SAG-AFTRA Seeks Approval for Second Strike Against Video Game Companies
SAG-AFTRA Seeks Approval for Second Strike Against Video Game Companies
With one strike already underway, SAG-AFTRA announced Friday that it will seek authorization for a second strike against the major video game companies. The union said that talks on a new video gam…
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With one strike already underway, SAG-AFTRA announced Friday that it will seek authorization for a second strike against the major video game companies.
The union has a separate contract with the major video game makers, including Activision and Electronic Arts. The contract was originally due to expire last Nov. 7, but was extended for a year to allow for further discussions. The talks are due to resume on Sept. 26.
In a statement, SAG-AFTRA’s president, Fran Drescher, blasted the video game companies for their “greed and disrespect.”
SAG-AFTRA went on strike against the video game companies in October 2016. The strike lasted 11 months.
This time around, the union is seeking rest periods and safety protections, in addition to the wage increases and AI provisions. The union wants an on-set medic for video games, similar to current provisions in TV and film, and a prohibition against stunts during self-taped auditions.
Ballots are due at 5 p.m. PT on Sept. 25. The union will also hold informational meetings for affected members during the voting period.
I hope this really hapoens. I've heard that video game development is a toxic jndustry to be in, from underpaid developers to strict dealines to meet. I really hope they will unionize!
While this is specifically for SAG; anecdotally, it seems the WGA/ SAG strikes have inspired other unions to stand up for themselves too (auto workers and flight attendants unions).
Hopefully this might inspire the video game industry workers to unionize as well.
From all the war stories you see online, they don't have that much to lose.
I'm pretty sure flight attendants were planning on staging their own strike even before the WGA/SAG strikes. It just so happens they coincide.
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I've been a gamedev at a couple AAA studios for almost 5 years now. I can say it's a bit of a mixed bag, and very much depends on the studio.
The studios I've worked at have treated me well. I started out working at EA, which - for all its faults when it comes to gamers - does treat their staff very nicely.
We had free snacks in the office, flexible schedules, a generous remote work policy pre-pandemic (one of the best engineers on our team was permanently in Chicago, another was permanently in Oregon), and leadership that would listen to our complaints and respond honestly. We had weekly board game lunches and D&D sessions on the clock, and a comfy place to play all the latest games whenever we wanted.
Deadlines were reasonable, and the choice was always to cut before crunching. Crunch was on the table, but only as a last resort - I only crunched once in the 3 years I worked on that game, and it was for a single weekend when we had live players running into issues. My pay was on par with a traditional tech job. I went from $15/hour at my college job to $25/hour as an intern to $100k/year as a junior. Within 3 years I was making $140k/year, plus stock options and a 30% yearly bonus.
My one complaint is that EA unceremoniously pulled the plug on us. We had started a beta period and player response was... middling. We thought we could rescue the project, but we needed another 6 months to make it happen to avoid crunching. Leadership pitched the idea... corpo execs said "You aren't getting that additional time; we're killing the project." We got shut down and all 150 devs were sent to the unemployment line.
EA's severance package was very generous, though, and even when they were firing us they went above and beyond what they legally were "supposed" to do. I wound up with my yearly bonus, half a years' worth of salary, plus 2 months of being "technically employed" but being paid to look for another job - so plenty of runway (plus unused sick time + vacation on top of that).
While it always sucks being laid off, and it sucks that the project we spent years on got the axe overnight... they really could've been far worse. Some of my former coworkers decided to do their own thing and it seems to have worked out for them, as they were able to get publisher funding well within the "runway" EA gave us.
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Other studios are more, eh. Devs stick together and are honest with one another about the state of different studios. I was in the pipeline to get hired at one studio when multiple people explicitly told me that it wasn't a place that treats their workers well, so I backed out.
I got hired somewhere at the recommendation of a former mentor, who has been in the industry for 30 years and whose judgement I trusted. I don't want to speak as to where I work now, but I can say that he was right and that the place I'm at has been an ocean of calm amidst the chaos that's the rest of the industry right now.
You hear horror stories from co-workers in the office. A friend of mine was ex-Blizzard and told me all about what was happening there well before it became a national news story. There are places which will work you to the bone and crunch you until you can't stand it anymore.
Some people love that stuff. I don't. But you get paid extremely well if you work for a place that works you hard. I could've made triple my salary at one of the places I was in the pipeline for, plus sponsorship for moving to the EU. I just would have to basically dedicate my entire life to that company, and I don't think I had it in me... but I can see why people would.
I hope they strike until the end of time, both because I'm in favor of them getting amicable terms and conditions (i.e. pay/wages, etc.) and because I have huge ass backlog that I need to get through.
I’m employed in Film and currently “stood down” while our actors are on strike. On one hand it’s great to have time to hit some of the games I’ve been hoarding, on the other, I may be playing them in a cardboard box come February.
Strike! Strike! Strike! Time to take the power back from corporations!