Getting to the Next Level – Unionization in the Video Game Industry

By Julien Normandeau

Master’s Student in Communications (Video Games and Ludification) 

Université du Québec à Montréal

The rate of unionization in Canada and the United States has been declining for decades, but many feel that is about to change, particularly in the video game industry. 

A recent survey conducted by the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in the U.S. suggests 82 per cent support for unions, with just five per cent opposed. Even more tellingly, no one in the 18-24 age range of the 2,300 game workers surveyed was against the idea. 

The results are significant, however the steps between supporting a union and establishing one, in any industry, continue to be difficult, and in many cases, highly contested by the employer.

The video game industry has had numerous worker-relations scandals despite its young age. 

• EA was found guilty of wage theft.
• Activision Blizzard incentivised its workers to use a pregnancy tracking application in a creepy and not at all suspicious way.
• Ubisoft gave “bonuses” to employees in the form of NFTs, and its HR departments protected abusers and buried staff complaints surrounding “key personnel”.

Despite that, and the fact that several organisations can and did help employees with the process, the video game industry has not seen much unionization. 

Much of the blame for this situation has been put on the workers themselves or on the nature of the work – jobs in video game studios are somewhat project-based and reminiscent of contract work, a difficult form of labour to unionize because of its ephemeral character and high staff turn-over. 

But such excuses are often employer gaslighting. Putting the main blame on anything other than management for the low level of unionization in the video game industry ignores the resistance, targeted firing, or the outward hostility from employers toward unionization. 

Given the culture of corporate secrecy in the industry, anti-union sentiment and actions are flaunted casually by employers and their representatives. Also, the argument of high volatility is hard to take seriously when even some Uber drivers have been able to unionize. 

Considering all this, it would seem fair to believe that the closure of Ubisoft’s Halifax studio less than a month after the unionization of the workers was not purely the result of the company’s alleged financial troubles.