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Side Quest, Episode 54: The Truth About Game Developer Unionization (Patreon)

Published:
2019-02-11 19:07:44
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

The other side of the coin.

Files

Previews only

The Truth About Game Developer Unionization -- CLS Side Quest

Organized labor has a proud history of hard-fought gains that have benefited us all. It's a history that should fill us all with gratitude. But like many of the factories and other places of work unions once fought to improve, unionization is a relic of a bygone era, completely bypassed -- to great effect -- by a roaring technology industry that fuels the American and global economies. Unions aren't bad. Wanting to unionize isn't bad. It's just that nothing big comes without downside, and in unionization's case... well... the downside can be substantial. Colin's Last Stand: Side Quest is free of baked-in ads, product placement, and other obnoxious forms of advertising because of your support. Please consider subscribing to CLS' Patreon to show your support for independent content: http://www.patreon.com/colinslaststand Listen to Sacred Symbols, CLS' PlayStation podcast (also available on podcast services and here on YouTube): https://cms.megaphone.fm/channel/STU5682506591 Listen to the CLS interview podcast, Colin’s Last Stand: Fireside Chats (also available on podcast services): https://soundcloud.com/colinslaststand Listen to the CLS retro podcast, Colin’s Last Stand: KnockBack (also available on podcast services): http://soundcloud.com/clsknockback Twitter: @notaxation Instagram: @clsmoriarty Facebook: /colinslaststand Colin's Last Stand is a product of Colin's Last Stand, LLC PO Box 1233 | Santa Monica, CA 90406 The videos below were used, in part, in the creation of this episode of Side Quest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K58uYCdBT_Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gRgIXzPTRA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hlfqggGOZw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gUtfBmw86Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kqe2ICmTxc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM1H7kTvUIE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp_bjiuMWgU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o21OA5eSZZk The following stories were cited in this episode of Side Quest: https://www.engadget.com/2019/01/24/nearly-half-of-game-developers-want-to-unionize/ https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2013/04/art2full.pdf https://anh.com/the-cost-of-unions/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/georgeleef/2016/08/05/who-will-bail-out-insolvent-union-pension-funds/#5338ca9a4354 https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/benefits/pages/multiemployer-pension-fail.aspx https://money.cnn.com/2018/04/17/retirement/multiemployer-pension-committee/index.html https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2015/employer-costs-for-union-and-nonunion-workers-in-december-2014.htm https://www.autoblog.com/2015/03/29/foreign-domestic-automakers-wage-gap/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/shelliekarabell/2018/02/14/executive-compensation-is-out-of-control-what-now/#7d099115431f https://www.ziprecruiter.com/Salaries/Video-Game-Industry-Salary https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/24/how-much-americans-earn-at-every-age.html https://www.thebalance.com/what-is-average-income-in-usa-family-household-history-3306189 https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-10-26-houser-brothers-expected-to-receive-bulk-of-usd538m-red-dead-royalties https://www.polygon.com/2018/12/27/18156687/game-workers-unite-game-developer-union-us-uk-france https://kotaku.com/it-s-time-for-game-developers-to-unionize-1823992430 https://waypoint.vice.com/en_us/article/7xdv5e/after-destroying-lives-for-decades-gaming-is-finally-talking-unionization http://fortune.com/2018/09/22/telltale-games-layoffs-shut-down/ https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-08/activision-is-said-to-plan-job-cuts-as-sales-of-key-games-stall https://kotaku.com/we-were-working-100-hour-weeks-red-dead-redemption-2-h-1829758281 Still imagery was acquired via a licensed Shutterstock account from the following artists and photographers: Artem Pohrebniak, Dmitriy Popoff, Doucefleur, iurii, Lightspring, Memo Angeles, rawf8, Sophie James, Steel Brooks, and TheVisualsYouNeed. This episode's thumbnail was acquired via a licensed Shutterstock account from artist Bakhtiar Zein.

Comments

Joey Finelli

I love this column. Awesome work Colin.

topher

This is easily my favorite video you’ve ever done. Fantastic job Colin.

Moiz Khan

As someone working in tech in Asia, unions are pretty much non-existent and even alien to me. Your brief in the beginning on the history of unions and how they work was really informative. Great stuff as always, Colin. 👍

Cory Hahn

As an accountant, I am glad that you shed some intellectual light on the economics side of the video games industry because it is often lost on people. The reality is that these large developers and publishers are either very well read, business savvy people or Wu-Tang fans because they typically put their Cash Rules Everything Around Me (them) ideology on full display.

Simon C

That's my work lunchtime viewings sorted, looking forward to another thought provoking video!

Marius Skarsem Pedersen

This was great, Colin! Really strange that a lot of people don't think about the downsides to this. We could end up in a situation where big publishers can't afford to take any risks at all. More microtransactions, less content, no single player campaigns, only games as a service, mobile and the latest trend like battle royale now. And smaller publishers maybe can't afford to employ enough people to make the games they want to. Layoffs and less interesting games. That would suck. Some really smart people would have to figure this out to make it right.

Michael Steinmetz

As for the CEO pay issue, it's always fun to take a CEO salary and divide it by how many people work at said company. I did the math for Activision based on the numbers I could find, and it looks like if you took the entire CEO's paycheck it'd be about an extra 60 bucks a week before taxes. So is the 60 bucks a week worth not having a competitive CEO? Many would say, "yeah! That's like $3000 a year!", but then you wouldn't have a great CEO who leads the company into profitability. There's a reason CEO NAKE what they make: they get results for shareholders.

Luke Farinella

Great episode. As an anecdote to this, I have been asking my co workers at Epic about the industry sentiment about unionizing and it seems to only be a conversation happening at games media and possibly the 'big bad' EA/ Activision sized companies. Epic treats us super well, and I find the type of people that WANT to talk about unionizing aren't the self starter types that we would look for anyway.

Luke Farinella

While I am fairly new to the games industry, I haven't heard ANY desire to unionize within the IT industry over my 8 years in it. (mostly at Microsoft)

Jason Bolla

Read this as The other side of the Colin. Great episode, nice to see the opposite perspective on this topic.

David Clarke

Thanks for making this, Colin. The anti-capitalist games media weighing in on topics like this always makes me roll my eyes.

Luke Farinella

Also, regarding high paid CEO's.... I was working on tools for insider trading management during the time when Satya Nadella became CEO. People claim his 20 mil per year is outrageous, but look at how the stock jumped when he took the office, that is a welcome trade for people who actually own Microsoft stock, and he has further earned that by tripling the stock since then. Shareholders aren't the ones complaining about high paid CEOs if they do the job they are well paid for.

Stephen Short

Great video. Nice to see some reasoning why there are such high rates of pay for executives.

Connor Peterman
>>19775857

You should do a fireside chat. Even if you don't focus on union stuff it would be cool to hear your story

Keith W
>>19776757

Perfect example of a CEO who is worth many times his salary in the added value he brings to the table.

Brett Carlson

Great video Colin. Wanted to touch the fact that these game websites twist the narrative about this issue and I feel its pretty egregious. Unionization is great, if it makes sense. Anyone who have been to a union meeting in NYC would tell you that all they do is discuss plans of action. I feel it's pretty immoral that these sites like Waypoint and Kotaku twist the message to say, GAME DEVELOPEMENT IS FORCED LABOR, UNIONIZE. It's like prototypical propaganda. Further proof for anyone who thinks a site like Waypoint is a reputable source for games journalism need look no further then there article calling Resident Evil "Too Mean" of a game. You should check it out Colin. Truly baffling.

James Galos

I have a union job and it sucks. I pay $60 a month and even with the new law in place that they can’t force me to pay they make it impossible to stop the dues. The only thing the union does now is defend the people who do a terrible job and keeps the from being fired. Don’t even get me started on the $400 a month I have taken out for “my pension” that I will never get. What can I say but CA sucks

Anonymous

Loved the pyramid scheme comparison.

Will Hahn

Colin, super interesting to hear your take on unionization in the game industry and I loved it. I find the economics and business of the game industry so fascinating. You always contribute a great deal to the little knowledge I have about it! Always a pleasure to listen to these kinds of videos. Great stuff!

strawhatninja

The check engine light is always on in my car the only time I worry is when it blinks then I know I’m in trouble

Brandon Kirzeder

Colin, I loved this video. Great work. I mentioned it on twitter as well but I would love to join you for an episode of Fireside Chats regarding this topic to discuss my experience of being on both sides of a Union at a Fortune 500 company. It’s one of a few things I think I can speak relatively well on.

hugplx

I'm sure this video will be consumed and mulled over with the thoughtfulness and introspection it deserves... /S

Anonymous

Hi Colin loved the video. Have you ever thought about comparing the unionisation of the animation industry in the states to the games industry? As the animation industry needs similar skills to the games industry, it's likely that game devs will face issues akin to those that animators have already encountered. Also thought your brother might have some interesting insights on this topic.

Stuart Whitehouse

Would love to see another Jim Sterling x Colin Moriarty. I personal like Jim and Colin, both have good points, perfect fireside chat episode me thinks? Colin likes a thoughtful debate and Jim likes his voice heard, think both sides would take something away from it

Anonymous

Hey Colin, great video. I think you make valid arguements but I think others (like Jason Schreier) also make sense to an extent. In thinking of unions for game developers and creators, I think we need to look at the function of them a bit differently than more "traditional/blue-collar" type unions. For example, I complete agree with your economic argument as to why having unions would make it more financially difficult for the publishers or employers to run their company and like you mentioned in your video, generally speaking, developers make more than the avergage household income. At the same time I believe a game developer-type union wouldn't necessarily cover things like salaries and benefits. Instead, perhaps developers can unionize and bargain collectively on other matters that may not hurt the publisher's bottom line while game developers get something in return. This could be non-financial but important things like giving employees at least a month of notice before they are fired, force the publishers or companies to set up a networking or career fair with other publishers if they let go of x number of people in a certain time frame, continue to at least provide health benefits to employees for a limited time after they are let go, and other things of this nature. Ultimately what I'm trying to say that setting up collective bargaining for traditional type of concessions and securities (i.e. salaries and benefits) shouldn't be the objective for employees to unionize, especially in an industry where salaries are already high and profits can be volatile. It may make more sense for developers to unionize to get concessions on other important but non-financial guarantees that won't necessarily affect the bottom line.

LastStandMedia
>>19775464

I mean, people are more than allowed to take umbrage with the excesses of capitalism, but it's clear that many people have no idea how things work.

LastStandMedia
>>19775678

Beyond all of that, it's clear that unions aren't really protecting workers anymore. VICE unionized and then lost 20% of their staff. I mean... I don't really get it.

LastStandMedia
>>19775687

It also only accounts for literal salary, and not anything else that comes along with it. Employees cost a lot, just having them there. It requires investment into facilities, having backend support (like HR), medical insurance, 401(k), life insurance... I mean, there's a lot more to it (as you know) than merely pay.

LastStandMedia
>>19781087

I know someone who is experiencing the same exact thing with California's "pensions." It's fucking ridiculous.

LastStandMedia
>>19797365

Thank you! By the way, when Dagan was doing the credits for Side Quest last month, he texted me, "You have someone in your audience named Toothless Gibbon." LOL.

LastStandMedia
>>19805819

Your points are perfectly valid, and if I do a follow-up video, I'll be sure to discuss some of what you brought up. As the video says, there's nothing wrong with unions or wanting to unionize, and people need to make up their own minds. It's just that a lot of people aren't going forward with all the information.

VanguardDuelist

I’m looking forward to you guys playing kingdom hearts 3, if it wins. It’s my favorite game series and I know I will enjoy hearing you guys critique it

Brendan Robinson

Just recently signed up as a Patron. I've been following your content for years from the other side of the globe, but I finally got around to supporting you financially. Money well spent! I've seen the social media hate for you on this topic and it's just ridiculous. It's mostly from 'gaming personalities' with a small following who are trying to use your name in order to gain attention for themselves. Something you've never had to do because, you know, talent and all that. Ignore the haters! Thank you for your balanced commentary on all topics, except for onions, those things are terrible!

LastStandMedia
>>19825963

Thank you for your support! Welcome. As I've said many times: I didn't do anything to deserve the hate thrown at me, and I ultimately cannot control the behavior of others. Just me.

Erk-Prime
>>19824755

Presidential candidate Andrew Yang - he was just on Joe Rogans pod the other day. Give it a listen when you can

Brandon Kirzeder
>>19787982

Yes. We did. Somehow I missed this response notification. I wasn’t sure where best to reach out to you for my request.