Worker advocacy group A Better ABK has shared news that Raven Software’s QA team walkout has expanded to include workers from several other Activision Blizzard offices. These include its Texas and Minnesota-based operations, Blizzard QA, and most notably, all of the core QA workers at Treyarch.
Yesterday, it was revealed that Activision Blizzard had terminated the contracts of several Raven Software QA testers in order to justify turning about 500 Treyarch temporary workers into full-time employees. Several of the terminated employees had previously located to Madison, WI, where Raven is headquartered, under the promise that their work would be consistent.
Outrage over this unnecessary own-goal seems to be spurring further action–most notably among some of the workers who benefitted from Activision Blizzard’s supposed generosity.
Continued worker action like walkouts could also be necessary pressure that drives the company to make real changes. If more employees continue to join the walkout, it could begin to cut into Activision Blizzard’s ability to deliver updates to games like Call of Duty: Warzone, and therefore impact revenue.
This all of course follows months of Activision Blizzard trying to respond to a barrage of lawsuits and journalistic revelations that alleged that the company fostered a culture of sexual harassment and discrimination. It has so far only managed to step deeper into a hole of its own making.