Double Fine, the studio behind Psychonauts, is now the 14th gaming team at Microsoft to form a union.
Developers at the well-established studio Double Fine, which joined Microsoft in 2018, are taking steps to form a union. Known for their work on titles like Psychonauts and the recently launched pottery battle game Kiln on Game Pass, the team filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board on May 7, representing 42 full-time and part-time employees. They are seeking an election and have also requested voluntary recognition from Microsoft.
“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,” stated the Communications Workers of America, which is advocating for the Double Fine employees. “Alongside the request for voluntary recognition, workers have filed an election petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to secure union representation. We appreciate that Microsoft has taken a neutral stance and agreed not to interfere with workers’ rights to organize unions.”
The union movement in the U.S. gaming industry gained momentum at Activision Blizzard following a workplace reckoning that began in 2021. Microsoft’s acquisition of the publisher later on helped accelerate labor organizing, largely due to a neutrality agreement made with CWA to facilitate the sale. Unions have since emerged within the Overwatch and Diablo teams at Blizzard, as well as at ZeniMax Online and Bethesda Game Studios. Recently, id Software, known for the Doom franchise, also unionized.
Founded by Tim Schafer after leaving LucasArts in 2000, Double Fine’s unionization marks a significant step for Microsoft’s gaming division, particularly among its standalone studios. Unlike teams that were integrated into the Xbox first-party lineup through major acquisitions, Double Fine, Undead Labs, and others were brought in through individual purchases of independent studios. The only segment of Xbox first-party development teams that has yet to see unionization is Microsoft’s homegrown teams, such as The Coalition and Halo Studios.
Schafer’s team is the first to unionize at Xbox under the new CEO, Asha Sharma. The CWA is currently working to re-establish its previous labor neutrality agreement, which expired in 2025. Double Fine’s efforts will reveal whether Sharma is as supportive of unions as her predecessor, Phil Spencer, appeared to be in public. The petition was submitted just two weeks after the release of Kiln, Double Fine’s latest genre-blending title. While it’s enjoyable, it hasn’t made much of a splash on Steam, similar to last year’s unique adventure game Keeper. It’s likely that both titles have seen more playtime on Game Pass.
Concerns have been raised about Double Fine’s future as Sharma reassesses Microsoft’s gaming business. However, chief content officer Matt Booty indicated in February that the studio remains a vital part of the Xbox portfolio. “Our ecosystem is built to be a portfolio of everything from small games to ongoing franchises to big blockbusters,” he noted at the time. “We’re designed to create everything from Kiln to Call of Duty, and from Minecraft to South of Midnight. That’s fundamental to our structure.”
