Boston Activision Studio Employees Announce Unionization

The majority of employees at the newly purchased studio Proletariat by video game publisher Activision Blizzard Inc (NASDAQ:ATVI) announced on Tuesday that they are creating a union with the Communications Workers of America.

The Boston-based firm would become the third Activision Blizzard unit to seek unionization.

The 57 members of the Proletariat unit, which includes animators, designers, engineers, producers, and quality assurance employees, have filed with the National Labor Relations Board for a union election (NLRB).

Activision stated that it has received the petition and will respond to the NLRB in the coming days.

Activision announced in early July that it has hired Proletariat to boost the production pipeline for its massively multiplayer online role-playing game "World of Warcraft."

Workers who test games at Activision's affiliate Blizzard Albany have decided to become a union, months after the firm launched unionization negotiations with employees at its Wisconsin operation.

Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) has agreed to acquire Call of Duty developer Activision for $69 billion, despite antitrust opposition from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the European Union, and the Competition and Markets Authority of the United Kingdom.