Microsoft’s World of Warcraft development workers are unionising

New York : More than 500 workers behind the popular video game franchisee “World of Warcraft” are unionizing. The game’s development team employees – which include designers, engineers, artists, quality assurance testers and more – are joining the Communications Workers of America, the union announced Wednesday. CWA says Microsoft subsidiary Blizzard Entertainment, World of Warcraft’s publisher, has recognized the union.

The World of Warcraft Game Makers Guild – CWA Union is the first wall-to-wall union seen at Activision Blizzard and the largest of this kind at a Microsoft-owned studio to date, according to CWA. It also builds on an expansion of organized labor seen among Microsoft video game workers since the tech giant’s $69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard last year.