It’s a big day for the gaming industry’s labor movement as 241 Bethesda employees form a union.
Last night, workers at Bethesda Game Studios announced that they had formed a union under the Communications Workers of America (CWA), making it the first studio to do so entirely since being acquired by Microsoft. Bethesda Montreal filed to unionize last month, and QA workers at Bethesda parent company Zenimax have asked to do the same in 2023, but with unionization at the Dallas, Rockville and Austin plants, all locations in Bethesda Studios in the U.S. is now unionized. This is also Microsoft Video Game Studios’ first “full” union. Among the 241 workers who have joined the union, members “including artists, engineers, programmers and designers” have either signed union authorization cards or stated that They want union representation.
Manage cookie settings
Mandi Parker, senior systems designer and CWA member, said in a statement: “We are very excited to announce the formation of the Bethesda Game Studio union and join the movement sweeping the entire video game industry. It is clear that every worker can learn from the fact that we are happy to take our work seriously. and winning a fair contract proves that our unity is a source of real power that positively shapes our working conditions, lives and lives.
Manage cookie settings
It is worth noting that Microsoft has already acknowledged this alliance, so the next step will be discussions between the two. This is a big step forward for the gaming industry’s labor movement, especially in light of what’s happened over the past year. Microsoft laid off nearly 2,000 employees across its gaming division earlier this year, and in May shuttered Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks, Redfall developer Arkane Austin, as well as Alpha Dog Games and Roundhouse Games, all of which went out of business. . Hopefully this newly formed alliance will be another big step forward for other big studios as well.
