Id Software devs form "wall-to-wall" union, with 165 workers at Doom studio the latest to vote in favour

“Remote work isn’t a perk"

Doom and Quake studio id Software are now home to a "wall-to-wall" union according to the Communications Workers of America (CWA). The organisation have announced that a group of 165 id workers have just voted to unionise, adding to the ranks of the 300 ZeniMax quality assurance staff who unionised back in 2023.

According to the CWA's press release, Microsoft have already recognised this latest union - which is made up of "developers, artists, programmers, and more" - in accordance with the labour neutrality agreement the two parties agreed in 2022.

"The wall-to-wall organizing effort at id Software was much needed; it’s incredibly important that developers across the industry unite to push back on all the unilateral workplace changes that are being handed down from industry executives," said id Software producer and CWA organising committee member Andrew Willis.

Meanwhile, id lead services programmer and CWA committee member Chris Hays specifically cited remote staff not being dragged into the office as a reason behind the push for representation. "Remote work isn’t a perk," he said. "It’s a necessity for our health, our families, and our access needs. RTO policies should not be handed down from executives with no consideration for accessibility or our well-being."

The CWA release also cited "mass industry layoffs, sudden periods of crunch time, and unfair pay" as part of the impetus behind a wider push towards unionisation among devs across the industry this year, adding that the total of unionised workers across Microsoft's fiefdom is now "nearly 4,000" strong.

CWA president Ron Swaggerty added that the union "look forward to sitting across the table from Microsoft to negotiate a contract that reflects the skill, creativity, and dedication these workers bring to every project."

If you want to learn more about the CWA's unionisation efforts as the games industry's suits and moneyfolk continue to lob developers out of windows with depressing regularity, give this interview Nic did a read.

Meanwhile, members of the "industry-wide union" the CWA announced earlier this year held a protest outside of The Game Awards yesterday, with their aim being to "to acknowledge the video games and studios that have been closed and to also condemn the creativity that’s been crushed by corporate greed and studio executives".

Solidarity to these id Software workers.