Blizzard

The USA's National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has found that Activision Blizzard withheld pay raises from Raven Software quality assurance staff because ...

Activision Blizzard's [culture and significant prior failings](https://www.pcgamer.com/activision-blizzard-lawsuit-controversy-timeline-explained/) (opens in new tab) have been under the spotlight as part of this and it says something that, once again, its past behaviour has attracted this kind of legal attention from a government agency. [improvements to their working conditions in April](https://www.pcgamer.com/activision-blizzard-is-converting-over-1000-qa-workers-to-full-time-employees/) (opens in new tab) this year. [union contract negotiations](https://www.pcgamer.com/activision-blizzard-changes-course-will-recognize-and-negotiate-with-raven-qa-union/) (opens in new tab) between Activision and QA testers at Raven. QA staff at Raven [voted 19-3 to form a union](https://www.pcgamer.com/raven-software-qa-testers-become-first-union-at-a-major-us-developer/) (opens in new tab) back in May this year, becoming the first union to form at a major North American game developer in the process. Wilma Liebman, former NLRB chair, told the Post that the Board's findings are a "very preliminary win" for the QA staff, who can use it as leverage in their back-and-forth with Activision. An Activision spokesperson told the Post that it was precisely this vote that stopped the company from offering pay increases to involved employees.

The National Labor Relations Board found that Activision Blizzard purposely held back raises from Raven Software QA testers involved in union activity.

It remains to be seen what kind of consequences the NLRB will have for Activision Blizzard following the findings of its investigation. A join complaint was filed to NLRB, alleging that Activision Blizzard discriminated and retaliated against current and former QA testers at Raven Software for their union activity. That has included the efforts of Raven Software quality assurance (QA) testers unionizing within the company.

Microsoft has launched a website to show the benefits of Xbox's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, a deal that's been widely scrutinised for its potential ...

Xbox has created a webpage specificially for its Activision Blizzard acquisition, using it to detail how it will benefit various groups.

Microsoft now has a dedicated section of its website aimed at explaining its acquisition of Activision Blizzard and what it means for gamers.

Microsoft has launched a new site arguing the benefits of the deal…

Yesterday, Microsoft put online a new website addressing its planned acquisition of Activision Blizzard as a way to try to convince regulators to approve ...

I get that you say what you have to say to try to appease regulators but fundamentally this is a business deal. We'd like to bring the other popular titles that Activision Blizzard has and ensure that they continue to be available on PlayStation, that they become available on Nintendo. I confirmed our intent to honor all existing agreements upon acquisition of Activision Blizzard and our desire to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation. “One of the things we’re being very clear about as we move forward with the regulatory review of this acquisition is that great titles like Call of Duty from Activision Blizzard today will continue to be available on the Sony PlayStation. Sony, as the industry leader, says it is worried about Call of Duty, but we’ve said we are committed to making the same game available on the same day on both Xbox and PlayStation. Our large investment to acquire Activision Blizzard further strengthens our resolve to remove this friction on behalf of creators and gamers alike. And that is also likely to be true for many, many other games that have come out of Microsoft’s publisher buying spree. Again, Microsoft has only committed to making Call of Duty available on PlayStation for three years past the current deal, so there’s literally no guarantee that it stays on the platform indefinitely, as it would if it remained a third party publisher. “Microsoft has only offered for Call of Duty to remain on PlayStation for three years after the current agreement between Activision and Sony ends. [an entire page](https://news.microsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/prod/sites/642/2022/09/Activision-Acquisition-Quotes_093022.pdf) of just quotes up that are supposed to help convince regulators that this is a good move and not problematic. After almost 20 years of Call of Duty on PlayStation, their proposal was inadequate on many levels and failed to take account of the impact on our gamers. [website ](https://news.microsoft.com/activision-blizzard-acquisition/)addressing its planned acquisition of Activision Blizzard as a way to try to convince regulators to approve the deal.

Raven employees who formed the union didn't receive pay rises earlier this year.

[the move has already sparked others to follow suit](/dragon-age-next/184787/news/dragon-age-4-quality-assurance-workers-are-applying-to-form-a-union). 405 (1964)](https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/375/405/). [The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2022/10/03/activision-raven-union-raises-nlrb/), the NLRB's findings will likely fall in favor of the Raven employees in their ongoing negotiations with Activision Blizzard.

The National Labor Relations Board has found merit to several allegations of unfair labor practices at Activision Blizzard subsidiary Raven Software, ...

In December 2021 the union claimed that the company had made “coercive statements,” a charge that was [dismissed](https://www.nlrb.gov/case/31-CA-287568) by the labor board in June. [which the NLRB encourages](https://www.nlrb.gov/about-nlrb/what-we-do/investigate-charges). The union alleged that this violated section 8(a)(3) of the National Labor Relations Act, which covers discrimination against employees for participating in organizing. The NLRB has yet to release findings about these outstanding claims. Activision Blizzard maintains that the company disagrees with Region 18’s early conclusions. We’re glad the NLRB recognized that Activision acted illegally when they unequally enforced policies by withholding company-wide benefits and wage increase from Raven workers for organizing.” Meanwhile, the Raven Software QA worker union is still negotiating its first contract with Activision Blizzard. It’s not uncommon for the NLRB to confirm early findings in investigations with the media. [the union alleged](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/activision-blizzard-labor-charge-union-complaint-nlrb-1235138225/) that the company “threatened employees that they should not discuss issues concerning wages hours [sic] and working conditions on Slack” and in August the union further charged that the company had terminated a chat channel where workers were discussing “wages, hours and working condition [sic],” an allegation the company denied; results of those NLRB investigations have not yet been disclosed. Regarding the claim about withholding raises, a company spokesperson says in a statement, “Due to legal obligations under the NLRA requiring employers not to grant wage increases while an election was pending, we could not institute new pay initiatives at Raven because they would be brand new kinds of compensation changes, which had not been planned beforehand.” When it comes to the finding about soliciting grievance, the company spokesperson says that this depiction is not “accurate” and that “Although Raven QA was offered a non-mandatory opportunity to meet with Activision Blizzard leadership during an on-site visit, because some of the QA testers had previously requested a discussion with management, at no point was this framed as an opportunity to specifically address grievances. The investigation into other charges, which CWA [Labor](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t/labor/) Relations Board has found merit to several allegations of unfair labor practices at [Activision Blizzard](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t/activision-blizzard/) subsidiary Raven Software, which faced its first [successful union drive](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/activision-blizzard-worker-group-votes-unionize-nlrb-election-1235151327/) earlier this year.

Overwatch 2's servers are having trouble just a few hours after the game launched. Blizzard is updating server status frequently, but for now some players ...

Players have reported unexpected server errors and difficulties joining Overwatch 2 games throughout the evening following today's free-to-play launch, with ...

Become a supporter of Eurogamer and you can view the site completely ad-free, as well as gaining exclusive access to articles, podcasts and conversations that will bring you closer to the team, the stories, and the games we all love. "Unfortunately we are experiencing a mass DDoS attack on our servers," he wrote. "Teams are working hard to mitigate/manage.

Activision Blizzard Inc. was hit with a cyberattack on Tuesday, causing wide-scale connectivity issues during the launch of its hotly anticipated Overwatch ...

Overwatch 2 servers are down as Blizzard struggles to fend off a massive DDOS attack.

“We are humbled by the excitement of players and will continue to focus on issues and get players into the fun! The game launched into early access Tuesday as a free-to-play hero shooter replacing the original Overwatch entirely. This is causing a lot of drop/connection issues.”

Overwatch 2 players are reporting numerous sever errors on launch day and Blizzard has responded to those concerns.

The US National Labor Relations Board finds that Activision Blizzard denied Raven Software QA testers raises in retaliation for them unionizing.

Mike Ybarra, president of Activision subsidiary Blizzard Entertainment, tweeted that the company was experiencing “a mass DDoS attack” on its servers Tuesday ...

Activision Blizzard illegally retaliated against unionising workers at Raven Software by withholding raises, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has ...

Amid players complaining of long queue times, server disconnections, and errors, Blizzard president Mike Ybarra claims that the company is dealing with a ...

Overwatch 2 has been experiencing server issues and a "mass DDoS attack" on its launch.

The Overwatch 2 servers hit some trouble at launch, but are they back up and online now? Here's how to find out.

On the launch day of Overwatch 2, the games servers experienced DDoS attacks that prevented players from joining the free-to-play launch.