The unlikely path to Microsoft's landmark deal with ZeniMax workers
PLUS: A status update about a handheld Xbox
A half decade of unionization efforts in the video game industry is on the verge of producing some significant results, as around 300 workers at Microsoft-owned ZeniMax (Bethesda, id, etc.) have announced that they have forged a tentative labor agreement with Microsoft.
The contract, which union members are expected to vote to ratify by June 20, includes the following, per the Communication Workers of America:
“substantial across-the-board wage increases”
“new minimum salaries for workers”
“protections against arbitrary dismissal”
“grievance procedures”
“a crediting policy that clearly acknowledges the QA workers’ contributions to the video games they help create”
“a previously announced agreement on how artificial intelligence is introduced and implemented in the workplace” (that agreement “commits ZeniMax to uses of AI that augment human ingenuity and capacities, to ensure that these tools enhance worker productivity, growth, and satisfaction without causing workers harm. ZeniMax has agreed to provide notice to the union in cases where AI implementation may impact the work of union members and to bargain those impacts upon request.”)
The labor agreement would be the second at a major gaming company in the U.S., following a March 2024 deal between about 150 Sega of America employees and the Sonic the Hedgehog maker.
The ZeniMax AQ union contract is set to be Microsoft’s first in the U.S.
Years of twists and turns
This ZeniMax union is specifically for quality assurance workers—game testers—at the company. They group announced plans to form a union in late 2022, and the successful vote to do so was announced in early 2023.
Until recently, game developers unionizing in big-budget game studios in the United States was unheard of. But lawsuits over workplace misconduct at Activision Blizzard—which led to a company settlement with the federal government—spurred some employees to organize. By spring 2022, a group of workers at Activision studio Raven had voted to form a union, with others making waves about attempting the same.
Activision Blizzard’s troubles had also helped make it an acquisition target for Microsoft, which announced a $69 billion bid for the company in January 2022. But the deal swiftly ran into resistance.
In March 2022, U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) sent a letter to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission expressing concern about the potential impact of the gaming mega-deal on the companies’ workers.
By June, Microsoft announced a pact that seemingly would address the Senators’ worries. The then-nearly-50-year-old company had never had a union in the U.S. before, but now pledged it would welcome any unionization efforts. The Communication Workers of America—the union most likely to back workers who wanted to unionize—announced that they supported the Activision deal. Labor supporting a huge corporate merger? It happend.
A spate of unionization votes followed at Microsoft and Activision Blizzard, as Microsoft honored its word about not opposing their formation: 600 gaming QA workers at Microsoft, over 500 workers on Blizzard’s World of Warcraft team, nearly 200 workers on Blizzard’s Overwatch team and more. Workers at other studios organized, too.
But negotiations between Microsoft and the unions have been slow. On April 1 of this year, the Zenimax QA union authorized a potential strike, complaining that two years of bargaining hadn’t yielded a deal. “We’re not afraid to use our union power to ensure that we can keep making great games,” a Zenimax developer said at the time.
Less than two months later, that Zenimax QA union and Microsoft announced their tentative deal.
A Microsoft rep told Game File that “[t]he tentative agreement represents a meaningful step forward and reflects a shared commitment to constructive dialogue and a common goal of fostering a positive workplace. We look forward to the outcome of the ratification process.”
Item 2: In brief
🤔 Development on a handheld Xbox that was to be created internally at Microsoft has been put on ice, Windows Central reports, noting that the company is focused on working with partners to enable portable Xbox gaming on Windows-based handhelds made by outside manufacturers.
The news comes just over a week ahead of a big June 8 Xbox gaming showcase that is expected to focus on games but could also reveal more about the company’s hardware line-up: perhaps not a glimpse of its next console (which it has committed to making) but potentially more about any Windows-based handheld made with outside partner. (That’s speculation, not a scoop.)
🎮 The Black Panther game from Cliffhanger Games that was in development until EA canceled the game and shut the studio this week was going to use a variation of the famed “nemesis system” pioneered at Monolith Productions, where Cliffhanger’s founders had previously worked, Bloomberg reports.
⚔️ Elden Ring: Nightreign, the co-op multiplayer spin-off of FromSoftware’s biggest hit, launched today and already has reached two million players, according to publisher Bandai Namco.
Per the game’s official social media account, it’ll receive a patch next week that will include “improvements for solo expeditions.”
🍌 Grow a Garden, the viral Roblox game covered last week at Game File, is so popular that it has spawned the unauthorized trade of millions of dollars worth of virtual seeds and fruit, Bloomberg reports.
The game, which had cracked five million concurrent users at the time of Game File’s article, subsequently attracted over eight million concurrent players last weekend. How high will it go this weekend?
Item 3: The Week Ahead
Tuesday, June 3
Epic’s Unreal Fest 2025, which technically starts in Orlando Florida on Monday, with an opening reception, kicks into high gear with the livestreamed State of Unreal (9:30am ET) keynote covering “what’s next for Unreal Engine and the Epic ecosystem.”
Thursday, June 5
Nintendo’s seventh-generation handheld, the home-console hybrid Switch 2, is released, alongside Mario Kart World, Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour, Konami/Unity’s Survival Kids and a host of third-party ports that include Cyberpunk 2077, Yakuza 0, Hogwarts Legacy and Civilization VII. Also launching for Switch 2’s online services: A library of GameCube games and upgraded/feature-expanded versions of The Legend of Zeldas: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom.
Deltarune Chapters 3 and 4 (PC, PlayStation, Switch 1 & 2) are released.
Friday, June 6
There’s no E3 this year (it’s dead), but its closest replacement, the Summer Game Fest, begins with a livestreamed showcase event, followed by a Day of the Devs indie showing. (Microsoft’s showcase follows on Sunday.)
