Bethesda Game Studios is known for making some of the biggest open-world RPGs in gaming like Fallout 3 and Skyrim. Now it will also be known for being the first major studio in the U.S. to unionize across all of its teams.
On July 19, owner Microsoft recognized a union representing 241 staff at Bethesda, which is behind The Elder Scrolls and Fallout franchises, and released last year’s sprawling sci-fi adventure Starfield. The group, which will be represented by the Communications Workers of America (CWA), includes artists, designers, programmers, and engineers from across the roughly 450 person studio. The news comes as Bethesda prepares to ship its Shattered Space expansion for Starfield and Fallout sees a major resurgence in popularity due to the Amazon Prime adaptation.
Unlike recent unionization efforts at Activision Blizzard, ZeniMax, and beyond, which focused primarily on quality assurance testers, this “wall-to-wall” union represents workers from across all of the different disciplines and departments needed to make the blockbuster hits Bethesda is famous for. In that regard, it’s similar to the union at Sega of America which represents staff from across the organization’s marketing, localization, and community management teams.
“We are so excited to announce our union at Bethesda Game Studio and join the movement sweeping across the video game industry,” Mandi Parker, Senior System Designer at Bethesda, said in a statement. “It is clear that every worker can benefit from bringing democracy into the workplace and securing a protected voice on the job.”
The process went so quickly and smoothly due to a neutrality agreement Microsoft made with the CWA promising not to fight unionization efforts or require formal elections. Instead, employees across the company can form a union simply by showing majority support for one via a card check or visiting an online portal. The tech giant made that deal as part of an effort to get its massive $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard over the finish line last year.
Unionization efforts have been slowly building in the gaming industry for years now as employees push back against cultures of extended overtime and frequent mass layoffs. That shift seems likely to gain even more momentum with major players like Bethesda joining in. Union workers there will now begin negotiating their first contract. So far, only the union at Sega of America has ratified a collective bargaining agreement at a major gaming company.