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PC Gamer
PC Gamer
Issy van der Velde

After 3 years of negotiations with Microsoft, Blizzard QA workers win a new contract guaranteeing 'better working environment with increased pay, benefits, and layoff protections'

Garrosh Hellscream swings his axe violently in the key art for Mists of Pandaria: Remix, shrouded in flames and smog.

The last few years have seen more videogame developers unionising in an effort to ensure the industry offers sustainable careers for all, and the quality assurance workers of Blizzard have just secured a huge win by ratifying a contract with parent company Microsoft.

As reported by Game Developer, QA workers at Blizzard's Albany and Austin studios have ratified a union contract after almost three years of negotiating. That sounds like an awfully long time to me, but it seems to be the going rate for union contracts with Microsoft—Raven's QA workers also took three years to get theirs sorted. Fortunately, it all paid off in the end, because now 60+ workers are covered by the new agreement and it offers them a number of significant benefits.

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