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submitted 1 year ago by alyaza@beehaw.org to c/gaming@beehaw.org

no official CWA press release yet, but here's the union's:

Workers at Bethesda Game Studios have joined the Communication Workers of America, forming the first wall-to-wall union at a Microsoft video game studio. The workers, consisting of 241 developers including artists, engineers, programmers and designers have either signed a union authorization card or indicated that they wanted union representation via an online portal. Microsoft has recognized the union.

and here's their Twitter account

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[-] t3rmit3@beehaw.org 67 points 1 year ago

Damn good news. The video game industry is so predatory, they need unions just to try to have normal office schedules and stuff.

[-] k_rol@lemmy.ca 45 points 1 year ago

Wow such great news. I hope we will see more of that to change that industry a little.

[-] memfree@beehaw.org 42 points 1 year ago

Yay!!!

I can't get myself to click a twitter link, so in case others feel the same, here's an alternate piece that basically says the same thing (I can't yet find an article with detailed info): https://www.ign.com/articles/bethesda-game-studios-microsoft-game-studios

[-] Blisterexe@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 year ago

For twitter links try libredirect, it automatically sends you to a nitter instance

[-] SweetCitrusBuzz@beehaw.org 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

nitter no longer works, it ceased development and thus will no longer work, best to turn it off in libredirect.

[-] Cupcake1972@mander.xyz 2 points 1 year ago

nitter.poast.org works for now

[-] SweetCitrusBuzz@beehaw.org 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Yes but I'd rather not touch a fascist site (poast to be clear).

[-] azerial@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 year ago

What you don't want to go to "X"? I can't imagine why. lol /s same though. Also I refuse to call it x. It's fucking Twitter. It's like that line in mean girls, "Gretchen, quit trying to make fetch happen, it's not going to happen!" Lol

[-] FlashMobOfOne@beehaw.org 34 points 1 year ago

Good.

Kick management in the dick.

[-] azerial@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 year ago

When I started working at EA 14 years ago (I got laid off last year) they literally told us we might have to sleep under our desks. I promptly told them if that was the case, I would quit. Instead they made us work 7 days a week 9-9 for months. Fun job.

[-] FlashMobOfOne@beehaw.org 5 points 1 year ago

Christ, that's awful.

I spent my first 12 years in the work force in a financial services firm that, during tax season (so four months out of the year) required 14 hour days, so I understand that grind a little bit.

Awful stuff.

It's great seeing unions getting stronger. I just wish it didn't have to happen out of necessity due to lackadaisical and careless governance.

[-] jabathekek@sopuli.xyz 26 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I wonder if this will translate to higher quality games now that the people that actually make them have more control over their product?

[-] t3rmit3@beehaw.org 16 points 1 year ago

Unionizing wouldn't normally really give workers more control over the product, it's about worker benefits, and management levels who direct product are usually excluded from participating in a union.

[-] Ephera@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Crunch is a common practice, even though data shows it to lower total productivity. (See, for example: https://cs.stanford.edu/people/eroberts/cs181/projects/crunchmode/econ-crunch-mode.html )

So, it might lead to a rise in productivity, at least.

[-] pcouy@lemmy.pierre-couy.fr 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The closing parenthesis got caught into the link (at least with my client), turning it into a 404. You should add a space

[-] Ephera@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago

Ah, thanks, I missed that.

[-] azerial@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 year ago

For that, you actually will need realistic goals and more competent managers. Lol

[-] GammaGames@beehaw.org 16 points 1 year ago

Hell yeah!!!

[-] Beaver@lemmy.ca 14 points 1 year ago

The upper management needed the wake up call

[-] azerial@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 1 year ago

Woohoo!! This awesome! As a game dev, I can speak to how awful the industry can be. That's really great news that they unionized. ๐Ÿ™Œ

[-] Cube6392@beehaw.org 8 points 1 year ago

The rest of us computer engineers should show solidarity by also unionizing. We're stronger together

[-] PotentiallyApricots@beehaw.org 8 points 1 year ago

!!!! Yay for them! This is great to hear.

[-] abbiistabbii 8 points 1 year ago

FUCKING BASED

[-] Junkernaught@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 year ago

This is great news. More please.

[-] Kwakigra@beehaw.org 4 points 1 year ago

Bethesda has needed a lot more humanity for a long time.

[-] ag_roberston_author@beehaw.org 4 points 1 year ago

Fantastic news for the devs!

[-] KelvinShadewing@mastodon.social 1 points 1 year ago

@alyaza Awesome. Now can their devs own the code they write off the clock? Someone who works at Bethesda told me they don't.

[-] ma10gan@mastodon.social 1 points 1 year ago
this post was submitted on 19 Jul 2024
362 points (100.0% liked)

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