More than 450 Blizzard developers working on Diablo have voted unanimously to unionize under the Communications Workers of America (CWA).
The newly formed union represents Diablo franchise professionals including developers, artists, designers, engineers, and support personnel, receiving official recognition from Microsoft, Blizzard's parent company.
"During successive waves of layoffs, I've seen my colleagues' anxiety deepen—no matter how hard we work, job security feels uncertain," explained Kelly Yeo, a game producer and organizing committee member. "Forming this union fills me with hope. It's our entry into an industry-wide movement rejecting workplace instability. Together with our Diablo team, we're prepared to advocate for meaningful reform."
Microsoft's gaming division faced significant cuts earlier this year, eliminating approximately 9,100 positions including Activision Blizzard staff.
The Diablo team joins numerous unionized colleagues across Activision Blizzard and Xbox, benefiting from Microsoft's labor neutrality policy. Their move mirrors last year's World of Warcraft unionization and May's Overwatch developer union. Other Microsoft-affiliated unions include Raven Software (contract ratified this month), Zenimax QA (May agreement), Bethesda employees, narrative teams, and multiple other groups.
Microsoft's unionized workforce under CWA now exceeds 3,500 employees.
