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Activision QA Workers Form a 600-Member Union: What “Biggest” Meant

About 600 Activision Central QA workers joined CWA in March 2024. CWA called it the largest union-represented group at a U.S. game studio at the time, while later union-wide counts include workers across other studios.
From TheFinanceBase Team4 min to read
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About 600 workers in Activision’s Central Quality Assurance group joined Communications Workers of America (CWA) in March 2024, and Microsoft recognized CWA as their bargaining representative after a neutral arbitrator confirmed majority support. CWA described the group at the time as the largest union-represented group at any U.S. game studio. That was a dated claim about one bargaining unit—not a verified ranking of video-game unions today.

How many Activision QA workers joined?

CWA reported that approximately 600 employees in Activision Central Quality Assurance joined Activision Quality Assurance United-CWA on March 8, 2024. The workers were located in California, Texas, and Minnesota. A neutral arbitrator confirmed that a majority supported representation, either through signed authorization cards or an online portal; Microsoft then recognized CWA as the unit’s bargaining representative. CWA’s announcement attributed the company’s recognition statement to Amy Pannoni, then Microsoft’s Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, HR Legal.

What did “biggest union in the games industry” mean?

CWA’s March 2024 wording was narrower than the headline may sound: it called the approximately 600-person unit “the largest group of union-represented workers at any U.S. game studio.” The comparison was specific to a group at a U.S. studio and to that date. It did not establish that the unit was the largest labor union of any kind, the largest video-game unit worldwide, or the largest today.

Later figures describe different populations, so they should not be treated as a head-to-head ranking:

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Figure What it counts Scope and date
Approximately 600 Activision Central QA bargaining unit, according to CWA California, Texas, and Minnesota; March 2024
More than 2,000 Workers at Microsoft-owned studios organized under the neutrality agreement, according to CWA CWA-reported figure in March 2025; not an Activision QA unit count
More than 2,600 Workers at Microsoft-owned studios who had formed unions with CWA, according to CWA CWA-reported figure in May 2025; broader than the Activision QA unit
More than 4,000 Video-game workers represented by CWA, according to the union United States; CWA figure in an October 28, 2025 letter

The later figures reflect organizing across more workers and studios, not a revised headcount for Activision Quality Assurance United-CWA. CWA’s March 2025 announcement described United Videogame Workers-CWA Local 9433, a direct-join union open to workers across the industry in the U.S. and Canada. In October 2025, CWA called itself the industry’s largest union based on its U.S. total. That is the union’s own aggregate claim; the sources cited here do not establish an independent, comparable roster of every video-game union.

How Microsoft’s neutrality agreement figured in

Microsoft and CWA announced a labor-neutrality agreement on June 13, 2022. Microsoft said the agreement would apply at Activision Blizzard beginning 60 days after the acquisition closed. It set out a neutral approach, communication between workers and union representatives, a streamlined technology-supported process for workers to decide whether to join, confidentiality for that choice, and expedited arbitration if disagreements could not be resolved. The agreement did not apply to Activision workers before the transaction closed. Microsoft’s announcement describes the provisions and timing.

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Activision Central QA was the first group at Activision to organize under the agreement, according to CWA. The agreement supplied a process for organizing and resolving disputes; it did not automatically create or certify a union. The workers’ majority support was confirmed separately before Microsoft recognized CWA.

Why workers said they organized

Functional QA Tester 1 Kara Fannon, a member of Activision Quality Assurance United-CWA, told CWA that workers wanted better workplace conditions, higher wages, and more career opportunities. She also challenged the idea that QA work necessarily provides a clear path into other game-industry roles: in her account, workers might at best see internal job postings before they become public. CWA’s March 8, 2024 release quoted Fannon saying, “We wanted to see improvements in the workplace, including higher wages and getting more career opportunities, and so were eager to unionize.” These are workers’ stated reasons for organizing, not evidence that the unit has since achieved particular wage or career outcomes.

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How this unit fits Activision’s earlier union history

Activision Blizzard’s first CWA-represented group was Raven Software’s QA team, which won an election in May 2022. CWA reported that 86% of votes supported the union, Game Workers Alliance-CWA. That election-based recognition was distinct from the later Central QA process, which relied on majority support confirmed by a neutral arbitrator under Microsoft’s agreement. CWA’s Raven Software announcement reported the election result.

Raven workers ratified their first contract in August 2025 after nearly three years of bargaining. CWA said the contract included a guaranteed 10-percent wage increase over two years, limits on mandatory overtime, and layoff protections. Those provisions belong to Raven’s contract; they should not be attributed to Activision Central QA. CWA’s contract announcement describes the terms.

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What is known—and what is not—about the union’s size now

The approximately 600 figure is CWA’s reported size for the Activision Central QA unit in March 2024. The later CWA totals cover other workers and studios as well. The sources cited here do not provide a newer membership count for Activision Quality Assurance United-CWA, nor do they establish an independently verified current ranking of every video-game union by membership.

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