ASSOCIATED PRESS
Raven Software is located at 8496 Greenway Blvd., Middleton.
STATE JOURNAL ARCHIVES
MILWAUKEE — Video game workers at a Middleton-based division of game publisher Activision Blizzard have voted to unionize, creating the first labor union at a large U.S. video game company.
A count of ballots on Monday revealed the results of the election affecting a small group of quality assurance testers at Activision Blizzard’s Raven Software, which develops the popular Call of Duty game franchise. The tally was 19-3.
The unionization campaign by employees at Raven’s office in Middleton was part of a broader internal shakeup at Activision Blizzard, a Santa Monica, California-based gaming giant with roughly 10,000 employees worldwide.
Microsoft is buying the gaming company Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion, gaining access to blockbuster games like "Call of Duty" and "Candy Crush." The all-cash deal will let Microsoft, maker of the Xbox gaming system, accelerate mobile gaming and provide building blocks for the metaverse, or a virtual environment. The announcement Tuesday arrives with Activision still in turmoil over allegations of misconduct and unequal pay. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in a conference call with investors "the culture of our organization is my number one priority" and that "it's critical for Activision Blizzard to drive forward on its" commitments to improve its workplace culture.
The game publisher — which Microsoft is in the process of buying for nearly $69 billion — has been under intense public scrutiny since California’s civil rights agency sued it last year over an alleged “frat boy” culture that discriminated against women. It recently settled a separate federal civil rights lawsuit over allegations that management ignored sexual harassment and workplace discrimination against female employees.
Microsoft has said it wouldn’t interfere in any unionization efforts.
The Milwaukee office of the National Labor Relations Board counted the mailed-in ballots on Monday afternoon via video conference. A regional NLRB director had ordered a May election after rejecting Activision’s push to have it encompass a wider category of Raven workers, which could have diluted the unionizing group’s vote.
Activision Blizzard said in a statement Monday that it respected the right of workers to vote on a union but criticized the way those workers were being classified.
“We believe that an important decision that will impact the entire Raven Software studio of roughly 350 people should not be made by 19 Raven employees,” the company said.
The unionizing group, which has called itself the Game Workers Alliance, said in a statement Monday that “Activision Blizzard worked tirelessly to undermine our efforts to establish our union, but we persevered.” U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Wisconsin Democrat, tweeted her congratulations.
The new union will be represented by the broader Communications Workers of America, which has been stepping up campaigns in the largely non-unionized tech and gaming industries.
The union is the second among video game companies in North America. A union was voluntarily recognized last year by management at Vodeo Games , a small company with workers in the U.S. and Canada. Its employees are also represented by CWA.
Art of the Everyday: A recap of April in photos from Wisconsin State Journal photographers
Dancers perform during the 2022 Madison College Spring Pow Wow presented by the college’s Native American Student Association on the campus in Madison, Wis. Saturday, April 23, 2022. This year’s event recognized the 30th anniversary of the association and honored the heritage and cultures of the Ho Chunk, Menominee, Munsee, Ojibwe, Oneida and Potawatomi nations. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
Mary Frantz, third from right, who turns 99 on Sunday, is serenaded with “Happy Birthday” by friends she walks with weekly — from left, Kathy Converse, Barbara Chatterton Frye, Mary Somers, Deesa Pence and Nancy Schraufnagel — at Vilas Park in Madison, Wis., Wednesday, April 27, 2022. The group, all members of the Prairie Unitarian Universalist Society who started walking during the pandemic as a way to be together, had homemade blueberry muffins and a gift for Frantz before hitting the trail. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL
AMBER ARNOLD
As high winds roil the waters of Lake Mendota, members of the Wisconsin Sailing Team and other participants in a Midwest Collegiate Sailing Association qualifier event prepare their crafts for competition on the campus of UW-Madison in Madison, Wis., Friday, April 8, 2022. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
Visitors to the MacKenzie Center take a horse drawn wagon ride during the Maple Syrup Festival in Poynette, Wis., Saturday, April 2, 2022. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL
KAYLA WOLF STATE JOURNAL
Madison Police Mounted Patrol Academy members Rebecca Holmquest, right, gets Dr. B, a 12-year-old Shire, to smile, with Liz Erickson, riding Torres, a 16-year-old Friesian, during a break from training at The Horse First Farm in Brooklyn, Wis., Thursday, April 14, 2022. The five new part-time riders with the Madison Police Mounted Patrol, who are finishing up a four week training course, will join two part-time and two full-time members of the unit. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL
AMBER ARNOLD
Cecilia Ford of 360 Wisconsin uses a viewing scope to survey an Earth Day rally and march on Library Mall in Madison, Wis. Friday, April 22, 2022. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
Stormy Gaylord is fitted for the Priestess Cassandra costume, designed by David Quinn, by artistic director Lisa Thurrell at Kanopy Dance in Madison, Wis., Wednesday, April 13, 2022. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL
AMBER ARNOLD
Felix Harmon rollerblades down the sidewalk with his mom Jocelyn Harmon, not pictured, along East Dayton Street in Madison, Wis., Tuesday, April 19, 2022. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL
KAYLA WOLF STATE JOURNAL
Cheyenne Peloquin, center, with Chippewa Valley Technical College, uses a mannequin head to create a short razor haircut during a cosmetology competition at SkillsUSA Wisconsin at Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wis., Wednesday, April 6, 2022. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL
AMBER ARNOLD
Ingrid Andersson takes the blood pressure of Naomi Takahashi during an appointment at Andersson's home office in Madison, Wis., Tuesday, April 19, 2022. Ruby Takahashi, 3, and Christopher Olson sit in on the appointment. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL
KAYLA WOLF STATE JOURNAL
Therapist Frances Violante, left, works with Brody Koslowski, center, while he plays with his brother Colton at the Koslowski's home in DeForest, Wis., Tuesday, April 12, 2022. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL
KAYLA WOLF STATE JOURNAL
Rod McLean, 81, has bibs from 368 races he's run since 1992 displayed on the wall in a bedroom at his home in Monona, Wis., Friday, April 29, 2022. McLean, who will participate in his 26th Crazylegs Run, needs 1.5-miles to reach 24,901.4 miles, which happens to be the circumference of the earth. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL
AMBER ARNOLD
Band director Will Janssen conducts John Philip Sousa's "The Stars and Stripes Forever" during rehearsal at Mount Horeb High School in Mount Horeb, Wis., Tuesday, April 26, 2022. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL
KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL
UW-Madison students with Pitches and Notes, a treble-voiced a cappella group, including Leah Terry, front, Ellie Fricker, right, and Alyssa Bruckert, left, use random props as microphones as they rehearse at the UW Student Activities Center on East Campus Mall in Madison, Wis., Tuesday, April 12, 2022. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL
AMBER ARNOLD
Mount Horeb Choir director Diane Dangerfield leads rehearsal at Mount Horeb High School in Mount Horeb, Wis., Tuesday, April 26, 2022. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL
KAYLA WOLF STATE JOURNAL
UW-Madison students Maitreyee Marathe, front, a PhD student in electrical engineering, and, from left, Brittany Bondi, a graduate student in environment and resources, Stephanie Bradshaw, a PhD student in atmospheric and oceanic sciences, and Savannah Ahnen, a computer science and electrical engineering student, install an electric Little Free Library that functions as a solar-powered phone charging kiosk at Lisa Link Peace Park on State Street in April.
AMBER ARNOLD
Allen Centennial Garden horticulturalist Ryan Dostal clears unwanted vegetation from from a bed beneath a magnolia tree as he assists volunteers with a clean-up effort to the conservancy on the campus of UW-Madison in Madison, Wis. Tuesday, April 26, 2022. Workers at the garden are preparing the grounds for this season’s new displays of plants and flowers, which will be on display as part of the gardens’ “Abundant Harvest” theme featuring edible ornamentals. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
A cyclist rides past a pair of sandhill cranes at the UW Arboretum in Madison, Wis., Thursday, April 28, 2022. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL
KAYLA WOLF STATE JOURNAL
While sunny skies and slightly warmer temperatures offer a hint toward spring, a pair of snowmen created from the previous day’s snowfall add a wintry touch to Amy Utzig and Jen Schutz’s run along the shoreline of Monona Bay near Brittingham Park in Madison, Wis., Friday, April 1, 2022. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
Tom Sarbacker carries a bucket of feed to his young cows at his farm, Fischerdale Holsteins, in Paoli, Wis., Monday, April 18, 2022. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL
KAYLA WOLF STATE JOURNAL
Chris Ayers of Madison Window Cleaning improves the view of the Wisconsin State Capitol during a seasonal cleaning effort of the panes of the AC Hotel in Madison, Wis., Monday, April 11, 2022. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
With spring temperatures starting to take hold in the area, Chris Wiesneski and his English shepherd, Patrick, are reflected in the waters of a former hockey rink during a walk through Vilas Park in Madison, Wis., Tuesday, April 5, 2022. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
Volunteers and staff from the Ice Age Trail Alliance's Lodi Valley and Dane County Chapters build a 371-foot boardwalk over an area of the Lodi Marsh segment of the Ice Age Trail in Lodi, Wis., Friday, April 8, 2022. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL
AMBER ARNOLD
UW Band director Corey Pompey leads his musicians during the Varsity Band Concert at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wis. Friday, April 22, 2022. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL
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