The Overwatch Devs At Blizzard Have Unionized — Here’s What That Means

Indeed, the last few years have been some of the roughest things for game developers. From the state of terrifying mass layoffs to the threatening spread of AI and machine learning, Acquiring a role in the gaming industry seems more challenging than ever.

Last year alone, I have seen a strike like a video game actor related to SAG-AFTRA. In particular, it cites concerns that the increase in practices such as audio acting in AI is in violation of the integrity and ethics behind video game acting.

This year, game developers announced at the Game Developers Conference that they have formed a union, United Videgame Workers (UVW), along with American Communication Workers (CWA).

As Kotaku recently announced, Activision Blizzard’s Overwatch2 developer joins CWAofficially formed its own union of around 200 workers called the Overwatch Gamemakers Guild.

As you can say, one of the major goals from this union is to combat the massive layoffs that have recently taken the industry by storm. As revealed in the last annual vote at the Game Developer Conference, game developer layoffs are higher than ever.

Blizzard analyst Simon Hedrick told Kotaku that he was “really pleased with what I was doing” until the massive layoffs in 2024. Apart from questions surrounding job safety, one of the major threats of large-scale layoffs is the degradation of employee morale.

moreover, The union is looking to improve other aspects of the game development process, such as crunch time and a harmful corporate environment. This is particularly noteworthy given how the snowstormed at the forefront of hostile work environment allegations several years ago.

Overwatch 2 itself has faced many challenges within the last few years. First, the much-anticipated PVE mode was cancelled, and then, more recently, the majority of the player base has been left in games such as Marvel Rivals.

The game has seen some notable updates over the last few months, but the state of Overwatch for the coming years remains somewhat uncertain, especially with a massive design change that pivots the Overwatch 2 in a very different direction.

But when it comes to Overwatch’s future, this unionization is probably a pretty good indication that things are heading in the right direction. The recent fan reception is pretty decent, And the change and unionization seems to prove that developers are keen to continue improving the game’s state.

Overwatch’s Game Maker Guild should begin discussions on contracts and contracts under Microsoft’s Greater Helm.