Published , by Donovan Erskine
Published , by Donovan Erskine
Updated April 7 at 3 p.m. PT/6 p.m. ET: It appears that the new pay increases may not going to QA employees of Raven Software, who are currently attempting to unionize.
The rest of the article remains as originally published.
Activision Blizzard has been under fire over the past year for several reasons, one of them being the way that the company treats its quality assurance workers. This issue was brought into the spotlight late last year when several QA workers were laid off at Raven Software. Amid attempts to unionize, Activision Blizzard will now make its QA testers full-time employees and increase their hourly pay.
This update came from a report made by Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier. According to his sources at the company, Activision Blizzard is making 1,100 of its contracted QA workers full-time employees of the company. In addition, they’ll have their wages raised to “at least” $20 an hour. It’s worth noting that the 1,100 does not include some QA workers that were already full-time employees at Activision Blizzard.
Activision Blizzard VP of corporate communications Jessica Taylor spoke to the news in a statement, as shared by The Verge:
This move comes at a time where QA workers under Activision Blizzard are attempting to unionize. The Game Worker Alliance was formed earlier this year by members of Raven Software and has been fighting for an official union among Acti-Blizz employees. It will be interesting to see how that effort is impacted by today’s news.