Hot Damn: Another Activision Blizzard Studio Is Unionizing

The Proletariat Workers Alliance would be unique among gaming unions for representing all non-management staff at the studio, rather than just quality assurance staff as is the case at Raven Software, Blizzard Albany, and unionization efforts currently underway at Microsoft’s Bethesda studios. The Proletariat developers list flexible PTO, optional remote work, no mandatory overtime, and policies fostering diversity, equality and inclusion among the demands they plan to negotiate at the bargaining table if the union drive is successful.

Activision Blizzard didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about whether it would voluntarily recognize the union or try to fight it as it has previous efforts within the company. The publisher recently tried to block Blizzard Albany’s union on the grounds that allowing only QA to unionize would hurt the development of games like Diablo IV. Ultimately, the NLRB didn’t buy it, but in Proletariat’s case those concerns would be moot anyway since a studio-wide vote is exactly what the workers are asking for.

Proletariat was founded in 2012 by former Zynga, Insomniac Games, and Harmonix developers, funded by venture capital and investments from companies like Take-Two. It’s best-known release prior to joining Blizzard was Spellbreak, a free-to-play magic shooter that came out in 2020. The game was eventually shut down this past June, however, and Proletariat was acquired to work on World of Warcraft the following month.

“At Proletariat, we have always emphasized looking out for each other as people, and we’re committed to preserving what is best about our studio,” James Van Nuland, an associate game producer at Proletariat, said today. “We are in this together.”