Double Fine, the lead Xbox game developer behind Psychonauts, is forming a union. As Consequences reports that the studio filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on May 7 to form a union with the Communications Workers of America (CWA) involving all 42 regular part-time and full-time employees.
CWA told the publication that the studio made the decision to organize to “preserve and expand (its) commitments to creative excellence, diversity and inclusion, and quality of life for workers.” The workers are asking Microsoft for voluntary recognition, in addition to filing a ballot petition with the NLRB for union representation. “We appreciate that Microsoft has taken a neutral approach and agreed not to interfere in any way with workers’ rights to organize unions,” the union said.
Double Fine workers follow in the footsteps of other Microsoft-owned developer groups who have unionized in the past. More than 500 World of Warcraft Blizzard workers formed a union with the CWA in 2024, while the Monitoring The team formed a wall-to-wall union with nearly 200 developers almost a year later. The quality assurance employees of ZeniMax Studios, perhaps best known for their work on The Elder Scrolls Online, ratified its union agreement with Microsoft last year. And in August 2025, more than 450 Diablo Blizzard developers also voted to unionize with the CWA.
Double Fine became part of Microsoft in 2019, it has been published for almost two decades Psychonautsa game about a young boy with psychic abilities. Under Xbox Game Studios, it released Psychonauts 2, Guardianan adventure game featuring a sentient lighthouse and a multiplayer pottery game Oven.