The ‘wizards’ behind the online version of Magic: the Gathering are unionizing | US unions
Magic: The Gathering draws for an alliance. Game developers at popular digital and desktop studio Wizards of the Coasta subsidiary of Hasbro that develops online versions of the popular card game and Dungeons & Dragons, plans to join the Communications Workers of America.
Workers announced their intention to unionize to join the CWA on Monday. Thousands organized The number of employees in the technology and video game industry in recent years largest certified union Represents 600 quality assurance employees at Activision in the US video game industry in 2024.
More than 100 game designers, programmers, producers, artists and other employees at the studio will be represented by the bargaining unit, and workers say they have overwhelming support. They are seeking voluntary recognition, but have also filed a petition for union election with the National Labor Relations Board and have offered to withdraw the petition if they are granted voluntary recognition by May 1.
Workers cited termination protections, remote work protections, productive AI protections for workers, sustainable workloads, and defined career progressions as some of the issues driving unionization efforts.
The Wizards of the Coast studio, headquartered in Renton, Washington, has faced several layoffs in recent years. Approximately 30 employees were laid off in March 2025 and major layoffs It affected 1,100 workers at Hasbro in December 2023.
Rogue Kessler, the studio’s designer, explained that unionization efforts at the studio have increased in response to the recent return-to-office mandate, in which remote workers were told they would have to move to Washington or lose their jobs.
“We have people living all over the country, and many of those people were hired remotely in the first place. They’ve never been to Washington. They’ve never lived here, and now all of a sudden they’re being told they have to move to Seattle, uproot their families, sell their homes, and move here within two years or lose their jobs,” Kessler said. “We’ve had a few layoffs at Hasbro and Wizards, which scared a lot of us. We’d like to see some solid guards there.”
Valentine Powell, a software engineer at the studio, said management was not being responsive in trying to resolve these issues.
“They’re not working with people on the ground, and so unionization is our best effort to fix that,” Powell said.
They added that the union is also pushing for protections and guardrails around how AI is used, arguing: “I believe AI consistently shows worse results when it comes to the product we’re trying to make. It takes longer and just hurts the end product.”
Powell warned that if initiatives such as return-to-office mandates were imposed on studio workers, it would result in the loss of many talented artists, developers and workers.
“What I want to say to our players is that the people who make you love making your game are the people that make you love making your game. The colleagues that I have here are some of the people that are really dedicated to making a very outstanding game, making their players happy, and keeping those lines of communication open. And those are the people that we’re most likely to lose if some of the initiatives go forward,” Powell said. “I truly believe the only thing that will save the gaming industry is unionization.”
Following the public announcement of the unionization effort, Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro were contacted for comment but did not immediately respond.
