In stark juxtaposition to the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, the series' biggest hit in years, Activision quality assurance testers who worked on the game are striking in protest of the company's return-to-work mandate. Around 30 employees at Activision's QA studio in Eden Prarie, Minnesota, walked off the job on Friday, managing to attract the attention of local media.
Relayed by Eurogamer, Activision staff were told in January that, regardless of doctor's recommendations or severe medical conditions, they all must return to the office, which workers group ABetterABK described as an "unequal policy." Friday's strike was timed to coincide with the launch of Black Ops 6, which seems to be a particularly strong entry in the long-running series. Speaking to Fox 9, one member of the QA team said: "We work on Call of Duty; we were part of the QA team that worked on Black Ops 6 that just released today. We have worked on Modern Warfare 2, the most profitable game the company ever released - and that was done remotely."
What do you think of the sorry state of the industry spilling over into the mainstream news? Is it a bit rich for Activision to enforce a return-to-office order when its biggest releases were made, at least in part, with the aid of remote workers? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
[source x.com, via eurogamer.net]
Comments 51
lol , be happy they have a job. They probably need them back so that supervisors, janitors, cafeteria workers etc don’t be out of a job i guess
Insane to demand workers with chronic illness return to office work. The great thing about modern development is that work can be done from home, a well-documented, well-planned project can be developed from anywhere. This is QA staff for God’s sake, what use is a blanket mandate for in-person work? If you screw over brilliant minds due to physical illnesses, you’re only making your team worse off.
Solidarity with the strikers!
Return-to-office mandates are stupid. The world has learned many jobs don't need to involve a commute or giant office buildings. The people in charge are afraid of change, so usually make up some excuse like "our culture is in danger of being lost" or "we are stronger together," but the real reason is they don't know how to manage others effectively.
“Activision has QA testers?” I mean, someone had to make the joke.
This one is actually pretty good but wait until the money for pop star DLC starts becoming the main goal rather than launching a game with bootable PC campaign.
On one hand, games industry jobs are highly sought after so they're in a great position, whether on-site or not.
But on the other, an office mandate feels like a way of policing or having eyes on a workforce, which can be done remotely, if even required. Having worked remotely and on site myself, my own stance is that as long as the work is completed on time and in full, location or shift pattern isn't important.
Seems odd all these companies demanding return to the office. You'd assume game development is perfectly suited for remote working. I hope the people demanding it have stronger reasons other than a nostalgic desire for the good old days.
The days of working from home are over, so many companies and government agencies around the world are demanding workers come back.
The plus side is, those small businesses, cafes and hospitality venues that have struggled(if they survived) will hopefully get foot traffic back in their doors
The fact that people here are siding with freaking ACTIVISION is WILD
I'd strike too if I was working at Activision.
Funny and mostly unrelated story, but I was on TV for my work too recently enough. Of course, I wasn’t on strike. Oh no, my son and I were doing a skit on how to make costumes using a box and moving supplies. An early morning PR thing, was quite fun.
Now, back on topic: how did Activision employees not go one strike years ago under old Bobby? It’s about time QA retaliate against Activision! Though, I did have an experience with Activision QA years ago, back in 2020 when my account was hacked and sold to someone in Saudi Arabia. The QA team made Sony’s customer service seem golden. I haven’t bought an Activision game since the debacle. Since my personal information was compromised, I would say that I perhaps got the most aggressive I’d ever gotten with a company. Their solution was deleting my entire account, which invalidated my purchases with said account. Not very good quality assurance, if you ask me. Hopefully the department is better now than it was. Or hopefully the supervisory staff was canned when MS bought the company. I dunno. I hope for the best for anyone that’s struggling in this economy, even if I had a bad experience with the particular team. QA, of all things, was the thing that slipped most during COVID and is the thing that perhaps needs the greatest return in all industries… that and general customer service.
@somnambulance QA teams don’t deal in customer service roles & enquiries. They try to find as many bugs & inconsistencies as possible before the game ships & test patches & DLC etc.
If the company asks you to work from office, you work from office. Or you can find another employer if you feel unsatisfied.
These jobs don't need to be in office there playing the game not building it they literally submit a report when finding a problem even when in a office they don't go directly to a person it's done through email mostly
It was difficult to micro manage over zoom and emails. Narcissists need close proximity to their victims.
If someone is able to work from home and has a chronic illness then its pretty harsh they are being forced to the office, especially if their productivity is the same. For these workers, do what they say and go to the office even if you have COVID or something spreadable, just to teach Activision a lesson.
Call of Protest: Strike Ops 6
If i went on strike at my place id be told not to bother coming back to work lol. They would ship others from other branches to cover the shortfall. Sometimes its easier to just be "that number" and collect a pay cheque at the end of the month.
@Czar_Khastik Protest of Duty 😂
The amount of unempathetic people in here is seriously sickening.
You're so f*****g brainwashed by society and miserable that everyone has to suffer like you do, right?
Can't be happy or side with someone fighting for their rights?
No, let's lick the corporation's boot and pretend these workers are entitled whiners.
I swear some people has no humanity left in them.
I normally would say don't ask father for money when he just lost his job, but lets be honest, Activision Blizzard makes stupid amounts of money. But real talk who still plays Cod. The game has been the same crap for years.
@Czar_Khastik @Kidfunkadelic83
Slack Ops!!!
See what kind of company you COD fanboys support.
I have no sympathy to Activision, but I wonder, how easily can you get a doctor's recommendation to work from home?
We in year 2024 most jobs can be done from home we don't need to be in office anymore COVID taught us that only reason anyone wants u in a office is to micro manage.
Seems like mandating people you pay to come back to work is almost equal to literally killing people. 😅
On another note Activision/Blizzard is the embodiment of corporate greed. So in a sense no one/everyone wins. 😋
@nomither6 that’s a really good point and one I hadn’t thought of. I guess people working in offices keeps many other people in work
This comment section is a great example of why this industry is in shambles lol
You deserve Live Service games.
@pukana I was dealing with them because they were trying to figure out how my account got hacked and bought and sold. Activision does not seem to have a very large customer service department, so they forwarded me to QA directly when they couldn’t help me. It may have been because customer service was ignoring me and I started submitting complaints to various consumer advocacy groups to try to get a response. The whole experience was messy and made me feel like Activision just didn’t address concerns, but tossed people around if something happened. It took four months for them to wipe my account and start it from scratch, just so my personal info wasn’t compromised anymore. I’m definitely not arguing that they should’ve been dealing with my complaint directly with me. Activision should have had trained customer service staff to not pass me to a different department that isn’t geared toward talking to customers. Like I said, given the company’s disorganization, it’s about time they strike! After Bobby’s era, it was a long time coming. Hope Activision gets better from it.
Without knowing any of the facts beyond this threadbare article on the situation, it's impossible to take a stance either way. It's quite disturbing to see one particular comment here so full of vitriol for views and people they don't agree with, about a situation they know so little about.
I can understand why they'd want a 'Return to Office' in this type of industry with the potential for leaks etc. Just because the company allowed you to do something under certain circumstances, doesn't mean they can or should allow it ALL the time.
With the potential leaks and their code, assets etc, I can understand why they may want to minimise the risk and have them all come to the 'office'. They can ensure that only the 'testers' see and 'test' the game, have more 'control' over the test and potentially more efficiency and security over their pre-released content.
Not EVERY person can work from home - just because they had to 'make it work' during a Pandemic when the situation forced them to, doesn't mean that it 'worked' well, efficiently and/or as securely. In fact, I'd be willing to bet it was the cause of many delays, missed deadlines, leaks etc. How many games were 'delayed' due to working from home over that 'Covid' period that added on a LOT more cost to every Game being developed.
At the end of the day, the company can decide if they want people into the office to work or allow you to Work from Home. It is 'not a right' for everyone!!
I understand illness etc. but my god get a grip with reality and get back in the office to work and stop being so entitled. People today 🙄
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Let's see who bites 🤭
RTO is just the nature of beast. Yeah it sucks that you now have to disrupt your perfect work life balance. Move back to the city. Instead of living in the middle of nowhere. Jacking up the cost of living for the people who lived there for generations, forcing them to leave town. Now you have to go back to waking up 3 hours before your shift starts cause you need to sit in heavy traffic. Have to go back to paying a baby sitter to look after your unruly spawns…. Etc
devs always moaning about something! dont like your company polices then leave and find one you do like, freedom is great like that
It’s like people with entry level jobs striking for a living wage…. Then complaining about inflation. If you’re unhappy with your pay or job requirements either git gud and get a promotion or find a new job.
By the look of all those "standing" around and not a wheel chair in sight, all I see are people who need of a shower, shave, and probably deodorant too. Have some self respect and representation if you're going to protest, look professional and get treated as such.
I get protesting the mandate and I agree..but... ever since the pandemic, every single game/update on COD games have been atrocious.. maybe that could be a reason..
@Drago201 yeah but if they were hired on originally to do the job on-site in the regular office environment, they should expect to have to come back to it eventually. I do understand that a lot of this work can easily be done remotely so I'm not arguing that.
@Bigmanfan it’s not about siding with activsion. It’s about siding against sloth. There’s a dude in that video protesting with a “home sweet home” sign for Christ sake.
Wow these 'workers' are very hard done by having to work from a office.
Count me as one of those people that is less productive WFH. But I'm also commenting on this video while at the main office, so...
@HRdepartment I literally don't care what they're protesting. If it's against Activision, they're probably in the right. And I'm not in support of people being lazy, but we as a society deserve better than the working conditions demanded by these large companies. Activision notoriously treats their workforce like garbage, and they have the right to demand better. Plain and simple.
@Bigmanfan I wonder what the working conditions for play testing video games is. Gotta be a dark dank dungeon with humidity off the charts and sweltering heat with pythons and other dangerous predators freely roaming about.
I've been back in the office since 2021 and haven't complained, so forgive me for not having a ton of sympathy for QA testers on strike at the end of 2024.
If you want to work from home, find a job that lets you do it. Otherwise, go to the office and get back to work. No one is forcing these people to work at this specific job.
@TicklefistCP exactly. Not to mention most were probably perfectly fine before the pandemic going to the office.
@Psofo simple fact. There are plenty of workers who will gladly go to an office and earn a living if that's what the company wants.
Think not allowing people with medical conditions to work from home is just cruel. Hope they get what they want.
Pre-covid: Working in the office is normal and expected.
Post-covid: "HOW DARE YOU RETURN TO HOW IT ORIGINALLY WAS! I AM ENTITLED TO WORK FROM HOME!"
My work has taken the hybrid approach, depending on your productivity and work ethic, you "earn" the privilege to work from home. If you screw up, it's taken away. I get to work from home 4 out of the 5 days of the week and I can choose to go in as needed.
WFH is a privilege, not a right. If you are actually disabled to the point where you can't physically go to the office, then you need to tell your employer you're looking elsewhere.
@MBalz_EsHari literally this. Almost every update has brought issues after issues and the home QA testing clearly isn't working very well. If you don't play cod you wouldn't feel these issues, but something needs to change
@clvr
OMG the drama…
I’m sick of whiny people striking over not being allowed to work from home as much as they want (or at all).
I DO agree that if people aren’t allowed to work from home even if they have a medical condition prohibiting it, well that plain sucks.
But I bet a ton of ppl not having issues are going out of their way to get a doctor to say they do. It was semi-common before, and most likely more common these days.
So many entitled people out there. I know a bunch myself. I worked as a nurse for 16 years, no working from home for me!
But the last couple of years I’ve worked in IT. First it was 100% from home. These days it’s perhaps 20-30% from home and 70-80% at work.
If my employer told me to work 100% @work I would do so without complaining about it. ’Cause I’m a grown man and I understand that employers aren’t pulling ppl back in to work just to be mean 🤦🏻♂️
@RamboMike yeah everyone is an entitled whiner, it's not you that are bitter.
It's always the same story in every comment section regarding strikes, people brainwashed by this workaholic culture who go against their own interest and belittle their fellow workers for...what reason exactly? Bitterness? Envy?
I'm freaking tired of seeing this crap as well, so what?
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