Around 450 workers across Blizzard’s entire Diablo franchise have voted to form a union with the Communications Workers of America. This makes it one of the largest multi-discipline unions at the company to date.
The new bargaining unit goes way beyond a single department. It includes designers, engineers, artists, and support staff working on every Diablo game currently in operation. That means people keeping Diablo II: Resurrected running smoothly, maintaining Diablo III‘s servers, developing new seasons for Diablo IV, and even some staff working on the mobile game Diablo Immortal.
This “wall-to-wall” approach marks a significant shift from earlier unionization efforts at Activision Blizzard. Previous unions like the one at Raven Software and Blizzard Albany focused mainly on QA departments. By comparison, this new Diablo union brings together workers from across the entire development pipeline.
The timing isn’t coincidental. Microsoft signed a labor neutrality agreement with CWA back in 2022, which they extended to Activision Blizzard employees after completing the acquisition in 2023. This agreement means Microsoft won’t run anti-union campaigns and will streamline the recognition process. It’s made organizing much easier for workers who want union representation.
For perspective, running a franchise like Diablo requires a massive team. Between live operations, seasonal content updates, platform support, localization, customer service, and ongoing development across multiple titles, 450 people isn’t surprising. These games need constant attention to keep millions of players happy and servers stable.
From Sanctuary to the bargaining table
What this means for the workers is pretty straightforward. Once the union gets formal recognition, they’ll select representatives and start negotiating their first contract with management. These negotiations typically cover wages, benefits, job security, overtime policies, and working conditions. First contracts can take months to hammer out, so don’t expect immediate changes.
The union formation comes at an interesting time for Blizzard. The studio has faced multiple rounds of layoffs across the industry downturn, and workers are clearly looking for more stability and a stronger voice in their workplace. While unionization doesn’t guarantee job protection, it does give employees formal bargaining rights and a seat at the table when decisions get made.
