Overview
- More than 100 developers across engineering, design, art, QA and production joined CWA Local 9510 in Irvine after a successful vote.
- Microsoft has recognized the unit following the election, adding to over 1,900 Blizzard employees now represented by the CWA across multiple teams.
- Organizers cite repeated layoffs, project cancellations and broader instability as drivers, with reports that cuts included winding down Warcraft Rumble development.
- Workers accelerated their organizing to meet the expiration of Microsoft’s 2022 neutrality agreement with the CWA, which they say helped secure fair elections.
- The unit plans to survey members and form a bargaining committee, noting that first contracts at other Microsoft-affiliated studios like Raven Software and ZeniMax QA took years to negotiate.