Ep. 122: Video Game Workers of the World Unite (Ft. Kevin Agwaze)
100-hour work weeks. Stress-induced breakdowns. "Visionary" bosses that treat you like machines. All of these things are currently part of the magical recipe that goes into making your favorite videogames.
And guess what? This model is making videogames worse.
But there's a simple way that everyone wins: gamers and workers... Okay, so maybe not everyone--the bosses won't view this as a win lol. By empowering workers with unions, we all get a videogame industry that avoids the current levels of abuse and burnout, while creating protections and space that will lead to greater power for workers to make the games they want to make.
We speak with Kevin Agwaze, a game developer and organizer with Game Workers Unite UK to talk about the videogame industry and all the lovely things that a union can achieve.
Learn more about Game Workers Unite here: https://www.gameworkersunite.org/
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Reading list:
https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-video-game-union-movement-20190412-story.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/04/opinion/video-games-layoffs-union.html
https://kotaku.com/how-biowares-anthem-went-wrong-1833731964
https://www.polygon.com/2019/4/23/18507750/fortnite-work-crunch-epic-games
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinmurnane/2018/10/20/an-employee-speaks-out-about-working-conditions-at-rockstar-games/#48184cb2371b
https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/20/17130056/telltale-games-developer-layoffs-toxic-video-game-industry
https://kotaku.com/telltale-employees-left-stunned-by-company-closure-no-1829272139
https://qz.com/quartzy/1467237/video-game-companies-leave-much-more-than-just-money-on-the-table-if-they-lack-diversity/
https://www.gameworkersunite.org/worker-co-op-resource
