Hearthstone developers unionize at Blizzard, join World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Diablo teams

Hearthstone and Warcraft Rumble devs have voted to organize under the Communication Workers of America (CWA) labor union, joining five other sister groups in Microsoft's growing unionized workforce.

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Two years after the $68 billion merger with Microsoft, and subsequent layoffs of thousands of workers, nearly 2,000 Blizzard employees have voted to unionize for better worker protections and bargaining rights.

Today, the CWA announced that more of Blizzard's dev teams are joining, this time with the Hearthstone and Warcraft Rumble groups voting for representation. Both of these games are on the back burner for Blizzard, and Warcraft Rumble's development is currently on hiatus, prompting layoff anxieties.

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"A majority of video game developers behind Blizzard's popular digital-card game Hearthstone and mobile-strategy game Warcraft Rumble have voted strongly in favor of wall-to-wall union representation with the Communications Workers of America (CWA), either by signing a union authorization card or indicating that they wanted union representation via an online portal. The workers will be members of CWA Local 9510 in Irvine, Calif., and Microsoft has recognized the union. The unit, with over 100 workers including software engineers, designers, artists, quality assurance testers, and producers, builds off the unprecedented organizing momentum across Blizzard departments and studios."

"Whether we are fighting for layoff protections, security for our remote workers, or reduced wage gaps, the pressures we face are making it harder to create the high-quality work we care about," said organizing committee member and senior 2D artist Uriah Voth.

"Organizing gives us the opportunity to empower ourselves and challenge the instability and unfair conditions that undermine us."

The CWA confirms that Microsoft has formally recognized the new union.

Blizzard's Unionized Workers

• Hearthstone & Warcraft Rumble
• Blizzard Platform & Technology Teams
• Story & Franchise Teams
• Diablo Teams
• Overwatch Teams
• World of Warcraft Teams