Important takeaways
- Activision QA staff working on Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 recently staged a strike over the company's return-to-the-office policy that limits telecommuting options.
- The labor union ABetterABK considered the policy to be unfair and harmful to disabled employees and those with medical conditions that require telecommuting.
- Activision is actively engaging in “ongoing” discussions with affected employees, but nothing has come of it so far.
Activision personnel responsible for quality assurance at Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 recently staged a walkout to protest the company's return-to-the-office policy. Supported by the Communications Workers of America (CWA), the strike was fueled by growing frustrations over the impact of politics on Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 developers who rely on remote accommodation.
Earlier this year, Activision implemented a strict return-to-the-office policy for the quality assurance (QA) team at its Eden Prairie, Minnesota studio, ending years of remote and hybrid work options. The move was criticized by Activision's largest union, which called it a “soft dismissal”. For employees with medical conditions or accessibility needs, this transition to office work has proven particularly difficult, leading to an ongoing dispute that came to a head on Friday, while the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.

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Backed by the CWA, Activision's employee group ABetterABK issued a statement Friday about its return-to-office policy, describing it as “unequal” and claiming it has unfairly harmed disabled employees and those who require remote accommodations. The CWA alleges that Activision's policy forces office work even for people with serious medical conditions who have submitted doctors' recommendations to work from home. According to ABetterABK, the company's repeated rejection of these requests for flexibility creates a difficult work environment and harms the employees' well-being.
Internal Activision email contradicts company's stance on telecommuting
The streak was further fueled by a recent internal Activision email celebrating National Disability Employment Awareness Month. The email depicted a disabled individual working remotely, which ABetterABK says contradicts the company's refusal to expand telecommuting options for employees with medical conditions. ABetterABK representatives also highlighted that the same QA staff involved in the protest were working with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 which was Activision's most profitable release and was completed entirely remotely.
An Activision spokesperson recently gave a statement to Eurogamer in which he acknowledged that the return to the 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 to the policy. With Bethesda Game Studios and World of Warcraft developers at Blizzard also merging a few months ago, this appears to be a period of intense change for workers' rights across the gaming industry. It comes as no surprise either, as the industry has seen an estimated 13,000 layoffs in 2024 so far with no let-up in sight.