World of Warcraft dev says the game's 500-strong union, spurred on by 2021 controversies, has been aided by the move to Microsoft

In case you missed the news, World of Warcraft's development team—which is approximately 500 members strong—formed a union late last month, attached to the Communication Workers of America (CWA).

It all comes as somewhat of a milestone ending to a vicious 3-year saga, starting with harrowing reports of harassment, sexual misconduct, and abuse at Activision-Blizzard that led to several employees simply leaving in 2021.

In 2022, Activision-Blizzard settled an $18 million sexual harassment lawsuit with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. A year later, it settled a seperate California civil rights suit for $54 million, with an extra $47 million being funnelled to help employees, though the settlement concluded «no widespread harassment or recurring pattern or practice of gender harassment».

Before the settlement, former CEO Bobby Kotick characterised employee's complaints as «a very aggressive labour movement working hard to try and destabilise the company» before insisting that he wasn't «anti-union … I have no aversion to a union. What I do have an aversion to is a union that doesn't play by the rules». Kotick proceeded to step down after Microsoft acquired Activision-Blizzard.

According to a new interview from The Gamer with WoW senior producer Samuel Cooper, the change in atmosphere post-acquisition helped those union efforts come to fruition. Microsoft's more pro-union stance helped Cooper and his colleagues feel safe in setting their union in stone: «Legally, a company can't retaliate against you for organising. But that doesn't make it any less scary … It becomes un-scary when you see hundreds of your fellow co-workers out there, side by side with you. And neutrality allowed us to be very visible on campus.»

Cooper also reaffirmed his previous statements from an IGN report that the waves of 2021 departures helped plant the seed that would grow into the current union: «There was this series of walkouts … The way that was able to come together so quickly