Tag Archives: Labor Issues

Hyper Light Drifter studio workers form union after rounds of layoffs

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Workers at Heart Machine, the independent studio behind Hyper Light Drifter and Solar Ash, have formed a union with Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 9003. The wall-to-wall unit covers all 13 frontline employees at the studio, which voluntarily recognized the union in February after a supermajority of eligible workers voted for the measure.

The organizing effort follows a rough stretch at Heart Machine, after the studio laid off employees in November 2024, then announced in October 2025 that it would end development on its early access title Hyper Light Breaker and cut further staff.

"I decided to get involved in organizing my studio because I've seen so many peers in the industry stand up to protect the craft we all care so deeply about. Watching that momentum grow made me realize that if we love this work, we have to protect it, especially now," said Steph Aligbe, a gameplay tools engineer at the studio.

Heart Machine joining the CWA extends the union's gaming footprint even further. The union counts thousands of employees at Microsoft subsidiaries among its members, as well as staff at EA, Id Software and others. CWA also runs the United Videogame Workers, a direct-join union that launched in 2025, allowing individual game workers in the US and Canada to sign up on their own without elections or employer consent. Large gaming studios like Ubisoft have been undergoing a seemingly endless string of layoffs, and workers are increasingly demanding to have their voices heard.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/hyper-light-drifter-studio-workers-form-union-after-rounds-of-layoffs-165828565.html?src=rss

1,200 Ubisoft workers strike in response to layoffs

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At the end of last month, Ubisoft workers in the publisher’s native France threatened to strike in the wake of sweeping layoffs and cost-cutting measures. This week, they made good on those threats. According to GamesIndustry.biz, union members confirmed that at least 1,200 staff participated in the three-day strike, which was due to run from February 10 to February 12.

While the strike action primarily took place in France, GamesIndustry.biz was told that Ubisoft’s Milan office also took part. The union Solidaires Informatique, which represents French workers from a number of companies in the video game sector, including Blizzard and Ubisoft, had previously called for strikes to take place on January 27. Their demands included a 10 percent increase on all salaries and the implementation of a 4-day work week.

Some striking employees held up signs outside Ubisoft’s Paris headquarters, with one (pictured) wearing a Rabbids mask to hide their face. Their grievances are wide-ranging. As well as reportedly laying off hundreds of employees already in 2026, Ubisoft also introduced a mandate for its staff to return to work on site for five days a week. One employee who publicly voiced their disapproval of the new policy was reportedly fired for doing so.

Ubisoft has had a rocky start to 2026 on the software side too. The long-awaited Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake was among six games canceled by the struggling publisher last month, when it also confirmed several studio closures as part of the company’s organizational restructuring.

Update, Feb. 12 2026, 12:39PM ET: "We understand these changes, particularly those affecting work organization, are generating strong feelings," Ubisoft wrote in a statement shared with Engadget. "Since the announcement, we have held a series of discussions and information sessions at multiple levels to help teams better understand the new organization and to give them the opportunity to share their questions and concerns." The company added that it "remains committed to maintaining an open and constructive dialogue with employees and employee representatives.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/1200-ubisoft-workers-went-on-strike-in-response-to-company-restructuring-and-mandatory-return-to-work-policy-163714986.html?src=rss

Blizzard’s quality assurance workers finally have a union contract

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Almost three years after starting the bargaining process with Microsoft, quality assurance workers at two Blizzard locations have ratified a union contract. The agreement covers 60 workers at Blizzard Albany and Blizzard Austin.

The agreement includes guaranteed pay increases across the three years of the contract, assurances that workers will be given fair credits and recognition on games that ship, discrimination-free disability accommodations, restrictions on crunch (i.e. mandatory overtime) and "protection to immigrant workers from unfair discipline and loss of seniority while streamlining legal verification." Stronger rules around the use of AI are included in the contract as well.

“At a time when layoffs are hitting our industry hard, today is another big step in building a better future for video game workers at every level,” Blizzard Albany quality analyst Brock Davis said in a statement. “For quality assurance testers, this contract provides us wages to live on, increased job security benefits and guardrails around artificial intelligence in the workplace.”

As with other unions in Microsoft's game divisions, the Blizzard QA workers organized with the Communications Workers of America. This marks the third union agreement at Microsoft after ZeniMax and Raven Software workers ratified contracts last summer. Several other Blizzard divisions have unionized within the last year, including the cinematics team, Overwatch developers and a unit that works on Diablo.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/blizzards-quality-assurance-workers-finally-have-a-union-contract-162614979.html?src=rss

French Ubisoft workers vote to strike

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When deciding which video game to buy, "Is it fun?" is no longer the only consideration. Given the state of the industry, "Do I want to support this company?" is arguably more important. Take, for example, Ubisoft, where things seem to unravel more each day. After the floundering publisher floated even more layoffs this week, workers at its Paris headquarters said, "Enough is enough." They're now calling for a three-day strike.

Unions representing Ubisoft employees plan to strike from February 10 to 12. "With management being stubbornly entrenched in its authoritarian ways, we are calling Ubisoft employees across France to join this strike, along with the five unions present within the company," The Syndicat des Travailleureuses du Jeu Vidéo (Video Game Worker's Union) wrote in a statement.

The strike follows a series of heavy-handed cost-cutting moves at Ubisoft. It recently shut down its Halifax studio just 16 days after employees unionized. Last week, it closed its Stockholm studio and announced additional restructuring efforts worldwide. It also canceled six games and delayed seven others.

Then, earlier this week, the Assassin's Creed publisher proposed cutting 200 jobs at its Paris headquarters. Under French labor law, the company would organize the cuts through the nation's Rupture Conventionnelle Collective (RCC) process. It would require a mutual agreement between the company and the labor union.

Yves Guillemot, CEO and co-founder of Ubisoft, speaks at the Ubisoft Forward livestream event in Los Angeles, California, on June 12, 2023. The event features a look at upcoming Ubisoft games. (Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP) (Photo by ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images)
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot
ROBYN BECK via Getty Images

Adding even more fuel to the fire, Ubisoft will now require workers to return to the office five days each week. (The company had previously agreed to two work-from-home days per week.) Although Ubisoft framed the mandate as being about efficiency and collaboration, it's easy to view this as a cudgel to further reduce its headcount. One Ubisoft developer, who hinted as much while voicing his opposition to the mandate on LinkedIn, said he was suspended without pay for three days as a punitive measure.

The workers' union saw all of this and decided it was time to act. "We're calling for a HALT to management's obsession with penny-pinching and worsening our working conditions," the Syndicat des Travailleureuses du Jeu Vidéo wrote. "It's time for a real accountability from company executives, starting from the top! Without the workers, and generous public funding, Ubisoft would never have been able to grow this much. WE are Ubisoft, and WE are shutting it down February 10th to 12th!"

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/ubisoft-173241918.html?src=rss

TikTok sued by former workers over alleged union-busting

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You know things are messed up when a Big Tech company fights accusations of union-busting by insisting it was only AI layoffs. That's where things stand after a group of fired TikTok moderators in the UK filed a legal claim with an employment tribunal. The Guardian reported on Friday that around 400 TikTok content moderators who were unionizing were laid off before Christmas.

The workers were sacked a week before a vote was scheduled to establish a collective bargaining unit. The moderators said they wanted better protection against the personal toll of processing traumatic content at a high speed. They accused TikTok of unfair dismissal and violating UK trade union laws.

"Content moderators have the most dangerous job on the internet," John Chadfield, the national officer for tech workers at the Communication Workers Union (CWU), said in a statement to The Guardian. "They are exposed to the child sex abuse material, executions, war and drug use. Their job is to make sure this content doesn't reach TikTok's 30 million monthly users. It is high pressure and low paid. They wanted input into their workflows and more say over how they kept the platform safe. They said they were being asked to do too much with too few resources."

TikTok denied that the firings were union-busting, calling the accusations "baseless." Instead, the company claimed the layoffs were part of a restructuring plan amid its adoption of AI for content moderation. The company said 91 percent of transgressive content is now removed automatically.

The company first announced a restructuring exercise in August, just as hundreds of moderators in TikTok's London offices were organizing for union recognition. At the time, John Chadfield, CWU's National Officer for Tech, said the workers had long been "sounding the alarm over the real-world costs of cutting human moderation teams in favour of hastily developed, immature AI alternatives."

"That TikTok management have announced these cuts just as the company's workers are about to vote on having their union recognised stinks of union-busting and putting corporate greed over the safety of workers and the public,” Chadfield said.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/tiktok-sued-by-former-workers-over-alleged-union-busting-170446921.html?src=rss

Doom studio id Software forms ‘wall-to-wall’ union, with a majority of employees voting in favor

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Id Software, the company behind Doom, has voted in favor of forming a "wall-to-wall" union. The term "wall-to-wall" refers to a union that includes every employee, regardless of duties. The vote wasn't unanimous, though a majority did vote in favor of the union.

The union will work in conjunction with the Communications Workers of America (CWA), which is the same organization involved with parent company ZeniMax's recent unionization efforts. Microsoft, who owns ZeniMax, has already recognized this new effort, according to a statement by the CWA. It agreed to a labor neutrality agreement with the CWA and ZeniMax workers last year, paving the way for this sort of thing.

"The wall-to-wall organizing effort at id Software was much needed; it’s incredibly important that developers across the industry unite to push back on all the unilateral workplace changes that are being handed down from industry executives," id Software producer and CWA committee member Andrew Willis wrote in a statement to Engadget.

From the onset, this union will look to protect remote work for id Software employees. "Remote work isn’t a perk. It’s a necessity for our health, our families, and our access needs. RTO policies should not be handed down from executives with no consideration for accessibility or our well-being,” said id Software Lead Services Programmer Chris Hays. He also said he looks forward to getting worker protections regarding the "responsible use of AI."

Workers at id began organizing around 18 months ago, according to a report by Aftermath. Things sped up after Microsoft closed several Bethesda studios in the middle of last year.

"We look forward to sitting across the table from Microsoft to negotiate a contract that reflects the skill, creativity and dedication these workers bring to every project," said CWA Local 6215 President Ron Swaggerty.

The developer's latest game is Doom: The Dark Ages, which we loved. It scooped up an award for accessibility at last night's The Game Awards. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/doom-studio-id-software-forms-wall-to-wall-union-with-a-majority-of-employees-voting-in-favor-164808829.html?src=rss

The UK government will ‘look into’ Rockstar’s firing of union-organizing workers

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Rockstar Games may have to answer for what appears to be union-busting behavior. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, under pressure from parliament, said the government will "look into" the firing of 31 employees in October.

The sacked workers were all part of a private trade union chat group on Discord. The company claimed the firings were "for gross misconduct" and accused the workers of sharing confidential information outside of the company.

But based on what we know, it's hard to see that characterization as anything but union-busting in search of legal cover. The Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain (IWGB) described the case as "the most blatant and ruthless act of union busting in the history of the games industry."

In November, IWGB issued legal claims against the Grand Theft Auto developer. The next day, over 200 staff at Rockstar North signed a letter condemning the firings and pressuring management to reinstate the workers. Earlier that month, the fired workers and their supporters protested outside Rockstar North's Edinburgh headquarters. Others picketed in Paris, London and New York.

People protesting and holding picket signs outside Rockstar North headquarters
Fired workers and supporters protesting outside Rockstar's headquarters
IWGB

“It’s clear to everyone close to this situation that this is a blatant, unapologetic act of vicious union busting,” one of the fired staffers said anonymously in a November statement. “Rockstar employs so many talented game developers, all of whom are crucial to making the games we put out.”

Edinburgh East and Musselburgh MP Chris Murray, who prompted Starmer's response, said in parliament that he recently met with Rockstar to discuss the case. "The meeting only entrenched my concerns about the process Rockstar used to dismiss so many of their staff members," he said. "I was not assured their process paid robust attention to UK employment law, I was not convinced that this course of action was necessary, and alarmingly, I did not leave informed on exactly what these 31 people had done to warrant their immediate dismissal."

Murray added that Rockstar initially refused entry to the MPs unless they signed a non-disclosure agreement. The company eventually relented on that front.

On Wednesday, Murray triggered Starmer's response in parliament. The MP asked the Prime Minister if he agreed that "all companies, regardless of profit size, must follow UK employment law and all workers have the right to join a union?"

Starmer replied that he found the case "deeply concerning." He added that "every worker has the right to join a trade union, and we're determined to strengthen workers' rights and ensure they don't face unfair consequences for being part of a union. Our ministers will look into the particular case the member raises and will keep him updated."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-uk-government-will-look-into-rockstars-firing-of-union-organizing-workers-174216696.html?src=rss

Union files legal claims against Rockstar Games following alleged union busting

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The Independent Workers of Great Britain (IWGB) has issued formal legal claims against Rockstar Games, which it has accused of union busting. The Grand Theft Auto VI developer last month fired dozens of employees who were organizing.

The IWGB said in a statement it made several attempts to meet with Rockstar with the aim of resolving the situation through negotiations, but claimed the studio rebuffed the union. It’s now looking to take the matter before a court. “We have now issued formal legal claims against Rockstar on behalf of the claimants,” the IWGB said. It added that it believed the firings “amount to victimization and collective dismissal linked to trade union activity.” The union previously said that all of those who Rockstar fired were members of the members of an IWGB Game Workers Union Discord server.

Alex Marshall, the president of IWGB pledged that the union will “mount a full legal defense with our expert group of caseworkers, legal officers and barristers. Employers like Rockstar would do well to understand that private spaces such as trade union Discord servers have protections, and that their company’s contractual clauses do not supersede UK law.” Marshall added that the union will “not be intimidated.”

Rockstar claimed that it fired the more than 30 workers in question for “gross misconduct, and for no other reason” and it accused them of “distributing and discussing confidential information in a public forum.” Engadget has asked the company, which last week delayed GTA VI by a further six months, to comment on IWGB issuing legal claims against it.

People Make Games reported this week that a collective of workers called the Rockstar Games Workers' Union had recruited just over 10 percent of the company’s UK workforce to join. That’s one of the benchmarks needed to apply for statutory recognition in the country. If that were granted, the government would be able to force Rockstar to recognize the union. The Rockstar Games Workers' Union was said to be just weeks away from formally announcing its existence before Rockstar allegedly fired a majority of the organizing committee.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/union-files-legal-claims-against-rockstar-games-following-alleged-union-busting-165033747.html?src=rss

Rockstar Games accused of union busting in the UK

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Rockstar Games, developer of Grand Theft Auto VI, has been accused of deliberately laying off employees who were trying to unionize, Bloomberg reports. The Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) claims over 30 employees who were eliminated at the developer's offices in the UK and Canada were either already part of a union or attempting to organize.

"Rockstar has just carried out the most blatant and ruthless act of union busting in the history of the games industry," IWGB President Alex Marshall said in a blog post about the layoffs. "This flagrant contempt for the law and for the lives of the workers who bring in their billions is an insult to their fans and the global industry." 

Besides the disruption of having to find a new job, the union notes that several employees who were let go are particularly vulnerable. "Amongst the staff dismissed were those with visas sponsored by Rockstar and those with medical conditions who will lose access to essential workplace healthcare schemes," the union says. It adds that "all of those dismissed at Rockstar UK were members of the IWGB Game Workers Union discord channel, and appear to have been targeted for this reason." In response to the IWGB's claims, Rockstar's publisher and owner Take-Two Interactive told Bloomberg that the layoffs had nothing to do with union activity and instead were "for gross misconduct, and for no other reason."

Rockstar and Take-Two have come into conflict with employees in the past over their return-to-office policy. Take-Two also laid off staff across multiple studios in 2024 and 2025, potentially motivated by the decision to push back the release of Grand Theft Auto VI to 2026. The game is expected to be a massive hit for the company and the wider industry, which is part of the reason why the IWGB believes the layoffs are motivated by something other than financials.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/rockstar-games-accused-of-union-busting-in-the-uk-221004334.html?src=rss

Striking New York Times tech workers made their own versions of Wordle and Connections

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The New York Times Tech Guild asked the publication's readers not to play its games, including Wordle and Connections, in solidarity when it announced that it was going on strike on November 4. Now, the guild has released its own versions of the The Times' games so that readers can still play without crossing its digital picket line. Of course, the workers' versions won't be able to keep your Wordle streak running, but they're pretty much the same games you've been playing on the publication's website. 

The guild is made up of over 600 unionized tech workers that include software engineers, product managers, data analysts and designers — the people behind the publication's games, as well as The Times' Cooking app. In the guild's GoFundMe for the strike, it said it's been bargaining for its first contract over the past two years, but the The Times' management "dragged its feet" and even allegedly committed unfair labor practices by implementing return-to-office mandates without bargaining and trying to intimidate members who were going on strike. 

The guild explained that it's pushing for The Times to address racial disparities in its workers' pay and to ensure real job security. Apparently, the publication's management had fired someone days before a major brain surgery in the past and had used performance review plans as a pretense to fire employees. The guild is also accusing management of disproportionately targeting women and POCs with its "arbitrary disciplinary process."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/nyt-tech-workers-on-strike-made-their-own-versions-of-wordle-and-connections-130047922.html?src=rss