The Story and Franchise Development team (SFD) at Blizzard has formed a union with the Communications Workers of America. It’s a great step in the continued push to create better working conditions for people in the games industry.
blizzard’s sfd team is a huge part of the overall puzzle
In an August 12 press release, CWA noted the SFD team “strongly voted in favor of 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 Orange County, Calif., and Microsoft has recognized their union”.
The SFD team at Blizzard is responsible for in-game narratives, cutscene animations, and more in all of their games. If, like me, you marveled at the above Diablo VI trailer, you have them to thank for that. It’s great to see them not only get unionized but have it recognized by Microsoft.
As the CWA explained, “These workers will be the first in-house cinematic, animation, and narrative studio to form a union in the North American game industry, joining nearly 3,000 workers at Microsoft-owned studios who have organized with CWA to build better standards across the video game industry after Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard in 2023.”
The more people in the industry pushing for unionization, the better. Especially in the wake of the insanely acquisition-heavy era we’re in now. Unfortunately, when you see a company make a big purchase, the first thought goes to the workers, as they’re normally the ones to feel the ramifications of it. A company can blow billions of dollars on buying up others just to do nothing with them, but can’t pay their employees. It’s a nasty cycle.
But congratulations to the Blizzard SFD team for getting unionized. My hope is that this helps others in the industry as well.
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