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Developers Unite (With Unions)

by Chris Remo, Oct 19, 2005 10:30am PDT
Related Topics – Electronic Arts, Naughty Dog

Over the years or so, there has been growing awareness and public outcry that the draining working conditions and pressures of game development have gone largely unaddressed by the game companies maintaining them. The infamous blog post by ea_spouse brought these concerns to a head. A lawsuit against EA launched by a group of artists was recently concluded in the artists' favor, and a similar lawsuit by programmers is underway. However, many claim that such measures are simply temporary fixes to larger problems, and more fundamental action needs to be taken. Joe Blancato says, "Code Union, Code Better," encouraging developers to demand unionization of the games industry in order to be better able to lobby for better guaranteed working conditions and hours.

Is our industry really so heavenly we don't need the comfortable assurance of tenure and normal work hours? Any victim of outsourcing or frequent "crunch time" is crazy to think so. No, things have swung in the direction of upper management, to the point where workers are forced to accept low pay and long hours out of fear, and it's time to bring the equilibrium back to balance. It's time to make Electronic Arts a union shop. EA employs 2,500 people inside the U.S. They boast that none of their employees are "represented by a union, guild or other collective bargaining association." But really, why aren't they?
Frustrations with the developer/publisher relationship have been emphatically stated even by developers who have been extremely successful in the industry, such as Naughty Dog co-founder Jason Rubin, who left his studio in 2004 following a well-publicized address to developers demanding they lobby for more recognition and control. Is unionization the answer, though? It's hard to say. Game development is still one of the most sought-after jobs around, and starting a union system for the industry would be a great challenge at best.


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Comments

34 Threads | 220 Comments
  • #218
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    By: Serpico74 This person is cool! x
    Reply
    As a union member in the film industry, I can say that my own union has sold us out to producers on certain deals. As a result, my circle and several others sort of have a "union in a union" where many of us won't accept anything below a baseline that we have all agreed upon. Granted, not everyone follows it (mainly the up and comers or the guys that suck), but it helps a great deal.

    Either way, I hope that a union really does work to protect the rights of those in the game industry. At the very least it will hopefully provide incentive for companies to treat their employees right and not to be idiots managing their projects. Any company that does their employees right shouldn't have to officially unionize, imo. If there is a good relationship between managment and the employees there is no reason to bring a third party in there.

    Obviously there are cases where protection for the employees is needed.

    We'll see. Unions serve to make money for the union on top of everything else, so like any major corporation the concern for the little guy isn't always at the top of the list.

    A sidenote, I just back from working an 18 hour day. This could have totally been avoided if the project had been properly managed (which it wasn't). Shit like this is why I don't cave on deals anymore. If there is going to be overtime or insane hours, it sure isn't because of anything me or my guys have done.
    Oct 20, 2005 3:12am PDT
  • #127
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    By: Fred Garvin x
    Reply
    Unions suck, but can anyone think of another way to give this industry a wake-up call? I know people enter gaming voluntarily, but once you are in there are pressures to do things you never expected to do. And even if you decide to get out often you get out for good. I know 3 senior people that are incredibly talented that have left the industry for good because of their experiences. However a lot of companies don't care because of the stack of resumes on their desks. That philosophy assumes that there will always be a supply of creative and talented people for the grinder and that's a dangerous way to conduct business. Gaming is starting to get the reputation of being a digital sweatshop and that means people with talent and skills will start to look elsewhere.
    Oct 19, 2005 12:33pm PDT
  • #53
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    By: yakz x
    Reply
    A software developer's union doesn't mean that every dev house will be unionized. In fact, probably only the larger developers would be unionized. Small, innovative game companies could go on making the occasional gem just like they do now, and continue using non-union employees.

    With a small company you have a much better shot at being worth enough to get deserved compensation. When you work for EA, asking for better compensation obviously better come in the form of a lawsuit or your resignation. Organizing labor so that these sequel-factories can't exploit their workers is not going to significantly affect the quality of games or the price of games.
    Oct 19, 2005 11:36am PDT
  • #12
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    By: not work safe x
    Reply
    I remember thinking about how much my job would rock if there was a union when I was a tester. They work just as many hours as the engineers, except they get paid just above min wage, have no benefits and are often "temp" but kept on as long as legally possible. They're then often let go, allowed to collect unemployment and then given a call in a few months to come back, when they are legally allowed.

    Usually QA dept has a much smaller budget than dev as well, usually only a few members have modern day computers, but thats also because they need to test the spectrum of configs. But I mean its bad where I used to work. Broken hardware everywhere. Usually the new guys had to use the monitors that didnt display red, pig-pen cubes, et cetera.
    Oct 19, 2005 11:00am PDT