The American Federation of Labor has called on game developers in the United States to form a trade union

Game dev workers in the USA deserve more than crunches and meager salaries. The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Unions (AFL—CIO) recall this in an open letter published by Kotaku.

Problem

The trade union is seriously concerned about the current culture of crunches and infringement of the rights of developers. In a country where the annual turnover of video games has reached $43 billion (which is 3.6 times more than the record box office of the film industry in the United States in 2018), the creators of virtual worlds are working in “outrageous conditions,” the letter says. This applies to overwork, salaries, and the attitude of top managers to their staff.

Developers were reminded of the blatant crunch in Rockstar Games. The employees of this studio have been processing for months and even years. “And after that, they released a game that brought their bosses $725 million in the first three days,” the appeal says. We are obviously talking about Red Dead Redemption 2.

Decision

The authors of the letter called on game dev workers in the United States to unite and demand decent working conditions. As an example, they cited the United Kingdom, where the world’s first developers’ union, Game Workers Unite, was created in December.

The AFL—CIO includes 57 American unions representing the interests of 12.5 million workers. This makes the trade union the largest in the country.

Also on the topic:

• The world’s first trade union of game developers — Game Workers Unite – has been created in BritainHow to avoid Developer burnout — Ubisoft opinion