Video Game Workers and Allies to Host “Save Our Devs” Rally in Montreal

MONTREAL – Video game workers, community organizations, elected officials, and local labour allies will hold a “Save Our Devs” rally in Montreal on Tuesday, Aug. 18 in support of staff at Bethesda Game Studios (BGS).

The coordinated “Save Our Devs” rally at the corner of Prince and Wellington Street will call out layoffs and corporate greed in the industry, and demand fair first contracts across Microsoft’s gaming studios, which now represent nearly 4,000 unionized video game workers with the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and CWA Canada, including BGS in Montreal.

The coordinated rallies will be taking place across the U.S. and Canada. 

WHAT: International “Save Our Devs” rally

WHEN: Tuesday, Aug. 18 at 12:15 p.m. EDT

WHERE: 733 Wellington St., Montréal (corner of Prince and Wellington)

MEDIA CONTACT: Please RSVP here and reach out to Nasr Ahmed: nahmed@cwacanada.ca

Last month, Microsoft announced over 3,200 planned XBOX layoffs and the shuttering of several XBOX gaming studios, with the first phase of layoffs scheduled to impact 1,600 XBOX workers, including hundreds of union members, in early September.

CWA-represented XBOX workers are the developers, artists, engineers, producers, user researchers, and customer support staff behind some of the video game industry’s most profitable games, such as Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Overwatch, World of Warcraft, and more.

Workers and gamers alike have engaged in unprecedented resistance to Microsoft’s unilateral actions. After an immediate press conference where XBOX workers demanded layoff protections, over 500 workers and allies rallied at studio locations across the U.S. and Canada last month. Fans of the franchise also posted on Microsoft’s official fan feedback website to call out the layoffs, garnering over 4,000 upvotes and nearly 900 comments on the XBOX Player Voice forum. 

On July 15, CWA filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), alleging several labour law violations that require the employer to engage in decisional bargaining over discretionary layoffs. 

CWA Canada represents about 6,000 workers at the CBC, The Canadian Press, newspapers, and other media and video game companies coast to coast.

CWA represents over 500,000 members across North America, including 6,000 video game workers, making it the largest union of video game workers in North America. 

The Campaign to Organize Digital Employees (CODE-CWA) is a network of worker-organizers and their staff working every day to build the voice and power necessary to ensure the future of the tech, game, and digital industries in the United States and Canada.