A complete of 461 workers of ZeniMax Online Studios have formally unionized underneath the Communications Workers of America banner, based on an announcement from the union yesterday.
The union consists of internet builders, designers, engineers, and graphic artists at ZeniMax Online Studios engaged on massively multiplayer on-line role-playing sport The Elder Scrolls Online. They are principally positioned in Maryland, however are additionally primarily based in numerous states together with California, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin.
Together, the brand new union will probably be often called ZOS United-CWA. ZeniMax proprietor Microsoft has formally and voluntarily acknowledged the union already, in accordance with its previous Labor Neutrality Agreement.
“With a union, we’re wanting ahead to collectively pushing for enhancements to the office, together with job safety, protections towards AI, higher pay and advantages – in an trade that we’re so deeply keen about,” the union mentioned in a follow-up publish on Bluesky.
ZOS United follows within the footsteps of plenty of different sport studios who’ve unionized in recent times, particularly underneath Microsoft’s neutrality banner. Bethesda Game Studios within the U.S., Bethesda Games Studios Montreal, ZeniMax QA staff, Blizzard’s World of Warcraft workforce, and Activision QA staff all unionized simply this 12 months. And previous years have seen staff at Blizzard Albany, Raven Software, Avalanche Studios in Sweden, and Sega of America unionize as nicely, amongst others.
Meanwhile, online game voice actors underneath SAG-AFTRA are presently on strike, demanding that online game firms discount with them over a good deal granting actors protections towards AI being skilled on their likeness with out consent or honest compensation.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can discover her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a narrative tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
