Double Fine Productions, the studio behind Psychonauts and Kiln, is set to become the latest Microsoft-owned studio to form a union. According to a report from Aftermath, the San Francisco-based developer filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board on May 7, 2026. This organizing effort, in partnership with the Communications Workers of America (CWA), follows similar moves by 450 Blizzard Entertainment employees who voted to unionize in August 2025, and 165 developers at id Software who formed a union the following December. The petition states that the Double Fine union will include 42 regular part-time and full-time employees.
In a statement to Aftermath, the CWA said: "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. 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. We appreciate that Microsoft has taken a neutral approach and agreed not to interfere in any way with worker’s rights to organize unions."
Double Fine, acquired by Microsoft in 2019, has a 25-year history in gaming. Its most famous title is the mind-bending platformer Psychonauts, which received a sequel in 2021. Other popular games include Brutal Legend, Broken Age, and Costume Quest. Its most recent project, Kiln—a multiplayer brawler where players control moldable pottery—launched just weeks ago on April 23, 2026.
The unionization effort comes amid a turbulent period for Microsoft. Following layoffs affecting around 9,100 employees in July 2025 and additional cuts in 2024, a Bloomberg report from October 2025 alleged that Xbox was pushing developers to achieve a steep 30% profit margin. In 2025 alone, Microsoft cancelled multiple projects, including games from the shuttered studios The Initiative, ZeniMax Online Studios, and Rare.
Further shakeups occurred in February 2026, when Xbox CEO Phil Spencer and Xbox president Sarah Bond departed. Asha Sharma, formerly Microsoft's CoreAI president, replaced Spencer as CEO, while Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty became chief content creative officer. Sharma's tenure has already seen leadership reshuffles, the discontinuation of Copilot on console, and Game Pass price cuts.
The CWA noted that Microsoft has agreed to remain neutral on unionization at Double Fine, following the expiration of a previous neutrality agreement late last year. Other Microsoft developers who unionized before that agreement expired include teams from World of Warcraft, Overwatch, and Blizzard Story and Franchise Development. Meanwhile, Raven Software's Quality Assurance developers became the first Activision Blizzard workers to unionize in 2022, securing their first contract with Microsoft in August 2025.
