Diablo Developers Vote to Unionize

More than 450 developers working on the Diablo series at Blizzard have voted to unionize under the Communications Workers of America (CWA).

According to a press release, this newly formed union includes game developers, artists, designers, engineers, and support staff across the Diablo franchise and has received formal recognition from parent company Microsoft.

"Each wave of mass layoffs has deepened the anxiety among my colleagues, as it seems relentless effort offers no real job security," said Kelly Yeo, a game producer and organizing committee member. "Forming this union fills me with immense hope. It's our first step into a growing industry-wide movement of workers who refuse to live in constant fear. We stand ready to fight for meaningful change alongside our fellow Diablo team members."

Microsoft's earlier layoffs this year eliminated approximately 9,100 positions, including within its gaming division at Activision Blizzard.

The Diablo team joins a growing number of their Activision Blizzard and Xbox colleagues who have unionized in recent years, gaining a measure of security under Microsoft's labor neutrality agreement. Similar efforts saw the entire World of Warcraft team unionize last year, followed by the Overwatch developers this past May. Other organized groups within Xbox include Raven Software workers, who ratified their first contract this month; Zenimax QA workers, who secured a contract in May; the Bethesda union; the story and franchise development team; and several others.

To date, over 3,500 Microsoft employees have organized with the CWA.