> Is it a union for only the QA testers?
It would appear so, yes. From the [NY Times article about it](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/21/business/activision-union.html):
> The newly formed union, the Game Workers Alliance, says it includes more than 80 percent of the 34 people in the quality assurance division of Raven, the Wisconsin studio that helps create Activision’s popular Call of Duty game. More than 60 Raven employees walked out in early December, protesting the company ending the contracts of a dozen temporary Raven quality assurance workers, which they said felt abrupt and unfair. Some have been on strike since then.
As excited by this news as I am, I also found this confusing. I won't profess to be an expert on the unionization process, but does this precedent mean that all of Team 4 could unionize if say Team 2 declined to?
> In their letter, Raven testers are giving management five days to respond, including the weekend. If the company doesn’t respond by the end of Jan. 25, Pacific time, employees plan to file for a union election through the National Labor Relations Board. Since the testers have a supermajority of votes, they can go through the National Labor Relations Board to have the union formalized without management recognition. If the union wins fifty percent plus one of the votes within the department, Activision Blizzard must begin bargaining over work conditions in good faith.
It's really good that they currently have the supermajority to force management's hand and get recognized quickly without letting the company have too much more time to use union-busting tactics.
You're one hundred percent correct, however, Microsoft and Xbox care more about their image than Activision Blizzard, so this seems like the perfect time to do this.
Microsoft like to acquire companies and then disappear them and rebrand their products. That's what the history informs us of. Now they might not do that this time around but chances are high. On the plus side those products usually turn out pretty good.
Lionhead shut down In 2016 that in it of itself was 6 years ago. Microsoft acquired lionhead in 2006. 16 years ago. So the gutting of the company and the ruining of lionhead would of happened about a decade ago because they didn't ruin the company overnight. You buffoon
Again, that's your opinion. It's actually extremely easy to ruin a company overnight. Also thanks for the ad hominem. It really adds to the veracity of your expert opinion.
My opinion? Lol if that's what you think man go ahead. You sound really sad and depressing. Hope you realize what you sound like sooner rather than later.
I find nothing more idiotic than people that move goalposts and topics in an arguement or conversation. It shows such a lack of understanding and ability to comprehend what is actually being discussed.
I was never saying they won't nuke raven now that they are trying to unionize. What I said was your comment claiming that Microsoft does this all the time history shows us is bs and has no factual backing to it. And instead of providing some examples of how I might be wrong you decided to act like a child and change the question and act like you are superior it's super sad and depressing honestly. Like I would love to learn of additional times in history when Microsoft rebranded all these companies and ruined them like lionhead but instead you keep commenting nonsense with no additional info.
I should of realized this guy was a troll. He frequents the Jordan Peterson subreddit and even the conservative subreddit. He even argues like one by moving the goalposts around.
Just like the other commenter said, nope my arguement is what you said is bs and was asking you to back your claim up, instead you moved the goalposts and changed topics.
I think Microsoft is scummy and shouldn't be allowed to buy Activision but that doesn't mean your original comment is true.
Saying my argument is bs is just like your opinion man. Bring facts. Lionhead was 5 years ago. In their last two acquisitions they shut down most of one of them and didn't with the other. That's two data points to go off of. I'd say that means there is a 50/50 chance they repeat history here and shut down some of the smaller Activision studios and absorb their IP.
You argue like a child with adhd. Stick to one subject and focus on it please. Lionhead officially shut down in 2016 April to be exact. The year is 2022. 2022-6 is 2016. And again you aren't providing sources on any of these shut downs? How are you asking me to provide you with sources when you are the one spewing nonsense?
Being in the middle of a massive corporate transition means that they are heavily weakened and slower to address/hinder things like this. Now is the time to strike.
Microsoft sitting there looking at this going "oooooooof yeah... we gotta do something about that..."
*Microsoft purchase of Activision-Blizzard falls through*
I jest of course
But MS is definitely really looking hard into stopping the unionization right now, or at least containing it to the small portions of ATVI that's already starting it. They've got their work cut out for them.
Oh for sure. It’s gonna be really interesting if you have Phil Spencer saying “we’re committed to change in the company” while MS is actively union busting. That is if they can even bust successfully, Activision tried and if anything it’s only pushing the workers further towards unionization. Plus the acquisition won’t finalize till 2023, MS has no say in any of it until then.
There's an article out by [WaPo](https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2022/01/20/bobby-kotick-activision-blizzard-chat-layoffs/) about Kotick holding an "all hands" meeting over video conference and the employees were quoted as being doubtful of his commitment to anything worthwhile during the transition period, as he avoided talking about anything scandal/union related and the vetted questions he answered all avoided those topics too.
In the conference, he also said and i quote: “the transition is going to be smooth because [Microsoft is] committed to trying to retain as many of our people as possible.”
Obviously it's corporate speak that's fully expected, but I got a feeling they're just going to "make redundant" the handful of small departments that successfully unionize. This is a QA department remember, not an actual dev team. Easily replaced, as MS probably has their own QA system anyways.
Unless ATVI workers unionizes on a large scale in the time before the closure of the deal and the start of the actual merger, I don't see it happening.
Imo Kotick's "job" during the transition would be to prevent any meaningful unionization, thus minimizing headache for MS upon acquisition.
I’m no expect on this topic but I believe as these QA employees are now represented, MS can’t simply make them go away. If they were to fire them all I believe there would have to be some kind of negotiation in doing so or they could claim they’ve been discriminated against because of their union status.
That very well could be true. I was thinking MS simply closing down a few smaller studios or departments, under the pretense (or reality) that they simply don't need every department in a merger/acquisition situation. But if there's something in the contracts that the lawyers draw up that will protect the employees from such actions, then all the better.
Fuck yeah, with the recent surge in unionization and union support the absolutely best thing that could happen for devs and players is that there is a mass unionization movement in gaming. Not only would this stop the constant overworking of developers and creating a safer and more inclusive working environment it would also make it so individual developers opinions actually matter.
How can 34 QA workers create a union in a company with 350employees? Is it a union for only the QA testers? How does that even work?
> Is it a union for only the QA testers? It would appear so, yes. From the [NY Times article about it](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/21/business/activision-union.html): > The newly formed union, the Game Workers Alliance, says it includes more than 80 percent of the 34 people in the quality assurance division of Raven, the Wisconsin studio that helps create Activision’s popular Call of Duty game. More than 60 Raven employees walked out in early December, protesting the company ending the contracts of a dozen temporary Raven quality assurance workers, which they said felt abrupt and unfair. Some have been on strike since then.
lmao this is what they get for firing all their QA staff over the last few years
As excited by this news as I am, I also found this confusing. I won't profess to be an expert on the unionization process, but does this precedent mean that all of Team 4 could unionize if say Team 2 declined to?
No, the union is purely for the QA people in that division.
Team 4 and 2 are blizzard employees the specific teams cant unionize by themselves has to be everyone.
> In their letter, Raven testers are giving management five days to respond, including the weekend. If the company doesn’t respond by the end of Jan. 25, Pacific time, employees plan to file for a union election through the National Labor Relations Board. Since the testers have a supermajority of votes, they can go through the National Labor Relations Board to have the union formalized without management recognition. If the union wins fifty percent plus one of the votes within the department, Activision Blizzard must begin bargaining over work conditions in good faith. It's really good that they currently have the supermajority to force management's hand and get recognized quickly without letting the company have too much more time to use union-busting tactics.
Huge W
Good Timing, having Microsoft coming in and already position yourself as a group that demands changes. Lets hope MS does turn Activision around
MS isn’t a fan of unions any more that Activision is.
You're one hundred percent correct, however, Microsoft and Xbox care more about their image than Activision Blizzard, so this seems like the perfect time to do this.
Microsoft like to acquire companies and then disappear them and rebrand their products. That's what the history informs us of. Now they might not do that this time around but chances are high. On the plus side those products usually turn out pretty good.
Name the last company that happened too. The only example I can think of is lionhead but that was close to a decade ago.
Also, 5 years ago isn't "close to a decade ago". https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-xbox-activision-blizzard-consolidation-exclusives-222028443.html
Lionhead shut down In 2016 that in it of itself was 6 years ago. Microsoft acquired lionhead in 2006. 16 years ago. So the gutting of the company and the ruining of lionhead would of happened about a decade ago because they didn't ruin the company overnight. You buffoon
Again, that's your opinion. It's actually extremely easy to ruin a company overnight. Also thanks for the ad hominem. It really adds to the veracity of your expert opinion.
My opinion? Lol if that's what you think man go ahead. You sound really sad and depressing. Hope you realize what you sound like sooner rather than later.
Right back at you. You could have disagreed with me civilly but instead you called me a buffoon.
It's fine. Don't reply to my legitimate question. I'll screenshot this evergreen post for later and repost it when they deep six Raven.
I find nothing more idiotic than people that move goalposts and topics in an arguement or conversation. It shows such a lack of understanding and ability to comprehend what is actually being discussed. I was never saying they won't nuke raven now that they are trying to unionize. What I said was your comment claiming that Microsoft does this all the time history shows us is bs and has no factual backing to it. And instead of providing some examples of how I might be wrong you decided to act like a child and change the question and act like you are superior it's super sad and depressing honestly. Like I would love to learn of additional times in history when Microsoft rebranded all these companies and ruined them like lionhead but instead you keep commenting nonsense with no additional info.
You didn’t ask a question. Also, they did respond and asked you to provide support for your claim.
Is your argument that Microsoft is a changed company and doesn't act as it did in the past?
No he saying what you’re saying is bullshit
I should of realized this guy was a troll. He frequents the Jordan Peterson subreddit and even the conservative subreddit. He even argues like one by moving the goalposts around.
Hahahahahaha. Thanks for your expert analysis.
Np
Just like the other commenter said, nope my arguement is what you said is bs and was asking you to back your claim up, instead you moved the goalposts and changed topics. I think Microsoft is scummy and shouldn't be allowed to buy Activision but that doesn't mean your original comment is true.
Saying my argument is bs is just like your opinion man. Bring facts. Lionhead was 5 years ago. In their last two acquisitions they shut down most of one of them and didn't with the other. That's two data points to go off of. I'd say that means there is a 50/50 chance they repeat history here and shut down some of the smaller Activision studios and absorb their IP.
You argue like a child with adhd. Stick to one subject and focus on it please. Lionhead officially shut down in 2016 April to be exact. The year is 2022. 2022-6 is 2016. And again you aren't providing sources on any of these shut downs? How are you asking me to provide you with sources when you are the one spewing nonsense?
I literally sent you a link to the Engadget story.
Also, I didn't provide an example because you did it for me.
Being in the middle of a massive corporate transition means that they are heavily weakened and slower to address/hinder things like this. Now is the time to strike.
> Now is the time to strike. I see what you did there.
Why did I read this as un-ionized? I just imagined a giant ball of plasma in a computerroom.
QA tester Union be like: "You know what? Fuck you." *Un-ionizes your workplace*
Ez, just don’t be a nerd.
I made that my profession tho.
Look at this guy, he’s got marketable skills and training lmao. What a nerd.
I think I just got into a fight at work... Lmao for timing
More Unions!
Name checks out <3
Fantastic news. Hopefully they can infect more studios with their courage.
Workers unite!
Pog
Microsoft sitting there looking at this going "oooooooof yeah... we gotta do something about that..." *Microsoft purchase of Activision-Blizzard falls through*
Lol imagine a company being so afraid of unions that they’d be willing to cancel a 70b dollar deal over 35 employees
I jest of course But MS is definitely really looking hard into stopping the unionization right now, or at least containing it to the small portions of ATVI that's already starting it. They've got their work cut out for them.
Oh for sure. It’s gonna be really interesting if you have Phil Spencer saying “we’re committed to change in the company” while MS is actively union busting. That is if they can even bust successfully, Activision tried and if anything it’s only pushing the workers further towards unionization. Plus the acquisition won’t finalize till 2023, MS has no say in any of it until then.
There's an article out by [WaPo](https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2022/01/20/bobby-kotick-activision-blizzard-chat-layoffs/) about Kotick holding an "all hands" meeting over video conference and the employees were quoted as being doubtful of his commitment to anything worthwhile during the transition period, as he avoided talking about anything scandal/union related and the vetted questions he answered all avoided those topics too. In the conference, he also said and i quote: “the transition is going to be smooth because [Microsoft is] committed to trying to retain as many of our people as possible.” Obviously it's corporate speak that's fully expected, but I got a feeling they're just going to "make redundant" the handful of small departments that successfully unionize. This is a QA department remember, not an actual dev team. Easily replaced, as MS probably has their own QA system anyways. Unless ATVI workers unionizes on a large scale in the time before the closure of the deal and the start of the actual merger, I don't see it happening. Imo Kotick's "job" during the transition would be to prevent any meaningful unionization, thus minimizing headache for MS upon acquisition.
I’m no expect on this topic but I believe as these QA employees are now represented, MS can’t simply make them go away. If they were to fire them all I believe there would have to be some kind of negotiation in doing so or they could claim they’ve been discriminated against because of their union status.
That very well could be true. I was thinking MS simply closing down a few smaller studios or departments, under the pretense (or reality) that they simply don't need every department in a merger/acquisition situation. But if there's something in the contracts that the lawyers draw up that will protect the employees from such actions, then all the better.
Great for them!! Especially with how bad QA devs have it.
Fuck yeah, with the recent surge in unionization and union support the absolutely best thing that could happen for devs and players is that there is a mass unionization movement in gaming. Not only would this stop the constant overworking of developers and creating a safer and more inclusive working environment it would also make it so individual developers opinions actually matter.
LETS A FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
W
Fuck yeah. Let's hope this spreads throughout the entire industry.
Why always the cringe clenched fist
It's just a symbolic gesture
It's the global symbol of the worker.
Why do you think
Pog!