Unions are not the favourite thing of corporative America but they have seen a considerable upswing this year not only in the video game field but almost in every industry. This time Boston-based studio, Proletariat is seeking to unionize.

If you didn’t know Propletariat was founded by former Zynga veterans back in 2012 starting with mobile games and moving to PC ones eventually. They launched Spellbreak in 2020 and announced the shutting of its servers in 2023.

Surprisingly besides announcing the shutdown of their latest PC game they also announced they were being acquired by Blizzard Entertainment in order to work on World of Warcraft, beginning with the upcoming ninth expansion, Dragonflight.

In case you missed it: Activision x Microsoft: AFL-CIO union is also in favor of the acquisition

Of course, working on an expansion is not easy

The group of employees announced their intentions to unionize via Twitter, where they detailed some of the reasons why among them the following stand out:

  • Maintaining Proletariat’s values of transparency and respectful collaboration.
  • Human-first benefits such as a flexible PTO policy, remote work as a permanent option, and robust healthcare.
  • Open and transparent communication over compensation and pushing to pay workers a thriving wage.
  • Clear, equitable, and actionable processes and resources for workers to attain their career goals such as professional development, paths to promotions, and raises.
  • Overtime is never mandatory

As you may know, Proletariat is the third division within Activision Blizzard to pursue unionization efforts so, it's not a surprise that another one went for it. As workers ourselves we understand how important are unions and how necessary they are in this industry mainly after endless reports of crunch, and power abuse; among many others.

Source