Blizzard’s Story and Franchise Development team has voted in favour of forming a union under the Communications Workers of America (CWA) banner, inspired by a period of instability which has reshaped the longevity of careers at the company.
‘After more than a decade working at Blizzard, I’ve seen all the highs and lows,’ Bucky Fisk, a principal editor and member of the organising committee, via CWA.
‘For years, Blizzard has been a place where people could build their careers and stay for decades, but that stability’s been fading. With a union, we’re able to preserve what makes this place special, secure real transparency in how decisions are made, and make sure policies are applied fairly to everyone.’
What is Blizzard’s Story and Franchise Development team?
As noted, the SFD team is responsible for in-house cinematics, animation, and narrative for Blizzard’s major projects, including game trailers, promotional videos, in-game cutscenes, and other narrative work. The team also comprises archival workers and historians.
By forming a union, the group aims to protect all workers, and create a bargaining committee that can negotiate for earned rights, including that aforementioned career longevity. Without stability, how is any worker supposed to build a life, or make plans for the future?
‘These past couple of months have felt both important and cathartic given what’s happened to video game workers across the industry,’ Sammi Kay, an associate producer and member of the organising committee said. ‘At multiple points in my life, I’ve always been told to accept the way things are, but with organising, we’re able to build a future better than we found it.’
As noted by the CWA, this would be the first in-house cinematic, animation, and narrative studio to form a union in the North America games industry, joining ‘nearly 3,000 workers at Microsoft-owned studios who have organised with CWA to build better standards across the video game industry.’
These unionised workers are in good company. Over the last few years, there has been a significant push towards unionisation in the games industry, with thousands of video game workers across dozens of studios (including ZeniMax Online Studios and Raven Software) forming unions to negotiate better conditions.
‘These workers are setting the standard for animation, cinematics, and storytelling across the video game industry, creating the breathtaking cutscenes, trailers, and other narrative content that fans have come to love across all Blizzard franchises. We are excited to have them join our union family,’ Jason Justice, CWA Local 9510 President said.
‘Their decision to organise is another powerful step toward ensuring that every worker at Blizzard and Microsoft has a seat at the table to shape the conditions under which their art is made.’
Also on ScreenHub: Wplace is a new online map where gamers are ‘painting the world’
If you’ve ever wanted to paint your town red, new online map Wplace has arrived as the perfect opportunity – and it appears gamers are taking the assignment seriously. Launched just several weeks ago, Wplace is a live map that overlays a virtual canvas onto the real world, allowing anyone with a Twitch or Google account to paint their vision, one pixel at a time.
While this idea is not strictly new – Wplace is a spin on Reddit‘s r/place experiment, a fresh canvas brings new ideas, and new opportunities to bring people together (as well as pull them apart). Since its launch, Wplace has become a smorgasbord of interactions, with all sorts of artworks, protests, and memes shared on the map, around the world. What’s most notable is how people are using it. Some are simply creating artwork using their pixel art skills. Others are taking to Wplace to share political messages or protests in relevant areas.
