ZeniMax to create first Microsoft union

Quality assurance workers at ZeniMax will become the first group within Microsoft to unionise, with over half of ZeniMax QA staff voting in favour

Quality assurance workers at ZeniMax Studios, the game development studio behind The Elder Scrolls Online, will become the first group of workers at Microsoft to formally unionise.

ZeniMax Workers United, a movement made up of quality assurance workers at ZeniMax Studios, announced on its Twitter page today that it has formally launched a union. It will be working with the Communications Workers of America, a union for communications and information industries as well as “news media, the airline industry, broadcast and cable television and more”.

In the statement made on Twitter, ZeniMax Workers United said that unionising allows the workers to have a seat at the negotiating table to ensure workers receive fair compensation, and protect jobs. The union says that it will be aiming for fair treatment and compensation, opportunities for advancement within the company, accountability, and a voice in decision-making about scheduling and workload.

The union says that, as one of the first unions in the US games industry, it knows it has a high standard to set.

The Elder Scrolls Online is the primary product of ZeniMax Online Studios. Picture: ZeniMax

“We know we have a unique opportunity to be trailblazers for a new era of the game industry and we don’t take this lightly,” ZeniMax Workers United said, “Our union will be a place where ALL workers can collectively participate in decision making and push for changes that reflect the wants & needs of workers.”

According to the union, parent company Microsoft has “remained committed to staying neutral throughout this process”, and that the union is headed to a formal vote for unionisation over the next four weeks.

It’s not the only quality assurance team currently in the midst of unionising in the US. According to Eurogamer, Blizzard Albany’s QA team, which works primarily on Diablo games, has finally formed a union, also represented by the Communications Workers of America. While Activision Blizzard attempted to push back on the efforts, the US National Labor Relations Board accepted a request from the QA team to move forward with the efforts.

The upcoming Diablo 4 may come to Xbox Game Pass if Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard is successful. Picture: Activision Blizzard

The move comes as Microsoft attempts to acquire Activision Blizzard as part of a $100b merger. Much of the investigation into the acquisition attempt by competition regulators has focused on Call of Duty, which Sony says Microsoft would have an incentive to make the franchise exclusive to Xbox consoles. Microsoft offered Sony a 10-year Call of Duty deal to try and assuage concerns, and says that it will keep the series on as many platforms as possible.

It’s been somewhat of a strange process for Microsoft though, as it said that Sony’s games are better in its submission to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority. The company said that many of Sony’s PlayStation games were “better quality” than its own.

Written by Oliver Brandt on behalf of GLHF.