It wouldn’t have fixed anything this is beyond just video games, or software. This was about how cheap money was during covid and now it’s not and these companies over hired. If strict unions rules existed then they wouldn’t have hired as much and people wouldn’t have had jobs in the first place.
Embracer’s bullshit (for example) has nothing to do with hiring. They bought whole studios, realized they fucked up some completely unrelated investments, and then gutted those studios. These groups are “investors” in the sense of spending money and expecting more money - but it’s not clear they understand how those numbers connect to reality.
And again: profits are great. Some of these companies are doing fantastic business, while announcing a boot in the ass for half the people who did all of the fucking work. Game dev is uniquely simple in terms of labor’s contribution to value: there’s almost nothing else. It’s mostly just people on computers, followed by a marketing campaign. They don’t need a programming factory or routine shipments of raw art, so it’s often unclear what the hell someone bought a studio for when they get rid of the part that turns capital into product.
Unions may not save companies that’ve already been bought by these idiot robots - but the best time to plant a tree was ten years ago, and the second-best time is now. Arguably the right time to unionize game developers was forty fucking years ago, when Atari spurned the guys who became Activision and then Activision spurned the guys who became Accolade and then Accolade spurned the guys who became Acclaim. You’d think these specific people would be better at pattern recognition!
2023-2024: profits are booming and you’re fired.
Union.
It wouldn’t have fixed anything this is beyond just video games, or software. This was about how cheap money was during covid and now it’s not and these companies over hired. If strict unions rules existed then they wouldn’t have hired as much and people wouldn’t have had jobs in the first place.
Embracer’s bullshit (for example) has nothing to do with hiring. They bought whole studios, realized they fucked up some completely unrelated investments, and then gutted those studios. These groups are “investors” in the sense of spending money and expecting more money - but it’s not clear they understand how those numbers connect to reality.
And again: profits are great. Some of these companies are doing fantastic business, while announcing a boot in the ass for half the people who did all of the fucking work. Game dev is uniquely simple in terms of labor’s contribution to value: there’s almost nothing else. It’s mostly just people on computers, followed by a marketing campaign. They don’t need a programming factory or routine shipments of raw art, so it’s often unclear what the hell someone bought a studio for when they get rid of the part that turns capital into product.
Unions may not save companies that’ve already been bought by these idiot robots - but the best time to plant a tree was ten years ago, and the second-best time is now. Arguably the right time to unionize game developers was forty fucking years ago, when Atari spurned the guys who became Activision and then Activision spurned the guys who became Accolade and then Accolade spurned the guys who became Acclaim. You’d think these specific people would be better at pattern recognition!