The Communications Workers of America (open in new tab) announced today that a "super majority" of Zenimax Studios' quality assurance workers have officially voted to join Zenimax Workers United/CWA.

Although the formal voting period ran from December 2 through December 31, CWA said union organizing efforts have been underway at ZeniMax for "several months" and some employees began signing union authorization cards in November. [Senior QA tester Skyler Hinnant said, "We are excited to start 2023 with a stronger and fairer workplace than last year. This is a powerful victory that allows us to protect ourselves and each other in a way we never could without our union." Our hope and belief is that this is the year that gaming workers across America will come out in force and rebuild the entire industry." [Senior QA Tester Dylan Burton said, "It's hard to put into words how important it is for us to join the union. 'We've worked so hard to get to this point, it's hard not to be excited. We know this is not the end of our hard work, but reaching this milestone has given us the belief that if the workers stick together, we can accomplish anything we set our minds to."

In contrast to Activision Blizzard, which has fought the union (open in new tab) tooth and nail, Microsoft, which may soon become Activision's parent company, promised neutrality when the ZeniMax union vote was first announced (open in new tab). Shortly after the votes were counted, Microsoft officially approved the new union.

"In light of the recent unionization vote, we recognize the Communications Workers of America (CWA) as the bargaining representative of ZeniMax's Quality Assurance employees," a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement emailed to PC Gamer In an emailed statement to PC Gamer, a Microsoft spokesperson said. We look forward to negotiating in good faith toward a collective bargaining agreement."

CWA President Chris Shelton criticized other game studios and tech companies for trying to unionize employees "by attacking, undermining, and demoralizing" them, but he praised Microsoft for "charting a different course to strengthen its corporate culture and ability to serve its customers. paid tribute to Microsoft, which "has charted a different course to strengthen its corporate culture and its ability to serve its customers. Microsoft's approach to unionization "should serve as a model for the industry and a blueprint for regulators," Shelton added.

While Activision Blizzard has been at the center of unionization in the video game industry, the formation of ZeniMax Workers United is a major event in itself: the company's subsidiaries include Arkane Studios, Bethesda Softworks, id Software, MachineGames, Tango Gameworks, and ZeniMax Online Studios; CWA said the new union would "include all QA employees in the United States across ZeniMax's various studios."

Another Activision Blizzard studio also recently announced plans to unionize: Proletariat (open in new tab), which Activision acquired in June 2022, announced last week that its employees will form as the Proletariat Workers Union. Unlike Activision Blizzard's ZeniMax union, for example, which only covers QA workers, the Proletariat union will cover the entire studio.