The team from World of Warcraft has finally formed a union. Will it get better for the developers now?
In recent years, reports have increased that developers at Blizzard are relatively poorly treated. Low wages and the disclosure of numerous scandals in recent years, such as the major sexism scandal.
It was about time that something changed for the developers of the MMORPG – and that time has probably come. Because the “World of Warcraft Gamemakers Guild” has been established.
What is it? The “WoWGG-CWA” is an association of employees who work on World of Warcraft. In America, this is called a “union”.
“Unions” are comparable to labor unions, although often on a somewhat smaller scale. The aim is to bring all employees to the table and formulate common interests that can then be addressed to the employer. The advantage of this is that one acts as a collective unit and thus the risk of layoffs is lower, such as if an unpleasant suggestion has been made.
The idea behind it: to improve working conditions for employees while also having a stronger negotiating position.
Who is in the “union”? A total of over 500 employees who work on World of Warcraft at Blizzard are gathered in this union. This includes employees from these areas:
- Art
- Sound
- Engineering
- Production
- Quality Assurance
In an interview with Game Developer, Senior Software Engineer Kevin Vigue spoke about the founding:
We want to improve our working conditions and protect the things we love about Blizzard so that we feel secure pouring all our talent and passion into creating World of Warcraft.
The founding comes shortly after a major wave of layoffs at Blizzard and Microsoft, but that is more of a coincidence.
The efforts to form a union began even before the recent layoffs, but seeing them firsthand has only reinforced for us how important this effort is for the entire gaming industry. With our union contract, we have a voice to minimize the impacts of future layoffs and ensure that we retain talent and knowledge whenever possible.
When did this start? The process began over 3 years ago when the major sexism scandal occurred at Blizzard. Back then, many employees left the building during a “walk out” to protest against management’s actions. From this “walk out,” the thought was ultimately born to unite more strongly amongst themselves and thus stand up for common interests and also for the values that Blizzard should actually represent.
Whether this will have a noticeable impact on the development of games – and specifically World of Warcraft – remains to be seen. In any case, it is likely to improve the working conditions of employees at Blizzard and Microsoft in the long term.
