Fortnite developer Epic Games confirmed this weekend it will transition most of its US-based contingent workers to full-time positions with benefits. The news comes after The Verge obtained an internal memo detailing the company’s plans. Epic spokesperson Elka Looks said the studio plans to hire “a few hundred” existing contractors, and that most of those workers currently serve as quality assurance testers. Epic will directly employ those individuals and they’ll have access to the company’s benefits plan.
Looks also noted the company will still hire contingent workers to fill “short-term needs,” and the memo The Verge obtained said Epic would not extend the full-time employment offer to some workers. “There are a few exceptions in which it makes sense for both the worker and Epic to maintain contingent worker status,” the document said, according to the outlet.
Epic’s decision to convert many of its QA testers to full-time employees comes at a moment when workers in similar positions at Activision Blizzard’s Raven Software work to unionize. In December, the studio laid off a dozen QA testers, leading to a walkout involving both full-time employees and contractors. Last month, those workers said they would unionize with the Communication Workers of America, and asked the troubled publisher to voluntarily recognize their group. Activision did not do that and instead moved to reorganize the studio in a way that critics of the company claim is designed to thwart those efforts.
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