Union Contract with Microsoft Ratified by 1,900 Blizzard Developers and Workers (kotaku.com) 106
Nearly 1900 Blizzard Entertainment workers "voted to ratify their first union contract with parent company Microsoft after over two years of bargaining," reports Kotaku, "consolidating Blizzard's many smaller unions into three larger bargaining units."
The workers now gain new protections "on issues such as generative AI, crediting, remote work, and layoffs." [The contract] acknowledges that AI tools "may be useful in the game development process to support human judgment and creativity and that AI-assisted workflows remain subject to appropriate human control and review for accuracy and quality." But it also stipulates that any implementation of AI technology that would materially impact work performed by union employees must have its impacts bargained over before it can be implemented.
Other sections cover issues such as crediting (guaranteeing that current and former employees are credited by name in all games they work on) and remote work (designating certain roles as hybrid in-office and providing procedures for individuals to apply for their roles to be fully remote). It also contains a lengthy section on how layoffs may be conducted, including a required 60-day notice period (or pay in lieu of notice), a guarantee of one week of severance for every six months of employment, and 14 months of recall rights. The contract also guarantees successorship, meaning if Blizzard is ever acquired by another company, the contract would remain intact.
"Workers also contractually locked in their current hybrid work schedule," reports the gaming news site Aftermath, "meaning that Blizzard can't suddenly change it, as has been a labor-unfriendly trend in the games industry over the past couple years." Fully remote workers scored a big win as well. "I'm remote, and we grandfathered everyone who is remote to stay remote, so we can't be magically called to an office that we've never worked at before," [said Diablo senior environment artist Mahreen Fatima].
And "The contract also elevated pay floor," reports the Yakima Herald-Republic. "Across the board, workers secured a 1.25% pay increase, but some workers who were paid below $50,000 per year will walk away with pay increases that are as much as 34%."
The workers now gain new protections "on issues such as generative AI, crediting, remote work, and layoffs." [The contract] acknowledges that AI tools "may be useful in the game development process to support human judgment and creativity and that AI-assisted workflows remain subject to appropriate human control and review for accuracy and quality." But it also stipulates that any implementation of AI technology that would materially impact work performed by union employees must have its impacts bargained over before it can be implemented.
Other sections cover issues such as crediting (guaranteeing that current and former employees are credited by name in all games they work on) and remote work (designating certain roles as hybrid in-office and providing procedures for individuals to apply for their roles to be fully remote). It also contains a lengthy section on how layoffs may be conducted, including a required 60-day notice period (or pay in lieu of notice), a guarantee of one week of severance for every six months of employment, and 14 months of recall rights. The contract also guarantees successorship, meaning if Blizzard is ever acquired by another company, the contract would remain intact.
"Workers also contractually locked in their current hybrid work schedule," reports the gaming news site Aftermath, "meaning that Blizzard can't suddenly change it, as has been a labor-unfriendly trend in the games industry over the past couple years." Fully remote workers scored a big win as well. "I'm remote, and we grandfathered everyone who is remote to stay remote, so we can't be magically called to an office that we've never worked at before," [said Diablo senior environment artist Mahreen Fatima].
And "The contract also elevated pay floor," reports the Yakima Herald-Republic. "Across the board, workers secured a 1.25% pay increase, but some workers who were paid below $50,000 per year will walk away with pay increases that are as much as 34%."
Cost (Score:3, Interesting)
It'll be interesting to see what the overall impact is on the cost of Blizzard titles.
Re: (Score:2, Redundant)
It'll be interesting to see what the overall impact is on the cost of Blizzard titles.
voted to ratify their first union contract with parent company Microsoft after over two years..consolidating Blizzard's many smaller unions into three larger bargaining units.
Guess that depends on the kind of overhead it takes to run many smaller unions. Whatever that's supposed to be.
Honestly I thought the entire point of a union was to demonstrate that you are in fact a union. Not a bunch of employees running around in their union "cliques" cosplaying as a union pretending to have power.
Re:Cost (Score:5, Insightful)
There's some truth to that, but often it is just not possible to start off with one already big union. Or even get a union at all. And one small union, as well as a couple of small unions, is still better than no union. And as we see here, consolidating several small unions into one big union can and does happen...
Re: (Score:2)
In Germany there are two types of "unions".
One is called (a) "Betriebsrat" and one is called (b) "Gewerkschaft" (which is a union).
And obviously employees in a company can pick different unions to join.
When I read "union" in /. I never have an idea is it is (a) or (b), and: it seems in America unions have power to influence what no union in Europe has.
Like two people have to do the job of one .... actually I do not believe that BS, but US of Awesomeness is the country of miracles and wonders.
Re: Cost (Score:2)
Here in the USA I have seen both types of behavior from unions. That is, I have seen people legitimately protected, and I have seen fuck-offs who literally could not do their job protected from being treated appropriately. I was literally contracted to do parts of his job, doing things I had never done before, read the docs, got them done. He was supposed to retire and I probably would have got his job, but he bought another motorcycle (had two already) and had to keep pretending to work in order to pay for
Re: Cost (Score:2)
Maybe Microsoft anticipated this by creating headlines about Xbox cost cutting prior to the ratification. It will allow Xbox to apply uneven leverage.
Re:Cost (Score:5, Insightful)
Maybe not that much at all. More contented employees usually have a tendency to also be more productive employees. Something far too many employers still don't understand.
Re: (Score:1)
Trolling leaches like yourself are an extreme nuisance to any company and don't even deserve minimum wage! That's why nobody hired you for more than 15 years now because they would have to pay you at least minimum wage and that's why you post Chinese propaganda on Slashdot all day long for 33 cents a post instead with all the sock puppet management at your own expense...
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
The most famous example is probably mitt Romney being recorded by the help potentially costing him the election. But a quick Google search for something like "billionaires talking about the labor market" yields plenty of good results.
They are a little more careful since Romney but they still slip up all the time because frankly they don't think very much of you.
Re: (Score:2)
Anyhow, I performed the recommended search. The relevant first-page results included billionaires worrying about the flagging job market, recommending increasing the minimum wage, and encouraging job creation.
It is never wise to tell yourself that you know what a stranger is thinking. The results will reflect you more than them.
Re: So they're not after productivity (Score:2)
Some people have reading comprehension skills. They are often magical and surprising to people without them
Re: (Score:2)
Sometimes, I know what my wife is thinking. I don't know what you're thinking, though sometimes I can infer your reasoning. I could not begin to tell you what someone I've never spoken to is thinking. The best anyone can do is guess what a stranger thinks, and that guess will reflect their own thoughts more than anything else.
Re: (Score:2)
Or maybe it's that people have different views on and requirements for contentment.
Re: (Score:2)
OSI's worst conditions were after the EA buyout, especially during Ultima VIII development. That was some of their worst work.
Dream Job / Less Compensation (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Back in the 90s id was a small company of a handful of people who worked late. When Doom got released they all made out like bandits - the id parking lot was famous for
Re: (Score:2)
But yes, you're completely right about contentment. And there is contentment and more to be found in busting your ass to build something. It helps though if you're young enough to have the energy to work that way.
Re:Cost (Score:5, Insightful)
Microsoft revenue is up 18% this quarter. I think they'll manage to scrape by. https://www.microsoft.com/en-u... [microsoft.com]
Re: (Score:1)
What's that have to do with the cost of Blizzard games? It's obvious you don't understand basic accounting.
Re: (Score:2)
Can you explain the accounting for me then?
Re: (Score:2)
For a real-world example from a documentary about a news radio station:
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, I think we'll see Overwatch costs increase by 300%. Expect to see price of the base game increase from $0 to $0.
Re:Cost (Score:4, Insightful)
If increasing their prices would make them more profitable, then wouldn't they have done that already?
Re: (Score:2)
I read that a lot. In any situation where costs to a business are going to increase.
There are three big pricing methods.
* cost plus Company decides their markup and adjusts prices to ensure that markup remains consistent.
* competitor Looks at what others are charging and adjust your own prices. Can vary according to how the company wants to be perceived.
* value How much is my customer willing to pay?
Value is the closest to of oft perceived view that businesses are universally squeezing every penny they
Re: (Score:3)
There will be zero overall impact because price is not set by the producer, its set by the market.
Re: (Score:2)
If you want a Ford Explorer and need to settle for a Chevy Traverse, you're getting a substantially similar vehicle with different branding on it. If you want Doritos and the vending machine only has Cheetos left, it might not have been your first choice bu
Re: (Score:2)
If monopolies could charge more, they already would.
Re: (Score:2)
Not really. They already sell their games for as much as they possibly can, they aren't holding back on making money "just in case" their expenses go up. Nor would they drop prices if expenses go down.
Re: (Score:2)
Interesting in what way? The cost of a game won't go up because of this, because the cost of games hasn't gone up in several decades. In fact, it was down for some time and only now coming back up to what we used to see in the cartridge-console days. Will they push for more microtransactions to fund this new cost? Likely. Maybe. But your statement is about as hollow as it gets.. at least give us the entertainment of an actual take.
Re:Union needs vs. Common Sense. (Score:4, Insightful)
It's 2026. Companies don't like to pay people. They know that there's already 10 people lined up for your job if you leave or get laid off. The job market is a dumpster fire and it's not going to improve. Most listings boil down to responsibilities of a senior engineer but pay of a junior engineer and the listing stays up permanently.
Re: (Score:2)
There are industries that aren't that bloated with excess talent.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Blizzard doesn't create a whole lot of games to begin with. They work on the expectation of every game being a hit. Both Blizzard and Rockstar (with GTA6) run the risk of hitting their hubris, and I wonder if one of the two will have a massive flop by the end of the decade.
Re: (Score:2)
Yea, that's why unions make almost zero sense for high skilled jobs. This essentially adds some foundation to the lowest performers while kneecapping top end pay ranges.
How does one become a high-end skilled worker? Clown.
Re: (Score:2)
But, maybe the landscape for developers has changed so much that
Re: Union needs vs. Common Sense. (Score:2)
His point was stupid because I'm order to get to that point you need to spend years as a lower end worker. Don't try to make stupid into smart, you'll only hurt yourself.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
That was certainly a fine example of talking past the point.
The Apprentice has just started and has specialized skills but no experience. The Master has thousands of hours of experience. The master is your "high-end" labor, but is still just skilled labor.
Yeah, you seem to have all the facts, but still don't get what the subject is.
Before the master gets his thousands of hours he is an apprentice and will benefit from union wages.
After the master becomes the master and no longer benefits from the union, he's benefited in becoming the master, he might never have got there otherwise, and he can give something back because all that he has was predicated on that.
Only selfish pricks would think otherwise
Re: (Score:2)
Oh, and the master electrician continues to benefit from the union, probably more than anyone else due to seniority. And the union handles his pension. At least that's how it was last I heard.
Re: (Score:2)
Guess that's why most professional sports have unions and have been known to strike. Fungible workers who are easy to replace.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Yea, that's why unions make almost zero sense for high skilled jobs
Why, then, does Major League Baseball have a union? These are very high skilled jobs, very well paid. The highest performers make FAR more money than the middling ones - having a union doesn't prevent that.
Re: (Score:2)
My father spent most of his working life in union supermarkets in Los Angles, most of the time in management. Except when he was just starting out, he never worked for union scale, but negotiated a higher rate because he was known to be good enough to deserve it. No matter what the unions say, you ca
Re: Union needs vs. Common Sense. (Score:2)
What the unions say is that you need protection from your boss in case they go off half-cocked.
Also, people who aren't good at negotiating also deserve fair wages.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm not saying that they don't. And that's why sports figures have agents so that they don't have to be good negotiators themselves. My point is that being in a union doesn't stop you from negotiating if you think you can do better.
Re: (Score:2)
Why, then, does Major League Baseball have a union? These are very high skilled jobs, very well paid.
Those are very high talent people, playing a game for a job. A game so basic that children can play it. And do. You more need a union just to convince society to pay people to do that.
When your entire value proposition can be vaporized with little more than a Depression, society knows your actual worth. So should the professional player. They don’t. And it’s why so many professional players, end up dead broke. All game talent. No skill with regards to the reality of their bubble. And th
Re: (Score:2)
This is the definition of "Fuck you, I got mine" type of ladder pulling that needs to stop. At the high end, pay in this industry is great. Is it doctor or high end lawyer high? No but it's still pretty damn good and I see no reason why the people at the lower end couldn't get a bit of an improvement to their situation.
Too baada (Score:2)
All of Blizzard's games are complete trash fests.
maybe i'm just too old? (Score:3)
well, blizzard was a pioneer before gaming became mainstream. actually, they have quite a bit to do with gaming becoming mainstream. they wrote many chapters in the history of gaming. warcraft, diablo and wow are all genre defining classics, they broke ground in gameplay, world creation, artwork, production and even infrastructure while at the same time pushing the envelope of what was even possible with the tech. diablo 2 and starcraft were an excellent sequel / spinoff and made a cult of their own. then a
Re: (Score:2)
they surely also had excellent metrics for what made the most money: preying on psychology and addiction patterns. today's massive fanbases speak less about the quality of their work or their inspiration than about the values and behavior of today's youth. it's just another big entertainment factory releasing buggy and low risk products full of cheap clichés and aimed at attracting a massive immature audience to milk the small portion with too much expendable income, which surely are quite a few. so just like most of the big game industry.
This pretty much sums it up. Slashdotters are not the target market anymore. We've aged out. Catering to us is way to difficult but you can sell really shitty games to children and they gobble it up. For me to even try a new game, I first go down a little mini quality of life check to see if I want to even tolerate the game.
Now, I just have a list of games on my Steam wishlist and every so often one will go on a deep discount and I'll grab it then. The most modern game I've played is Baldur's Gate 3 but mo
Re: (Score:2)
"go for the eyes, boo!!!"
i'm eyeing bg3 too but pushing it ahead for now because i'm pretty certain i will get sucked into it.
Re: (Score:2)
It's a beautiful game. It's turn-based as well, which is not at all like the prior two BGs or NWN or IWD. Those games you could pause, issue out some commands and unpause. BG3, entirely turn-based combat.
I'm not saying this to down it, just that it's definitely a more strategic game versus all the other ones.
Also, every single "teammate" you meet, will immediately start hitting on you, regardless of your Cha score or gender. I guess you have to be mean to the individual characters to get them to be less fli
Re: (Score:2)
Ask any longterm Blizzard fan, and they'll tell you product quality and release schedules have both fallen off over the last 10 years or so.
If your employer abuses you (Score:2)
1) Leave.
2) Join a union.
Which one is best depends on the circumstances.
Re: (Score:2)
#1 is your best option, but you have to have the financial means to do so. In the united states most of the working population lives paycheck to paycheck, and even though they'd like to have an emergency "Fuck you" money fund, they can't. They're too burdened with rent, car payments, credit card debt, and medical debt to break free. The only way they can escape an abusive employer is to quit after they get an offer letter for another position.
If only more people heeded the advice of the loan shark character
Re: (Score:2)
#1 is your best option,
Not always, it depends on the situation. If you don't have stock in the company, if your boss doesn't respect you, if other companies in the region/industry are the same, then these factors weigh towards a union.
#2 forming a union requires much more energy and commitment then #1.
Again, it depends on the situation. If someone else is already forming a union, lending your support to it is lightweight.
Re: (Score:2)
American consumers are really bad at living within their means. My ex wife is a shiny example of this. Hence why she is now an ex wife. It was literally not cheaper to keep her.
I am likely just boring but at least my credit is over 800, I have an emergency fund of multiple months and I contribute to retirement while also having other investments to build up my future down home down payment. 100k that's not retirement but I need a crash before I spend my coin. Luckily I'm growing it steadily in likely a too
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
request of our clueless non-gamer managers
On that note any Blizzard employees who had to suffer under Bobby Kotick deserve a raise.
Jesus Fucking Christ (Score:5, Interesting)
some workers who were paid below $50,000 per year will walk away with pay increases that are as much as 34%."
Anyone mad about this should note that $50,000 per year is what In-n-Out Burger pays a FT employee in California, and then they should fuck off to the farthest possible point to fuck off to, and then fuck off some more.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Which makes you wonder who at Blizzard was making under $50k/y and what their jobs were.
The kids they pay to run and get lunch and sometimes comment on new features?
Re: Jesus Fucking Christ (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
(the oldest profession will outlive AI replacement)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Salaries in the gaming industry have been depressed for years in no small part due to the willing dupes who keep flooding the industry with low pay expectations. "That's my dream.job!" they say. Also the ones making less than $50k are probably QAs, at least the ones that haven't already been fired.
Re: (Score:2)
Not sure why you focus on California when this new agreement literally has clauses for folks to be fully remote with strong guardrails for random RTO demands. 50k USD is decent money if you don't feel the urge to live in some of the most expensive areas in the world.
Good for them, (Score:3)
20 years ago..... (Score:2)
Now they are realizing what happens when a job gets commoditized. They are realizing that once a industry matures, things change. I SO SO want to say "Yeah? Fuck you. I hope your sorry ass gets fired". But instead, I'll just shake my head and watch the journey to reasonable collective-bargaining and wonder how m
Re: (Score:2)
Unions are OK for automakers pushing F150s out the door. But who is going to play the latest Blizzard game when it is coded by some boomers with union seniority?
Re: (Score:3)
But who is going to play the latest Blizzard game when it is coded by some boomers with union seniority?
Given the fact that the most famous and most popular Blizzard games WERE CODED PRIMARILY BY BOOMERS (and some GenX; admittedly Mike Morhaime was early GenX)...the answer is "a good number of gamers, probably".
The oldest millennials were in college when World of Warcraft came out; it was boomers and GenX who made Diablo, Diablo II, Warcraft, and Starcraft.
I'm not saying that Blizzard isn't still making popular games, but I *am* saying that the last decade has consisted of remasters and sequels from the studi
Re: (Score:2)
Or everyone post Gen X era is creatively bankrupt and can't create anything new.
Re: (Score:1)
Unions are OK for automakers pushing F150s out the door. But who is going to play the latest Blizzard game when it is coded by some boomers with union seniority?
LOL. You mean the designers, developers, and artists who produced a series of number one best sellers? Those graybeards have quite a bit of experience and institutional knowledge in their respective fields, and they've been keeping up with software and hardware over the decades. These aren't some corporate/government developers maintaining decades old cobol apps. These are the people that live on the bleeding edge of USEFUL tech.
Re: (Score:2)
If it's actually good, then lots of people.
Re: (Score:2)
Could go well.
So, are they driving American cars now? (Score:5, Insightful)
I got to listen to programmers laugh at the auto industry. They talked about how American cars sucked because of Unions, they didn't give a shit about whiny American union workers, etc. etc.
Now they are realizing what happens when a job gets commoditized. They are realizing that once a industry matures, things change. I SO SO want to say "Yeah? Fuck you. I hope your sorry ass gets fired". But instead, I'll just shake my head and watch the journey to reasonable collective-bargaining and wonder how many more times this needs to play out before people realize how critical unions are.
Yes, but are they driving American cars now? Or do those still suck? I don't see a lot of Volts, Bolts or F150s in Silicon Valley parking lots.
Programmers are correct that a union benefits them and right now.
But they are also correct that in the long run as unions mature, they often progress far past "reasonable collective-bargaining". To the point where company products are optimized more for protecting jobs than making what the customer wants at a competitive price. That's what happened with American auto manufacturers.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
WOW was good for a while but then so was EQ, DAOC and GW1 and 2.
Now, I don't play any of them at all. Well, at least not the live servers. I play WOW on my own server with really awesome bots and I stick to the first three games. EQ is another one that I only play on private servers now. GW2 I did play on live server a while back but only for a day or two.
The originally MMOs were so much better then the stuff that came 20 years after.
The main difference is the masses jumped on board. EQ was awesome because
Re: (Score:2)
But the union movement got what it wanted. Now we have OSHA, NLRB, FDA, EOC, and a load of other letters making sure workplaces are safe, pay is fair, and employees are treated well. Yet, unions remain. And sometimes, go too far.
Re: (Score:2)
Except Americans have voted to gut
OSHA, NLRB, FDA, EOC, and a load of other letters making sure workplaces are safe, pay is fair, and employees are treated well.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Are you saying the election was fixed and the billionaires didn't actually win the election?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
And here I thought that Trump and the Republicans won the election, a party and person with a record of creating debt.
Re: (Score:2)
And it sucks. I doubt Washington will take serious action until its almost too late, and that date looms ever nearer. For the last 50 years, I think there's been exactly one year where we wer
Re: So, are they driving American cars now? (Score:2)
No, it's not what happened.
What happened is the C-suites were lazy and they were both undercut and out-performed by foreign upstarts, TWO TIMES: the Japanese and then Hyundai. They are also complacent and so were hard-hit when fuel prices went up quickly, TWO TIMES.
The US automotive companies are led by lazy, short-sighted, incompetent fools that cannot even prevent getting destroyed by the same event a second time. They are, however, excellent at getting bailouts when bankruptcy is close.
None of that i
Re: (Score:2)
So, let me get this straight...
- American car companies with strong unions have lazy C-suites.
- They're upstaged by non-union Japanese car companies.
- And then again by non-union Korean car companies.
- And the one American car company to make significant inroads against them is... Tesla. Which is not union.
So, let's look at how they got upstaged... Asian car companies... ...didn't have the overhead of union retirement benefits, so they could make money on low-margin cars like compacts, vs. SUVs and full-s
Re: So, are they driving American cars now? (Score:2)
Nope, try again.
The Big Three have also been pushed aside by the Germans, BMW and Mercedes at the middle and top, Volkswagen at all levels of the market. Chrysler has so badly failed that they were taken over by Italians! And the Italians are not really renowned for organizational efficiency or precision engineering.
ALL those companies are unionized from the top down and also partly owned by their local governments. Imagine the incessant interference by non-C-suite stakeholders!
The failure is at the
Any particular reasons or signs that... (Score:2)
Blizzard intends to ratify it as well?
"reports the Yakima Herald-Republic." (Score:2)
Unions tend to be self-serving (Score:2)
In my experience anyway.
( ~30 years in a Union Company )
Unions will fight tooth and nail for:
1) Additional head counts for Union work
2) Payraises for Union Employees
Thus, as headcounts increase, Union Dues also increase. More Union members = more Union Dues taken in.
As your pay goes up, so too do the amounts of Union Dues paid to the Union since Union Dues are typically a
percentage of base pay.
Funny how they can give two shits your Healthcare Premiums increased more than your Union negotiated payraise did