Activision Blizzard employees form first of its kind Game Workers Alliance Union

Several dozen employees of the Wisconsin studio, which is behind the massively popular Call of Duty series, voted in favor of the union. The news comes just days after Microsoft announced it would acquire Activision Blizzard for $70bn.

The union, called the Game Workers Alliance Union, would be the first at a publicly traded video game publisher and only the second video game union in the US. It will be part of the Communications Workers of America, the largest union in the media industry.

The spokesman added that in the past two years, Activision Blizzard raised minimum compensation for Raven QA employees and extended other benefits.

Experts say the issues cited in the suit against Activision Blizzard are exacerbated by the high turnover rate of the industry, which often relies on contract and temporary workers.

Those same problems make organizing more difficult, said Amanda Cote, professor at University of Oregon and author of Gaming Sexism: Gender and Identity in the Era of Casual Video Games.