Members of the QA team at Call of Duty: Warzone studio Raven Software went on strike Monday to protest the layoffs of co-workers announced late last week. The strike continues today and has expanded to include other studios, which are “in solidarity” with Raven’s QA team.
“Today, Raven QA workers are walking out for the second day in a row,” the ABK Workers Alliance tweeted. “They are joined by workers from QATX, QAMN, and Blizzard QA. These workers stand in solidarity with the statement Raven QA submitted yesterday.”
Today, Raven QA workers are going on strike for the second day in a row. They are joined by workers from QATX, QAMN, and Blizzard QA. These workers sympathize with the statement that Raven QA presented yesterday. They are using the social media hashtag #WeAreRavenDecember 7, 2021
QATX and QAMN are Activision Blizzard studios located in Texas and Minnesota. According to the company’s studio page, the Minnesota studio is “home to Activision’s largest QA team.” Employees participating in the strike share their participation and support using the hashtag #WeAreRaven.
“It looks like the toxic culture from Activision is starting to seep into Raven,” said a Raven QA tester. Washington Post. “The people who were fired seem to have been chosen completely at random, and the rest of us take survivors’ blame because we know our teammates deserve to still be here. We are all incredibly heartbroken.”
This will be the third strike by Activision Blizzard employees in recent months. The first took place in July following a lawsuit filed by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, alleging widespread sexual harassment, discrimination and a “frat boy” culture at the company; the second occurred in November to demand the ouster of CEO Bobby Kotick, after a follow-up report alleged that Kotick had been aware of the problems but failed to act to address them.
Today, all of ABK QA joins Raven in solidarity. We’re pulling out because our jobs are invaluable and it’s unacceptable for a multi-billion dollar company to gamble with workers’ livelihoods to get better numbers in the fourth quarter. Today #WeAreRaven 💙December 7, 2021
In response to protesters’ demand that laid-off Raven employees be reinstated and all QA team members become full-time employees, Activision Blizzard said in a statement that it is “turning approximately 500 temporary workers into full-time employees. in the coming months.” However, as part of that process, 20 contract employees at Activision studios will not renew their contracts.
Later that day, A Better ABK said that all core QA workers at Call of Duty: Black Ops – Cold War developer Treyarch had left in support of Raven employees.
In an unprecedented show of love and solidarity, all of Treyarch’s core QA has been removed. Thank you for his devotion to his colleagues and for improving this industry. #WeareRaven #ABetterABKDecember 7, 2021
I’ve reached out to Activision Blizzard for more information and will update if I hear back.
