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The latest headlining topic concerning Activision Blizzard is, in fact, not negative for a change. Sources claim that major changes are afoot for Activision Blizzard's QA staff and that the company might be taking seriously the criticisms directed against it over the past couple of months.Specifically, it would seem that Activision Blizzard is now converting all 1,100 of its quality assurance testers from contract over to full-time employees, as well as bumping up their pay by a varying degree. This information comes from none other than Jason Schreier himself, who has shared a few more tidbits of information that paint a favorable picture, for a change.Just a few days following the vaccine mandate change walkout organized at Activision Blizzard headquarters, the company may finally be taking serious steps to change certain aspects of the allegedly toxic workplace environment fostered in its offices. According to Schreier, all Activision Blizzard QA staff will soon get transferred over to full-time employment with a pay bump to at least $20/hr. An unprecedented victory for the company's QA staff, to be sure.
In another tweet, Schreier also made note of the fact that the company did already have full-time QA staff on board, and that the number of 1,100 staff members includes all-new conversions, rather than including existing positions as well. He also said that Microsoft couldn't have had anything to do with this decision, as it is legally obliged not to interfere until the acquisition goes through. On that note, Microsoft previously said that it wouldn't stop unionization at Activision Blizzard, the future of which may be uncertain given Activision's latest change of heart.
Whether employees proceed with plans of unionization or not, it's not very likely that the company changed its mind on them, as it was just over a month ago that Activision Blizzard's law firm heavily disparaged unions, saying that they were a way to exploit lazy employees and little else. In fact, the cynical take would be that this is one way in which Activision may be attempting to show that there's no need for widespread unionization after all.
Whatever the reasoning behind this might be, one thing is clear: the company's QA staff may be able to finally breathe a sigh of relief after months of headlining news. On a different, albeit related front, there remains the issue of Bobby Kotick leaving the company and receiving payouts for doing so - an agreement that even US senators now seem to oppose.