For decades, the North American video game industry has resisted unionization — although workers have been organizing among themselves, the industry’s first union wasn’t formed until late last year. The movement is still young, with three industry associations on the books and others in the works. Another group of employees always leads the charge: quality assurance.
Quality assurance, or simply QA, works long hours to play, test, and break games so that players at home never see hundreds or thousands of bugs that can affect games during their development. Big games like Call of Duty can have over 1,000 people trying to squash bugs, often under harsh conditions.
QA staff across the industry often describe their work as undervalued, with low pay and brutal overtime. Many work on a contract basis, meaning they have no job security and face challenges in developing their careers. QA staff say they feel stressed and exploited. The video game industry is set to generate $60 billion in revenue by 2021, according to the Electronic Software Association, but some QA employees told Polygon they can’t go to the office.
Despite this, most QA staff are passionate about their jobs and want to advance in the industry. And that’s why they’re trying to change it.
The first video game association was not just QA or contract staff; it was Beast Breaker to develop Vodeo Games’ historic partnership to win in 2021, which included the entire studio. Activision Blizzard QA staff at Raven Software began their corporate drive following, and began breaking into, the company’s largest, video game company. After a long back-and-forth with Activision Blizzard, the group, calling itself the Game Workers Alliance, won their union vote. Dragon Age 4 QA staff at Keywords Studios planned the following, confirming their partnership with the Alberta Labor Board in June. Now, a third group of QA staff – also with Activision Blizzard – are making a joint push under Blizzard Albany, the studio formerly known as Vicarious Visions that worked on Activision’s Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater games. It’s a unique era for the video game industry, built on years of planning that came before it. And like other industries, it has been the most vulnerable workers who are in charge.
“This is part of a larger group of work that’s going on,” Keywords Studios QA employee James Russwurm told Polygon. “We have Starbucks workers taking the United States by storm […] and the same with Amazon workers. Because of the economic pressure, you’re really seeing low-wage workers hit hard. It’s like we’re trying to find all the bugs at work, and make sure we fix them.”
Indeed, union election complaints are up 56%, the National Labor Relations Board reported last week – more election complaints were filed in the first three quarters of 2022 than in 2021 combined. Starbucks, for example, had zero unionized stores at the start of 2021. There are now more than 170 stores registering to vote, according to Vox.
At many companies, QA staff were seen as expendable and easily replaceable, so that there were always new people ready to take their place.
“A lot of studios take advantage of that demand,” Russwurm said. “They are telling you – but not directly – that there are 300 applicants behind you who want to take your position because of the industry we work in, because they are passionate.”
QA is also considered an entry-level position that requires less experience than, say, engineering. But QA analysts say that’s not true; it is a unique area that covers all aspects of development.
“I want to speak to us as gatekeepers,” Blizzard Albany QA tester Ryan Claudy told Polygon. “QA signs off on everything before it starts. We’re the last to see it.”
When Call of Duty: Warzone QA testers went on strike in January, the significance was clear: Players complained about bugs that were widespread at the time, and some QA staff pointed to the strike as the reason.
“When push comes to shove, when the QA people get together and step up, we’re seeing win after win,” Blizzard chief engineer Valentine Powell told Polygon in an interview earlier this year. “Everyone who works in game dev understands the importance of QA. We can’t ship our games without them.”
Following the Raven Software merger announcement, Activision Blizzard vowed to transition all of its US-based QA workers to full-time jobs with benefits, raising their pay to $20 an hour — a significant jump for a group that typically pays close to minimum wage. Organizers believe that unions can also help these full-time workers, people who have received better benefits that they want to keep in the future. The union contract for Blizzard Albany workers, for example, could lock in the extra benefits Activision Blizzard offered QA workers earlier this year, Claudy said, and change other things, too.
Video game industry officials expect the push to expand out into the video game industry as a whole.
“Our effort here to collaborate is not about brand recognition,” Claudy from Blizzard Albany said. “Yes, that is what we are starting, but that is not the goal. We want the whole studio to come together. We want everything from Activision Blizzard to come together. We want the whole industry, because we want everyone to get better treatment and better wages. “
