Activision Blizzard will convert all its 1,100 temporary and contingent QA workers to full-time employees on July 1 and raise the minimum hourly rate to $20
To Ubisoft, then, and a chance to end the week with a merry dance … Rhiannon Bevan / TheGamer : Union Calls Out Activision For Undermining Strike Effort By Not Including Raven Workers In Pay Rise Brendan Sinclair / GamesIndustry.biz : Collective action gets results | This Week in Business Bloomberg : Activision Makes 1,100 Game Testers Full-Time Employees Pure Xbox : Activision Blizzard Reveals 1,100 QA Testers Are Getting Full-Time Jobs Cohen Coberly / TechSpot : Activision Blizzard converts 1,100 QA positions to full-time, raises pay to $20 per hour Blue / Blue's News : Activision (Not Raven) Game Testers Become Full-Timers Alyse Stanley / Washington Post : Activision Blizzard converts over 1,000 QA testers to full time roles Tweets: Jason Schreier / @jasonschreier : NEW: Activision Blizzard just told staff that all of its 1,100 quality assurance testers will be 1) converted from contract to full-time and 2) bumped up to at least $20/hour. A big win for QA in the wake of several worker revolts and a burgeoning union effort. Story soon Jason Schreier / @jasonschreier : And here's the catch: Activision will not give raises to Raven QA testers, who are unionizing, “due to our legal obligations under the National Labor Relations Act,” the company said in an email seen by Bloomberg News. Story: https://www.bloomberg.com/... Adam Serwer / @adamserwer : Union efforts pay dividends for workers long before there's an actual union because employers are scared of the union. But the only way to ensure these are actual changes and not temporary is to follow through and organize. https://twitter.com/... @klobrille : Finally some good news coming from Activision Blizzard here. All QA testers will be converted to full-time & bumped to at least $20/hour. As a reminder, Microsoft legally can't be responsible for this yet (acquisition pending), even if there might be indirect effects happening. https://twitter.com/... Cecilia D'Anastasio / @cecianasta : Activision Publishing/Blizzard is converting all temporary US-based QA workers to full-time employees. That's almost 1,100 workers in total. The company made a similar move last December after discontinuing 20 workers' contracts. The minimum hrly rate will be increased to $20/hr Jason Schreier / @jasonschreier : Slight clarification on my wording here: 1,100 is the number of temp and contract QA testers that are being converted to full-time, according to Activision Blizzard. There are other testers at the company who were *already* full-time staff. @charlieintel : Here's the internal email that was sent to Blizzard employees: https://twitter.com/... Cecilia D'Anastasio / @cecianasta : CWA tells Bloomberg that it's “galling” Activision Blizzard is excluding Raven QA workers from these benefits as they have “been at the forefront of this effort.” She adds: “This is an effort to divide workers and undermine their effort to form a union.” https://www.bloomberg.com/... Ash Parrish / @adashtra : while this is a net good it is very clear that a) ATVI do NOT want Raven QA to unionize and b) are desperate for some ‘good’ PR https://twitter.com/... Jay Peters / @jaypeters : Activision Blizzard is converting 1,100 game testers into full time employees. Our story has a statement from Activision Blizzard as well as the emails sent to Activision Publishing and Blizzard employees from top execs. https://www.theverge.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
Activision Blizzard had previously said it would hire more than 2,000 staff to meet production demand. The conversion of 1,100 QA roles turns part of that staffing need from contingent labor into permanent employment.
The move also draws a sharp line around Raven Software: its union-affiliated QA workers were excluded from the new pay floor and full-time conversion. That dispute sits in the run-up to Raven QA's later 19–3 union vote.
First-order effects
- Activision Blizzard's 1,100 temporary and contingent QA workers gain full-time status on July 1, alongside a $20 minimum hourly rate.
- Raven QA workers who joined the Game Workers Union do not receive the conversion or the new minimum rate, creating unequal terms among Activision Blizzard testers.
Second-order effects
- The different treatment gives Raven workers and the CWA a concrete workplace issue around which to organize, rather than a dispute limited to union recognition.
- Activision Blizzard must manage QA staffing under two visibly different employment arrangements while trying to meet the production demand that had prompted its earlier hiring plans.
Third-order effects
- The subsequent 600-worker Activision QA union indicates that employment status and pay can become durable organizing issues across game-testing teams, not isolated grievances at one studio.
- If publishers continue using conversion and wage actions alongside exclusions for organized groups, QA labor relations are likely to be shaped more by bargaining over consistent terms across studios.
The trend: Game publishers' reliance on contingent QA labor is giving way to a more contested model in which employment classification and pay parity become central union issues.