“We want a real voice”: Why developers at Double Fine are launching a union effort and what it signals for the wider Xbox ecosystem

For those unfamiliar with Double Fine, the studio is best known for creating Psychonauts back in 2005. Microsoft later acquired the studio in 2019, and it went on to release Psychonauts 2 in 2021. More recently, Double Fine released titles like Keeper and Kiln, both of which were received quite positively online.

On May 7, 2026, a petition filed with the National Labor Relations Board revealed that Double Fine is preparing to unionize. In simple terms, unionization allows employees to organize as a collective group, giving them a formal voice when discussing things like pay, benefits, workplace conditions, and overall quality of life with management.

Thanks to reporting from Aftermath, we know the unionization push is happening in partnership with the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and will include all part-time and full-time employees. In a statement obtained by Aftermath, the CWA said:

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“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.”

In my opinion, more rights for workers isn’t a bad thing, and overall, this feels like a positive move for Double Fine. Unionization gives employees stronger protections and a more unified voice that they otherwise may not have had, and given the increasingly uncertain state of the industry right now, the move feels like a pretty good one.

If you haven’t been keeping up with Double Fine recently, the studio also teased a remake of the original Psychonauts, something I’m sure will go over well with longtime fans.

With my thoughts out of the way, let me know what you think about Double Fine’s efforts to unionize by leaving a comment and taking part in our poll above!

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