Blizzard’s Story and Franchise Development crew (SFD) has voted in favor of unionization with the Communications Staff of America, according to a press release shared right this moment.
SFD consists of Blizzard staff producing in-house cinematics, animation, trailers, promotional movies, in-game cutscenes, and different narrative content material throughout Blizzard franchises, as well as to archival staff and historians.
These staff be part of hundreds of others at Microsoft and particularly inside Activision Blizzard who’ve voted to unionize with their departments and groups underneath Microsoft’s labor neutrality settlement in the previous couple of years. Simply final yr, all the World of Warcraft crew unionized, and the Overwatch developers followed just this past May. Different unions inside the firm embody Raven Software program staff who simply gained their first contract earlier this month, Zenimax QA staff who acquired a contract in Might, the Bethesda union, and a number of others.
“After greater than a decade working at Blizzard, I’ve seen all of the highs and lows,” mentioned organizing committee member and principal editor Bucky Fisk. “For years, Blizzard has been a spot the place individuals might construct their careers and keep for many years, however that stability’s been fading. With a union, we’re in a position to protect what makes this place particular, safe actual transparency in how choices are made, and be certain that insurance policies are utilized pretty to everybody.”
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You could find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Received a narrative tip? Ship it to rvalentine@ign.com.