Activision Blizzard QA team goes on strike due to obligation to return to office

Key Takeaways

Last January, Activision Blizzard announced a return-to-office order for QA staff across the company.
Last Friday, the QA department in Eden Prairie, Minnesota organized a walkout to protest the order.
CWA and QA staff branded the order a “layoff wolf in reinstatement sheep's clothing.”

Quality and assurance employees at Activision Blizzard's QA department in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, organized and carried out a walkout to protest the return-to-work order issued in January.

It's bound to be a time of celebration for Activision Blizzard, as the recently released Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is going much better than most expected considering the rough release of Modern Warfare 3. Especially considering how turbulent the past few years have been. It's certainly a rare victory for the studio, but it's not the first time Activision Blizzard's QA team has been a complete winner last year.

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Last January, Activision Blizzard announced it was ending its hybrid work model for quality and assurance team members in Minneapolis, El Segundo and Austin. It issued a return-to-work order, a highly controversial measure given the number of employees working from home for health reasons, leading to criticism that it was a “soft layoff”.

Activision's QA employees go on strike due to obligations to return to the office.

It's been almost a year since that order was issued, but QA employees recently rallied to take action against Activision Blizzard. Employees at Activision's QA studio in Eden Prairie left in protest of the order last Friday, receiving support from the Communications Workers of America (also known as CWA), according to a report by Eurogamer.

CWA also uploaded a statement explaining its thoughts on the order, noting that employees are “particularly outraged that Activision is refusing to even deny workers with ADA-certified health conditions to work from home.” . CWA and QA employees believe Activision Blizzard is refusing to accommodate them by forcing them to quit the company, calling it “the wolf of layoffs in sheep's clothing.”

“Despite multiple requests from unions representing video game workers, Activision and Microsoft are unable to clearly explain why they specifically insist that workers be required to work from the office, even if they have serious health conditions and have doctors who recommend working from home. The same goes for cases.”

As GamesIndustry.biz reported, Activision Blizzard released a statement in response to the strike claiming that it respects employees' rights and ability to express their points of view. According to Activision Blizzard, this mandate remains an “ongoing conversation at the bargaining table.”