In December 2022, the quality assurance staff at ZeniMax announces its intention to form a union. 300 QA employees have now voted “overwhelmingly” to form a union, and the union has been voluntarily recognized by ZeniMax owner Microsoft, making ZeniMax worker United the largest union in the gaming industry.
According to QA staff at crow software and Snowstorm Albany Before them, ZeniMax Workers United partnered with the Communications Workers of America (CWA) union.
Unlike those unions, ZeniMax employees do not have to fight to form a union before the US National Labor Relations Board. Activision Blizzard, owner of Raven Software and Blizzard Albany, refused to voluntarily recognize employees’ unionization efforts, leading to a legal battle that the workers ultimately won. ZeniMax is owned by Microsoft, the company last year announced a neutral agreement with CWA – may be a way to assuage concerns about their continued efforts to buy Activision Blizzard for $69 billion.
While ZeniMax is best known as the former parent company of Bethesda Softworks prior to Microsoft’s acquisition, the 300 QA guys who work there work across all associated studios – including Arkane, Id Software , ZeniMax Online Studios, Tango Gameworks and MachineGames.
“We are excited to kick off 2023 in a stronger and more equitable workplace than last year,” said Skylar Hinnant, ZeniMax QA tester. “This is a powerful victory that allows us to defend ourselves and each other in a way we could never have without an alliance.”
In a statement to computer gamer, Microsoft said it looks forward to “engaging in good faith negotiations as we work toward a collective bargaining agreement.” ZeniMax worker United is also the first recognized union of Microsoft employees.
