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New CA & WA pay transparency laws show Blizzard pays QA way less than Riot & Bungie

QA salaries at Blizzard are under scrutiny following new pay transparency laws.

Donovan Erskine

January 3, 2023 7:15 AM

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In the ongoing fight for workers' rights, California and Washington recently enacted new pay transparency laws that require businesses in specific industries to share the pay range for roles listed at their companies. This includes high-profile names in the gaming business, such as Blizzard, Riot Games, and Bungie. Of those three, Blizzard has the lowest rates listed for its Quality Assurance workers.

Taking a look at current listings for similar QA jobs at Riot Games (QA Engineer), Bungie (Destiny Test Lead), and Blizzard (Diablo 4 Test Lead), Blizzard is listing the lowest pay of the three. The salary range for the Blizzard role is between $49,600.00 - $91,760.00. While this is a pretty wide range, it’s below the ranges listed for Riot ($98,009 - $132,700) and Bungie ($86,000 - $108,000).

This news comes just after a year in which QA workers under the Activision Blizzard umbrella unionized in pursuit of better treatment and compensation, a massive moment in the fight for workers' rights in the gaming industry. This is just the latest piece of information that indicates a poorer overall experience for Blizzard employees compared to other titans of the video game industry. It’s also worth mentioning that the role at Blizzard requires applicants to have three years of experience leading test teams, and 1 - 3 years of management experience.

With the company now forced to share (vague) salary ranges on its job listings, it will be interesting to see if Blizzard raises rates for its QA workers as a result of the newfound scrutiny. While the revelation has stirred up quite the discussion amongst talking heads in the gaming industry, the publisher hasn’t released a statement on the matter. For the latest news on the business moves at Activision Blizzard, stick with Shacknews.

Donovan Erskine

News Editor

Donovan is a journalist from Maryland. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge film fanatic and will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_