Bethesda Game Studios employees form a ‘wall-to-wall’ union

Employees at Bethesda Game Studios — the Microsoft-owned game developer that produces the Elder Scrolls and Fallout franchises — are joining the Communications Workers of America union.

Quality assurance testers at Bethesda’s parent organization ZeniMax unionized last year, becoming Microsoft’s first official union in the United States. In its announcement, the CWA calls Bethesda's new union “the first wall-to-wall union at a Microsoft game studio,” because it stretches across development teams and job titles, including artists, engineers, programmers, and designers.

The CWA says the union will represent a total of 241 workers who have either signed a union card or indicated that they want to join via an online portal. It also says Microsoft has recognized the union (a voluntary step that avoids an election and precedes the actual contract negotiation).

A Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement that the company supports “employees’ right to choose how they are represented in the workplace” and that it “will engage in good faith negotiations with the CWA.”

“We are so excited to announce our union at Bethesda Game Studios and join the movement sweeping across the video game industry,” said Mandi Parker, a senior system designer at Bethesda, in a statement. “It is clear that every worker can benefit from bringing democracy into the workplace and securing a protected voice on the job.”