The QA workers for Activision Blizzard have recently been on strike in protest of the company’s return-to-office (RTO) mandate, as stated by the Communications Workers of America (CWA). On October 25, the QA team who worked on Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 rallied to make sure that there were work-from-home (WFH) accommodations for those who needed them. In this strike, they claimed that Activision and Microsoft had not granted any accommodations for employees with ADA-certified medical conditions. In addition to the QA team striking, over 300 Activision employees signed a petition earlier in the month to ask for the return of work-from-home options. This led to workers in Texas and California joining the Eden Prairie team in striking.
In a statement from the CWA, they wrote: “Despite multiple requests from the Union representing the video-game workers, Activision and Microsoft have been unable to articulate why specifically they are insisting workers must work in the office, even those with serious medical conditions and doctor’s recommendations to work from home.”
In addition to the CWA writing a statement, the pro-worker group A Better ABK also published their own statement on October 25 on X, which stated that RTO was decided on the staff’s behalf without their input or needs being considered. “We’ve also learned that the company is unwilling to provide people with remote work accommodations, even when it’s the only option that meets an employee’s needs, due to this alienating policy,” says A Better ABK. It’s not a surprise that those working for Activision Blizzard are consistently having to fight for better conditions, as A Better ABK has been working on improving the quality of life of ABK employees for a number of years.
Just shortly after they put out a statement, it was announced that the CEO of Microsoft got a pay raise of 63%, raising his salary to $73 million, despite there being an excessive amount of layoffs at the company and Microsoft subsidiaries.
Activision Blizzard made a statement to Eurogamer, saying that it understood “returning to the office has been an adjustment for some. We engage in an interactive process with employees who request accommodations. This is an ongoing conversation at the bargaining table, and we will continue to discuss our respective interests in that forum.”
Whether this means that they will make the accommodations needed for their staff is uncertain as of right now, but they are also far from the only company that is trying to push for RTO. For example, other huge companies such as Ubisoft and Rockstar have also been trying to get their staff back into the office to work on big releases, which has also led to protests from Ubisoft staff.
