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Blizzard Albany QA team creates GWA union

GWA Albany is a new union at Activision Blizzard.
Donovan Erskine
Donovan Erskine
2

The Raven Software QA team’s move to unionize earlier this year was not only a major win for that group of workers, but set a major precedent for the gaming industry. The success of GWA has now inspired another team within Activision Blizzard to rise up and form its own union. GWA Albany is a new union formed by QA employees of Blizzard Albany, the developer recently known as Vicarious Visions.

GWA Albany announced its existence in a thread of tweets from its newly-created Twitter account. Composed of members of the quality assurance team at Blizzard Albany, the group is seeking the same employment rights and protection of the union at their sister studio, Raven Software.

gwa albany formed
Vicarious Vision was rebranded as Blizzard Albany following the merger earlier this year.
Source: Blizzard Albany

It makes sense that Blizzard Albany is forming its union through CWA. It’s the same company that helped the Raven Software QA team unionize, which went on to get recognized by Activision Blizzard, with Microsoft giving its blessing as well. The team was formerly known as Vicarious Visions, prior to merging with Activision Blizzard earlier this year and being renamed Blizzard Albany.

Fair compensation, pay transparency, and improved health care benefits are among the main requests of GWA Albany. The formation of GWA earlier this year at Raven Software brought a lot of awareness to the need for unionization within the gaming industry, and we’re now seeing the impact. As we await Activision Blizzard and Microsoft’s response to GWA Albany, stick with Shacknews for any updates.

News Editor
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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