According to Wccftech, 165 developers at id Software, the legendary Texas-based studio behind DOOM, have voted to form a wall-to-wall union with the Communications Workers of America (CWA). This action leverages the labor neutrality agreement Microsoft signed with the CWA to facilitate its acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Key organizers, including lead services programmer Chris Hays and producer Andrew Willis, cited protecting remote work, ensuring responsible AI use, and gaining a voice against unilateral executive decisions as primary motivations. This follows the unionization of 450 Diablo developers at Blizzard in August and comes as the ZeniMax QA union, formed in May 2025, just reached a tentative contract after two years of negotiation and a strike. The id Software union must now begin its own contract negotiation process.
The Real Drivers Behind The Vote
Look, this isn’t just about collective bargaining for higher pay. The quotes from the developers are incredibly telling. They’re fighting for control over their lives. Chris Hays called remote work a “necessity,” not a perk, directly challenging the industry’s aggressive return-to-office push. Andrew Willis talked about “longevity beyond quarterly profits.” That’s a damning statement about the modern games industry, where brutal crunch cycles and mass layoffs have become normalized. They’re unionizing for basic stability and to have a say in how AI is implemented in their work. That’s a huge, forward-looking concern. Basically, they saw the writing on the wall and decided to get a seat at the table before more disruptive changes are handed down from on high.
Microsoft’s Paradoxical Legacy
Here’s the thing: Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard might be remembered more for its labor impact than its games. To get the deal past regulators, Microsoft made that neutrality agreement with the CWA, promising not to interfere with union efforts. It was a strategic concession. But the genie is out of the bottle. That agreement created a clear, low-friction path to organization within Microsoft’s now-massive gaming empire. id Software is just the latest domino to fall. So Microsoft, in its quest to become a gaming titan, may have accidentally become the single biggest catalyst for unionization the video game industry has ever seen. Ironic, right?
The Long Road Ahead
Don’t pop the champagne just yet. Voting for the union is the easy part. As the CWA press release notes, the real battle is getting a contract signed. The ZeniMax QA workers’ two-year struggle, which included a strike, is a sobering precedent for id Software and the other newly formed unions under Microsoft. Now the real negotiation begins. Will Microsoft, despite its neutrality pledge, drag its feet at the bargaining table? Probably. Corporate inertia is a powerful force. But this vote gives the id Software developers something they didn’t have before: legal standing and collective power. It transforms them from individual employees into a formal counterparty. That changes everything.
A Tipping Point For The Industry
Caroline Pierrot, the senior VFX artist at id, nailed it: “In an industry that has proven to be very unstable… more unions means more power to the workers.” We’re witnessing a fundamental shift. For years, game devs were told their passion was the reward. Now, after endless cycles of mergers, layoffs, and burnout, that narrative is crumbling. When the studio that literally created the first-person shooter genre unionizes, it sends a message to every developer, at every studio: you can do this too. This isn’t a niche movement anymore. It’s becoming the new playbook. The question now is, which major studio is next?
