Unionization movement amongst gaming employees

[Archigeek]

Thought this was an interesting article about gaming employee stress and working conditions. A bit over-hyped, but some interesting info in there. Good luck to all the contract employees!

https://time.com/5603329/e3-video-game-creators-union/

[Gelston]

Seems a little sensationalized. There are shitty companies to work for in every industry, and just about everyone has a "crunch time". For gaming companies it is near and during release of a new game. For accountants it is the end of the fiscal year. I think a lot of this is people not looking at the reality of the industry before they jump in. Easy to do with something like the gaming industry, as the guy said... It was his "dream job".

[Taernath]

Seems a little sensationalized. There are shitty companies to work for in every industry, and just about everyone has a "crunch time". For gaming companies it is near and during release of a new game. For accountants it is the end of the fiscal year. I think a lot of this is people not looking at the reality of the industry before they jump in. Easy to do with something like the gaming industry, as the guy said... It was his "dream job".

It's not just about "crunch time", it's also about working conditions and job security.

[Archigeek]

Seems a little sensationalized. There are shitty companies to work for in every industry, and just about everyone has a "crunch time". For gaming companies it is near and during release of a new game. For accountants it is the end of the fiscal year. I think a lot of this is people not looking at the reality of the industry before they jump in. Easy to do with something like the gaming industry, as the guy said... It was his "dream job".

Agreed for the most part, and they didn't even mention the workers paid the least: contractors. I won't be too shocked when a contract worker files a FLSA lawsuit, claiming they should have been considered employees.

[Stumplicker]

Microsoft is a pretty good example of how odd and shitty the gaming market can be. Everybody wants the chance to work for them because they pay well and because obviously, but they hire out of Digipen across the street, so they have a neverending supply of qualified applicants. They'll typically open and close studios and projects on a whim when one executive or another takes over and wants to divert resources elsewhere. It's not even a black mark on your resume to write "fired by Microsoft" because of how often it happens. I've got a friend who's been a UI artist for 3 different Microsoft Studios over the past 5 years because he's gotten hired on, done a job (big, name brand jobs you'd recognize, not stuff that just got cancelled pre-completion), then the studio is closed and hiring starts anew for another project. No seniority, no job security, fighting against day one graduates for every position.

Unions aren't always a terrible thing. There's a balance to be had, and it's all in favor of the executives in gaming.

[Astray]

This isnt really 'new' news. Unionization won't solve this problem.

[mgoddess]

Microsoft is a pretty good example of how odd and shitty the software developement market can be.

Fixed.

Digipen across the street

Ahhhh, Digipen. They aren't quite "across" the street anymore, and they've expanded into so much more than "just" R.T.I.S. degrees.


But, yeah... as someone who has seen second-hand the burn-out that game developers (and software developers in general) can suffer, this article isn't as sensationalized as some might think. The game dev world is brutal, and unionization could very well make it better... and give those trying to get into that world a better idea of just what they're selling their souls for.

[Gelston]

It's not just about "crunch time", it's also about working conditions and job security.

Again, this is something someone should look at before joining a company. A lot of games studios do this. They hire on a larger staff when creating a game and cut back after release. Sometimes they have other places to assign people, sometimes they don't. This is the nature of the industry.

[Taernath]

Again, this is something someone should look at before joining a company. A lot of games studios do this. They hire on a larger staff when creating a game and cut back after release. Sometimes they have other places to assign people, sometimes they don't. This is the nature of the industry.

... and it's a problem with that industry. Companies aren't expected to keep people on the payroll indefinitely even in a unionized environment. Unions step in, put laid off workers on the books, and find them some place to go. It's not perfect, but it's a hell of a lot better than just being shown the door.

[Methais]

Thought this was an interesting article about gaming employee stress and working conditions. A bit over-hyped, but some interesting info in there. Good luck to all the contract employees!

https://time.com/5603329/e3-video-game-creators-union/

They should do a piece about working for Simu.