Daily Briefing: Monday 24th January

Raven Software developers have voted to unionise

The Activision Blizzard news really does just keep coming these days, doesn’t it? This time around, a group of quality assurance testers at Call of Duty Warzone developer Raven Software are officially looking to unionise with the Communication Workers of America. The Game Workers Alliance, which currently has around 34 members, have asked parent company Activision Blizzard to officially recognise the union, which would make it not only the first ever union at Activision Blizzard, but also the first at any major North American gamedev studio.

• According to a CWA statement released to Polygon, 78% of eligible QA workers voted to support the unionisation effort. Following the vote to unionise, the Game Workers Alliance announced that their strike action, which had been ongoing since December 2021 when Activision Blizzard laid off one third of Raven’s QA department, would be ending. The group announced they are “acting in good faith” in calling off the strike, and also confirmed that any unused strike funds will be used to fund any future strike or collective organisation efforts.

Halo Infinite can’t replace items lost during server outages

Here’s a bit of a weird one that must just add to developer 343 Industries’ ongoing list of community satisfaction woes. Halo Infinite was recently affected by server outages and, though these are an unavoidable reality of online gaming, Infinite’s outages were particularly egregious for anyone who had an XP Boost active during them. XP boosters in Halo Infinite run in real-time, not in-game time, so the game being down meant that players’ boosts were just ticking away with no benefit.

• This not may not sound like a huge deal, but it should be noted that XP Boosts are some of the most substantial rewards players can earn in Halo Infinite, and earning them takes a bit of effort. A lot of players were hoping to be reimbursed for boosts lost during downtime, something that other liveservice games tend to do when a significant issue or outage occurs, but 343 Industries have confirmed that they don’t have “the ability to give or replace the XP boosts.” Players are pretty upset with not only the initial loss of XP, but the dismissive attitude with which 343 have approach rectifying it. A prevailing believe in the community at the moment is that the XP boosts should relate to time spent in-game, rather than real-time.

Phil Spencer has a long list of Activision IP he’d like to bring back

Heading back over to the Activision Blizzard side of things, professional hype man and soon-to-be king of the entire games industry Phil Spencer has been chatting about which Activision Blizzard properties he’s excited to bring back. Speaking in a new interview with the Washington Post, Spencer touched on the future of Activision Blizzard’s slate of older IP, saying "I was looking at the IP list, I mean, let’s go!. King’s Quest, Guitar Hero... I should know this but I think they got Hexen." Activision do indeed own Hexen (Raven Software developed it back in the early 90s), they also oversee everything from the Sierra brand to Star Control, Crash Bandicoot, and Prototype.

• As for what Spencer is hoping to do with all this IP, he told the Washington Post that Microsoft will be holding talks with their studios about working on older properties that have been locked away in Activision’s dusty archive. These talks will include outfits like Toys for Bob and Raven Software, who have were recently relegated to being Call of Duty support studios. Spencer said "we’re hoping that we’ll be able to work with them when the deal closes to make sure we have resources to work on franchises that I love from my childhood and that the teams really want to get. I’m looking forward to these conversations. I really think it’s about adding resources and increasing capability." Neat.