platform & Technology and Story and Franchise Development units.
“I’ve been at Blizzard for 20 years because I love this company and the amazing people I work with. This contract secures a lot of what people already love about working here while adding strong protections around layoffs, job security, and remote work,” said Platform & Technology bargaining committee member and Principal Software Engineer Daniel Weltz. “Blizzard helped shape the gaming industry, and I’m proud that this contract allows us to continue setting new standards for this work.”
The union contracts reinforce several workplace benefits that set industry-wide standards for video game workers in the United States. Alongside wage increases, grievance procedures, a three-day in-office hybrid workweek, “just cause” protections, remote work and disability accommodations, the contracts now require Blizzard to discuss, evaluate, and bargain over the usage of artificial intelligence in the workplace. In an industry first, the new union contracts give workers the right to be “recalled” into open positions across any Blizzard bargaining unit for 14 months from the date of their layoff announcement. Workers have also secured an extra 4 weeks of severance for union workers regardless of their tenure.
