Over 200 members of Blizzard Team 4, which is the Overwatch 2 dev group, have unionized with CWA recognition.
In a statement today, over 200 developers at Blizzard, who comprise Team 4, have been recognized as a union by the Communications Workers of America and Microsoft. Team 4 is comprised of the developers behind Overwatch 2. In a statement from the CWA:
“The massive layoffs in the video game industry, and at my own studio, became one of the first reasons I started to learn about how to organize to create a healthier workplace for everyone,” said Frank Le Cocq, VFX artist and organizing committee member. “When we began our union efforts, it was empowering to know that our coworkers next door at World of Warcraft had already successfully gone through the process.”
The Overwatch Gamemakers Guild-CWA (OWGG-CWA) is a wall-to-wall unit that includes game developers across all disciplines, including design, production, engineering, art, sound, and quality assurance.
This is the latest in a string of Unions that have formed within the massive Gaming Division of Microsoft, which now houses Xbox Game Studios, Activision, Blizzard, King, and Bethesda. In March, a group of User Researchers within Activision formed a union. 241 Bethesda devs unionized back in July of 2024.
This Overwatch team union comes during a time of mass turnover and layoffs within the industry. Future concerns over the effect of the US Government’s tariffs have led to economic uncertainty as well. Overwatch 2 has seen a bit of a popularity resurgence since loosening the reins on the development, in response to Marvel Rivals‘ rapid growth.
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