Activision Blizzard-owned Raven Software employees end strike pending union recognition

(Image Courtesy: Activision Blizzard)

Following a seven-week long strike, employees of Activision Blizzard-owned game development house, Raven Software, have decided to end their strike, which began in December.

Nearly 60 employees and contractors with Raven Software's quality and assurance department, walked off their jobs in protest, after the studio laid off their co-workers.

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On January 21, 34 of the employees got together to officially form a union, called the Game Worker's Alliance and asked the leadership at Activision Blizzard and Raven Software to officially recognise it.

The workers have decided to end the strike for now, till the union is recognised.

Pending the recognition of our union, the Raven QA strike has ended. Unused strike funds are being stored for future organizing/strike efforts.

We'll post or retweet any GWU updates here. Appreciate all the community support throughout the strike! — ABetterABK ABK Workers Alliance (@ABetterABK) January 23, 2022

ABetterABK, another union made up of Activision Blizzard and King employees supported Game Worker's Alliance through the strike, tweeted that the alliance had decided to end the strike "in good faith," pending recognition and response from the leadership at the company.

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In December, Raven Software announced that it would lay off staff from its quality and assurance team, one that had struggled through long stretches of overtime and consistent work. Nearly a third of the department was laid off and the strikes began as protest.

In a statement given to TechCrunch, the soon to be Microsoft-owned Activision Blizzard said that it was "carefully reviewing the request for voluntary recognition from the CWA, which seeks to organize around three dozen of the company’s nearly 10,000 employees."