Call of Duty QA Workers Win First Union Contract With Microsoft After 3 Years

Quality assurance workers at Raven Software, one of the developers of Call of Duty, have officially ratified their first union contract with Microsoft three years after they first unionized.

In a press release, the union shared several highlights of the new contract, including a guaranteed 10% wage increase over two years plus additional raises through merit and promotions, significant restrictions on mandatory overtime, layoff protections, expanded disability accommodations, and more.

“After more than three years of organizing and bargaining, seeing it finally pay off feels incredible,” said bargaining committee member and QA tester Erin Hall in a statement. “From day one, we made it a priority to include every voice in the room, and the contract we came out with reflects what we need—better pay, real career paths, and protection from burnout. It’s a contract that actually values the work QA does. I’m proud of what we accomplished, and I hope it shows other game workers that organizing works—and it’s worth it.”

Raven Software’s QA union has had a long road to get here. The inciting incident for its unionization was a round of layoffs back in December of 2021 as a part of a studio restructure instituted by then-parent company Activision Blizzard. The following day, employees walked out to protest the cuts, garnering the support of employees at other Activision Blizzard companies. Raven Software continued to strike for weeks before the company finally responded in January, only to be acquired by Microsoft just over a week later. By the end of the month, Raven QA workers had announced the formation of Activision Blizzard’s very first union. While Activision Blizzard declined to recognize the union voluntarily, the group won its union election the following May anyway.

Since then, a number of other groups under Microsoft Xbox have unionized, both within Activision Blizzard and in other subsidiaries such as ZeniMax. This past May, QA workers at ZeniMax Media reached a contract agreement with the company, while many others are still at the bargaining table.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.