Double Fine developers move to unionize under Microsoft

Double Fine Productions developers are preparing to unionize, adding another major labor effort inside Microsoft’s gaming business.

A petition filed with the National Labor Relations Board on May 7, 2026, shows that workers at the Xbox owned studio are seeking union representation. The effort is being made with the Communications Workers of America and would include both full time and part time employees.

Double Fine is best known for Psychonauts, Psychonauts 2, Keeper, and Kiln. Microsoft acquired the studio in 2019, and it has since remained one of Xbox’s more distinctive creative teams.

The union push is meant to give workers a stronger collective voice on issues such as pay, benefits, working conditions, creative sustainability, diversity, inclusion, and quality of life. In the current games industry, those concerns have become more urgent as layoffs, studio closures, and shifting business priorities continue to affect developers.

The CWA said Double Fine workers are seeking to preserve and expand the studio’s commitments to creative quality and worker wellbeing. The group has also asked Microsoft for voluntary recognition while filing an election petition with the NLRB.

Microsoft says it supports employees’ right to choose how they are represented in the workplace. The company has also taken a neutral position toward organizing efforts, which means it has agreed not to interfere with workers’ right to unionize.

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The move matters beyond Double Fine. Microsoft now owns a large number of game studios, and union efforts inside one team can influence how other Xbox developers think about workplace protections.

For Double Fine, unionization could help protect the kind of creative culture that made the studio stand out in the first place. It gives workers a formal way to discuss conditions with management while continuing to build the unusual, character driven games the studio is known for.

The petition does not mean the process is finished. Workers still need recognition or an election outcome before the union is formally established. Still, the filing marks an important step for Double Fine and another sign that labor organizing in games is becoming harder for major publishers to ignore.