Double Fine Workers File to Unionize With CWA, Becoming the 14th Microsoft Gaming Studio to Organize

Overview

Workers at Double Fine Productions, the San Francisco studio behind Psychonauts, filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board on May 7 to form a union with the Communications Workers of America, according to Aftermath. The petition covers all 42 regular part-time and full-time employees at the Microsoft-owned developer, and the workers are simultaneously seeking voluntary recognition from the company while pursuing an NLRB election, as reported by Engadget.

The filing makes Double Fine the 14th gaming team at Microsoft to organize a union, according to Kotaku.

What We Know

The CWA announced the filing in a statement quoted by multiple outlets. “On May 7, the workers at Microsoft studio Double Fine Productions announced their decision to form a union with CWA to preserve and extend the studio’s commitments to creative excellence, diversity and inclusion, and worker quality of life,” the union said, as reported by Aftermath. The same statement added: “In tandem with requesting voluntary recognition from the company, workers have also filed an election petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to secure union representation.”

The petition was filed with the NLRB’s San Francisco regional office, where Double Fine is headquartered, per Game Rant. The bargaining unit covers 42 part-time and full-time employees, a figure confirmed by Shacknews, Engadget, Aftermath, and TheSixthAxis.

Microsoft has not opposed the effort. “We appreciate that Microsoft has taken a neutral approach and agreed not to interfere in any way with worker’s rights to organize unions,” the CWA said in the same statement, as quoted by Engadget. Microsoft and the CWA negotiated a broader labor neutrality agreement in 2022, though Aftermath notes that the agreement has since lapsed. Game Rant reports that Microsoft is maintaining its neutrality stance toward the Double Fine effort despite the expiration of the formal pact.

A Pattern Across Microsoft’s Gaming Studios

Double Fine joins a growing list of Microsoft-owned gaming studios that have organized with the CWA. Engadget lists the unionized teams as including more than 500 workers on Blizzard’s World of Warcraft team in 2024, around 200 developers on Blizzard’s Overwatch team, quality assurance workers at ZeniMax, and more than 450 developers on Blizzard’s Diablo team in August 2025. Kotaku lists Bethesda Game Studios, id Software, and ZeniMax Online among the other unionized teams.

Founded by Tim Schafer in 2000 after he left LucasArts, per Kotaku, Double Fine joined Microsoft in 2019, according to Engadget. The studio’s recent releases include Psychonauts 2, Keeper, and Kiln, Engadget notes.

What We Don’t Know

Neither the CWA’s statement nor the coverage names individual Double Fine workers who led the organizing effort, and no Double Fine executive has been quoted publicly responding to the petition. Microsoft has not issued a separate statement of its own on the Double Fine filing beyond the neutrality position relayed through the CWA. The timeline for an NLRB election — if the company does not grant voluntary recognition — has not been disclosed.

The broader question of whether Microsoft will renew or replace its 2022 neutrality framework with the CWA also remains open. Aftermath notes that while the studio-level neutrality has held for Double Fine, the formal company-wide agreement has lapsed, leaving each subsequent organizing drive subject to ad-hoc cooperation rather than a binding pact.