Hearthstone and Warcraft Rumble Developers Form Union with Communications Workers of America

Irvine, Calif. — A majority of video game developers behind Blizzard’s popular digital-card game Hearthstone and mobile-strategy game Warcraft Rumble have voted strongly in favor of wall-to-wall union representation with the Communications Workers of America (CWA), either by signing a union authorization card or indicating that they wanted union representation via an online portal. The workers will be members of CWA Local 9510 in Irvine, Calif., and Microsoft has recognized the union.

The unit, with over 100 workers including software engineers, designers, artists, quality assurance testers, and producers, builds off the unprecedented organizing momentum across Blizzard departments and studios, with over 1900 Blizzard workers joining CWA, including Platform & Technology, Story and Franchise Development, Diablo, and Overwatch. Their unit also was inspired by the World of Warcraft organizing efforts last July.

“My coworkers, as individuals, have voiced many concerns over the years, but it is easy for any company to ignore individuals,” said organizing committee member and game designer Dominic Calkosz. “We chose to organize in pursuit of a collective voice and a force of solidarity that the industry cannot ignore.”

“Whether we are fighting for layoff protections, security for our remote workers, or reduced wage gaps, the pressures we face are making it harder to create the high-quality work we care about,” said organizing committee member and senior 2D artist Uriah Voth. “Organizing gives us the opportunity to empower ourselves and challenge the instability and unfair conditions that undermine us.

“I support our union because we deserve to be heard and respected,” said organizing committee member and QA test analyst Carol Blean. “Real solutions, not free therapy or relocation suggestions, are needed to address being overworked, underpaid, and forced into unreasonable choices.”

Earlier this month, CWA President Claude Cummings Jr. met with video game and tech workers at the Blizzard campus in Irvine, Calif., to celebrate the growing wave of organizing across the industry. Video game workers from other bargaining units at Activision Blizzard and Microsoft studios joined the World of Warcraft Bargaining Committee for a solidarity walk as contract negotiations continued.

“The Hearthstone team’s organizing effort is proof that creativity and collective power can go hand-in-hand,” said CWA Local 9510 President Jason Justice. “These are some of the most talented developers and artists in the industry, and their decision to form a union sends a clear message that building great games starts with respecting those who are behind them.”

Alongside recent union recognition campaigns across the industry, video game workers announced the formation of United Videogame Workers-CWA (UVW-CWA), an industry-wide video game union working to build power irrespective of employer or current job status.

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About CODE-CWA

The Campaign to Organize Digital Employees (CODE-CWA) is a network of worker-organizers and their staff working every single day to build the voice and power necessary to ensure the future of the tech, game, and digital industries in the United States and Canada. CODE-CWA is a project of the Communications Workers of America, which represents hundreds of thousands of workers throughout tech, media, telecom, and other industries who stand together to fight for justice on the job and in our communities.

cwa-union.org @cwaunion