While the games industry has suffered thousands of layoffs in the last few years, there’s also been a focused effort across the global games industry of developers unionizing.
The latest development is also the biggest one in this saga, as 241 developers from Bethesda Game Studios have unionized with the Communications Workers of America (CWA) to form what the CWA calls “the first wall-to-wall union at a Microsoft video game studio.”
While it’s a first for a Microsoft studio, it’s the third time a ZeniMax studio has made a massive leap forward for games industry unionization in the United States. At the beginning of 2023, 300 quality assurance developers at ZeniMax unionized after Microsoft recognized the union without any push-back, and then last month 117 developers from Bethesda Games Studios Montreal applied for recognition of One BGS Montreal.
Unlike ZeniMax Workers United however, One BGS USA covers developers across departments, including artists, engineers, programmers and designers, which is what makes the group a true “wall-to-wall” union.
“We, a majority of developers at Bethesda Game Studios Dallas, Rockville, and Austin, are ecstatic to announce the formation of our union with CWA. Together as #OneBGSUSA, we advocate for the betterment of every developer at BGS, setting the new standard for our industry,” One BGS said in a statement on Twitter.
“As a democratic organization, we seek to empower the collective wishes of our studios’ workers; having a safe, sustainable, and equitable work environment for all. Having a proper seat at the discussion table allows us to turn those wishes into reality.”
The games industry has seen a huge period of turmoil in the last few years, but the push across the industry to unionize will hopefully be the future-proofing needed to prevent it from getting this bad ever again.
Source – [CWA, OneBGS on Twitter]