Psychonauts and Kiln developer Double Fine Productions has laid the groundwork to turn out to be the newest Microsoft studio to type a union.
As first reported by Aftermath, the San Francisco-based recreation studio filed a petition with the Nationwide Labor Relations Board Could 7, 2026. The group effort with the Communications Employees of America (CWA) follows the 450 Blizzard Leisure employees who voted to unionize in August 2025, and the union shaped by 165 builders at id Software program the next December, in addition to others. As outlined within the petition, the Double Fine union will embrace 42 “common part-time and full-time workers.”
“On Could 7, the employees at Microsoft studio Double Fine Productions introduced their resolution to type a union with CWA to protect and prolong the studio’s commitments to artistic excellence, range and inclusion, and employee high quality of life,” CWA instructed Aftermath in a assertion. “In tandem with requesting voluntary recognition from the corporate, staff have additionally filed an election petition with the Nationwide Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to safe union illustration. We admire that Microsoft has taken a impartial method and agreed to not intrude in any means with employee’s rights to arrange unions.”
Double Fine was acquired by Microsoft in 2019 and has a 25-year historical past within the gaming house. Its most well-known title might be the mind-bending platformer Psychonauts, which went on to get a sequel in 2021. Different fashionable titles underneath its belt embrace Brutal Legend, Damaged Age, and Costume Quest. Kiln, a multiplayer brawler that lets gamers management moldable items of pottery, arrived as its most up-to-date venture simply weeks in the past, on April 23, 2026.
Double Fine’s transfer to unionize arrives within the midst of a interval of uncertainty for Microsoft. Following layoffs that affected round 9,100 workers in July 2025 and even extra in 2024, a Bloomberg report in October of final 12 months said that the Xbox firm had allegedly been pushing its recreation builders to ship a steep 30% revenue margin. Along with the layoffs, Microsoft cancelled a number of initiatives, together with video games from the now-shuttered The Initiative, ZeniMax On-line Studios, and Uncommon, in 2025 alone.
Shakeups on the firm continued in February 2026 when it was introduced that each Xbox CEO Phil Spencer and Xbox president Sarah Bond could be leaving the corporate. Then-Microsoft CoreAI president Asha Sharma has since changed Spencer as CEO, with Xbox Recreation Studios head Matt Booty stepping in as chief content material artistic officer. Sharma’s time within the spot has already been adopted by a variety of different modifications, together with a management reshuffle and the discontinuation of Copilot on console final week, in addition to Recreation Move worth cuts.
The CWA stated in its assertion that Microsoft has agreed to take a impartial method to unionization at Double Fine after the expiration of a earlier neutrality settlement late final 12 months. Different Microsoft builders who labored to type unions earlier than the settlement expired embrace employees from the World of Warcraft, Overwatch, and Blizzard Story and Franchise Improvement groups. In the meantime, Raven Software program High quality Assurance builders grew to become the primary Activision Blizzard staff to unionize in 2022 earlier than scoring their first contract with Microsoft simply final August.
Michael Cripe is a freelance author with IGN. He is finest identified for his work at websites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure you give him a comply with on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).