Video Game Holding Company’s Zenimax unionized quality assurance tester announced on Friday that it has reached a temporary contract agreement with Microsoft, which acquired Zenimax in 2021.
This represents Microsoft’s first union agreement in the United States. It’s been more than two years since about 300 QA testers announced they’d be combining unions through American communications workers, and they said they’ve been negotiating with Microsoft ever since.
Bloomberg reports that the terms and conditions included a full 13.5% salary increase on July 1st. The agreement also includes already announced agreements regarding the use of AI. Members are scheduled to vote to ratify the contract on June 20th.
In a statement, QA tester and union negotiation committee member Page Branson called it “a monumental victory for all current video game workers and those who come after it.”
Zenimax QA workers first formed a union with Microsoft, but other teams have followed suit, with the CWA saying that Microsoft video game workers currently counting more than 2,000 members.