Activision Blizzard to recognize and negotiate with Raven Software QA union

Bobby Kotick says Activision Blizzard will soon begin negotiations with Raven Software's union.

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Raven Software QA workers coming together to fight for their rights as employees and ultimately forming a union is undoubtedly one of the biggest gaming stories of the year. However, it didn’t come without great resistance, as parent company Activision Blizzard actively pushed back against the idea of the union being established. However, it appears that Activision Blizzard is now ready to enter negotiations surrounding the union with its employees.

An internal email from Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick was shared as an open letter on the company website, and confirms its intentions to recognize Raven Software’s union.

bobby kotick raven software union

This is a major step in the process, as Activision Blizzard had previously been critical of the union’s formation. ABetterABK commented on the news, stating that the parent company’s “major investments” into its QA team “were done as concessions from mounting employee pressure to try to stop unionization from occurring.” ABetterABK was key in bringing awareness to internal issues at the developer and getting the cause off the ground.

This comes roughly a week after Activision Blizzard’s soon-to-be parent company Microsoft stated that it plans to recognize the union once the deal goes through. We’ll be keeping a close eye on the situation to see what comes of the negotiations between Activision Blizzard and Raven Software.

News Editor

Donovan is a young journalist from Maryland, who likes to game. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge Scream nerd and film fanatic that will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_

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