Talk of unionization has been at the forefront of the public conscience in recent years as thousands of employees all over the world have pushed for better workers' rights and fair compensation. The gaming industry in particular has come under fire often in recent years with reports of toxic work environments and harassment within the workplace reaching some of theindustry’s most iconic companies like Activision Blizzardand Riot Games. Now, BioWare has become the newest gaming juggernaut to find itself embroiled in a conflict with one of its subsidiaries looking to unionize.
There has long been a push for game developers to unionize due to the nature of the work with the gaming industry gaining a reputation for its focus on “crunch” development and workplace harassment towards women.Nintendo was recently hit with allegations of union bustingby the National Labor Relations Board with the legendary developer reportedly taking measures against employees attempting to unionize with some even being “discharged,” though Nintendo has pushed back against those claims. With the labor movement on the rise in the gaming industry, QA employees working on BioWare’s upcomingDragon Age 4are reportedly looking to unionize following a recent notice from the developer.
RELATED:Apple Store Workers in Atlanta Form Labor Union
Thereported unionization effortsfrom members of contracting company Keywords Studios comes following a “return-to-office” notice from BioWare stating that all employees expected to return to in-person offices five days a week, beginning in less than two weeks. The notice comes as Alberta, the Canadian province that is home to BioWare, continues to see almost 1,000 new cases of COVID-19 per day. Keywords' efforts to address the pandemic have also frequently been a subject of scrutiny from its employees with a lack of paid time off after contracting the virus reportedly a major sore spot for its contractors.
Alongside issues related to BioWare and Keywords' COVID protocols, employee pay was also reportedly a major factor in the move to unionize. According to the statement made by the group of contractors, Keywords contractors working with BioWare reportedly earn significantly less for their work than BioWare’s employees while also lacking many of the health benefits given to those in-house workers. The contractors also cited issues common in many other unionization efforts ranging from paydiscrimination based on genderto requesting greater transparency around earnings and performance metrics.
Dragon Age 4’s QA devs moving to unionize highlights a growing trend within the gaming industry as more developers have continued to push towards fair representation and workers' rights within the workplace. Alongside unionization efforts, many of the industry’s biggest companies have been hit with massive lawsuits over recent years with developers likeRiot Games settling for $100 millionas the movement continues to grow. Keywords' contractors will likely be far from the last in the gaming industry to continue to push for better workplace conditions within the gaming industry.
