Summary
- Activision QA staff who worked on Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 recently staged a walkout over the company's return-to-office policy which limits remote work options.
- Employee union ABetterABK deemed the policy unfair and harmful for disabled employees and those with medical conditions requiring remote work.
- Activision is actively engaging in "ongoing" discussions with affected employees, but nothing has come of it so far.
Activision staff responsible for quality assurance on Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 recently staged a walkout to protest the company's return-to-office policy. Supported by the Communications Workers of America (CWA), the strike was driven by growing frustrations over the policy's impact on the Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 developers who rely on remote work accommodations.
Earlier this year, Activision levied a strict return-to-office policy for the quality assurance (QA) team at its Eden Prairie, Minnesota studio, putting an end to years of remote and hybrid work options. The move was criticized by Activision's largest union, which labeled it a "soft layoff." For employees with medical conditions or accessibility needs, this shift to in-office work has proven especially difficult, leading to an ongoing dispute that reached a head last Friday, coinciding with the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.
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Backed by the CWA, Activision's employee advocacy group ABetterABK issued a statement last Friday about its return-to-office policy, describing it as "unequal" and arguing that it has unfairly harmed disabled employees and those who require remote work accommodations. The CWA claims that Activision's policy forces in-office work even for individuals with serious medical conditions who have submitted doctors' recommendations to work from home. According to ABetterABK, the company's repeated denial of these requests for flexibility is creating a difficult work environment and hurting employees' well-being.
Internal Activision Email Contradicts the Company's Stance on Remote Work
The walkout was further fueled by a recent internal email from Activision celebrating National Disability Employment Awareness Month. The email depicted a disabled individual working remotely, which ABetterABK says contradicts the company’s refusal to extend remote work options for employees with medical conditions. ABetterABK representatives also highlighted that the same QA staff involved in the protest worked on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 which was Activision’s most profitable release and completed entirely remotely.
An Activision spokesperson recently issued a statement to Eurogamer acknowledging that the return to office has been "an adjustment for some." The company mentioned that it is still engaged in an "interactive process" with employees who have requested accommodations, but even after all this time, Activision workers have yet to report any meaningful changes in policy. With Bethesda Game Studios and World of Warcraft devs over at Blizzard also unionizing a few months ago, this seems to be a period of intense change for worker rights across the games industry. It comes as no surprise, either, since the industry has seen an estimated 13,000 layoffs in 2024 so far with no relent in sight.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 83 /100 Critics Rec: 91%
- Released
- October 25, 2024
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Suggestive Themes, Strong Language, Use of Drugs
- Developer(s)
- Treyarch, Raven Software
- Publisher(s)
- Activision
- Engine
- IW 9.0
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
- Cross-Platform Play
- Yes - PlayStation, Xbox, PC
WHERE TO PLAY
Forced to go rogue. Hunted from within. This is Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.
Developed by Treyarch and Raven, Black Ops 6 is a spy action thriller set in the early 90s, a period of transition and upheaval in global politics, characterized by the end of the Cold War and the rise of the United States as a single superpower. With a mind-bending narrative, and unbound by the rules of engagement, this is signature Black Ops.
The Black Ops 6 Campaign provides dynamic moment-to-moment gameplay that includes a variety of play spaces with blockbuster set pieces and action-packed moments, high-stakes heists, and cloak-and-dagger spy activity.
In a best-in-class Multiplayer experience, players will test their skills across 16 new maps at launch, including 12 core 6v6 maps and 4 Strike maps that can be played 2v2 or 6v6.
Black Ops 6 also marks the epic return of Round-Based Zombies, the fan-favorite mode where players will take down hordes of the undead in two brand-new maps at launch. Post-launch, players can look forward to even more exciting maps and groundbreaking experiences dropping into both Multiplayer and Zombies.
- Cross Save
- Yes - PlayStation, Xbox, PC
- Prequel(s)
- Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, Call of Duty: Black Ops III, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Call of Duty: World at War
- Franchise
- Call of Duty
- Number of Players
- 1-4
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Unknown
- PC Release Date
- October 25, 2024
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
- October 25, 2024
- PS5 Release Date
- October 25, 2024
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PC
- Genre(s)
- FPS
- How Long To Beat
- 8 Hours
- X|S Optimized
- Yes
- File Size Xbox Series
- 216 GB (October 2024)
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
