North American game workers form industry-wide union — "We're done playing"

Video game workers across North America formed the first industry-wide union with the Communication Workers of America (CWA), the union shared on Wednesday.

United Videogame Workers-CWA Local 9433 is available for any gaming industry workers in the U.S. and Canada, including freelancers and employees and have been laid off.

“The creation of this union was not done in isolation; it’s a cumulative effort by the thousands of video game workers who have been fighting for years to redefine what it means to stand together and reclaim power in one of the largest and highest-grossing industries on the globe,” says Tom Smith, CWA’s senior director of organizing, adding that “These workers are taking a bold stand, joining together to build power for the workers behind the games we all know and love.”

"We're done playing" is the slogan the union has taken up as it encourages workers to join. The union is fighting for increased wages, advance notice for layoffs, improved severance, workers having a say in the use of generative AI, and more.

“The formation of United Video Game Workers-CWA is an exciting next step in our union’s work to help video game workers build power in their industry,” said CWA president Claude Cummings Jr.

“As video game studios have consolidated, the workers whose creativity, dedication, and skill bring the games to life have become more an afterthought. They are subject to endless cycles of layoffs and rehiring as corporate executives pursue short-term profits at the expense of a sustainable future.”

Workers are uniting in an industry wracked by layoffs

The last couple of years have been some of the most brutal in the history of gaming, with over 20,000 workers laid off and dozens of studios shuttered across companies like Electronic Arts, Embracer Group, Microsoft, Riot Games, Sony, and many more.

Several unions have already been formed at different gaming studios over the past several years, primarily at Microsoft subsidiaries including Activision, Blizzard Entertainment, Bethesda Game Studios, and ZeniMax Media QA.

I'm hopeful for the workers that are organizing, and while I'm sure there'll be disagreements and roadblocks along the way, it's good to see worker-led momentum right now.