Following another round of mass layoffs and studio upheavals at Xbox, Communications Workers of America has filed unfair labor practice charges against Microsoft with the National Labor Relations Board. The CWA accuses Microsoft of bad faith bargaining, coercive actions, contract repudiation and failing to provide notice to employees, according to the charge on the NLRB site. The case was filed on July 15 in the United States, and CWA Canada is taking legal action against Microsoft as well, as reported by Game Developer.
On July 6, Microsoft announced it would immediately cut 1,600 jobs across its Xbox division, with plans to lose another 1,600 employees over the coming fiscal year. The layoffs hit Activision, Blizzard, King, Mojang, Xbox Game Studios and ZeniMax, which covers Arkane, Bethesda, id Software, MachineGames and ZeniMax Online. Microsoft also sold off four Xbox studios — Compulsion Games, Double Fine, Ninja Theory and Undead Labs — and it’s reportedly considering shutting down Arkane. Microsoft laid off an additional 3,200 people beyond the Xbox division that same day.
CWA represents hundreds of employees at Xbox studios in the United States and Canada, and the labor union covers 3,500 people across the video game industry. Video game employees started unionization efforts in earnest in late 2021, and Microsoft studios have led the charge in the AAA sphere.
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