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The Activision-Blizzard labor scandal turned into a snowball that keeps rolling and getting bigger. Right now, it is impossible to cover the sun with a finger and as the days go by new scandals, controversies and even lawsuits are added. Although the purchase by Microsoft has been considered as a separate issue, the Federal Trade Commission reacted to the protests of the employees and even to the requests of Senators to take the labor problem into consideration. Well, an Activision developer showed that workers are willing to blow up the purchase if it doesn’t bring them benefits.
Activision dev fears Microsoft purchase will give managers more power
Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision-Blizzard is already under review by the FTC and part of this process includes listening to everyone involved. Recently, FTC Director Lina Kahn and a representative from the US Department of Justice held a hearing attended by Activision developer Brice Arnold, who works in the area of video game design research. In this meeting, the creative was hard and blunt with the situation that prevails in the company and pointed out that there is fear among the workers that the purchase by Microsoft not only does not change things, but ends up giving Bobby more power Kotick and the directors, the above when seeing that the efforts to make them leave the company have been unsuccessful.
Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision will reshape the video gaming industry — and not for the better.
Bryce Arnold, an Activision-Blizzard worker, explains more about the harms of consolidation in the industry 👇 pic.twitter.com/BEpNJtj3eU
— American Economic Liberties Project (@econliberties) May 12, 2022
Brice Arnold points out that the purchase should be blocked if it does not bring employment benefits
Subsequently, Brice Arnold presented his perspective on the situation and closed by asking the FTC and the Department of Justice that if it is proven that the acquisition will not bring changes and well-being to the workers, then it should be blocked: “my skills and experience as a researcher in Activision’s Design Department are quite specialized in the video game industry Given the ongoing consolidation in the industry, there are fewer potential employers for my specialized skills Video game workers already face many problems in our jobs, same that are made worse because employers have even more power We are consistently paid less despite having the same job title and experience level as workers in other tech industries If the Microsoft acquisition is bad for workers, it should be blocked or, in that case, it must make efforts to guarantee improvements obligatory”.
The latest information from Activision-Blizzard refers to the remarkable progress of the fight of the 30 workers of Raven, study of Call of Duty: Warzone, who are close to forming the first union in a company of this size. Activision’s response has been on 2 fronts, first by begging workers to vote “no” to unionization and on the other by threatening negative consequences after the formation of a union.
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Related Video: SPECIALS – What’s Happening at Activision Blizzard?
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