Summary
The first North American video game industry-wide union has just been formed, revealing itself atGame Developers Conference earlier this week. Over the past few years, major gaming companies like ZeniMax Online Studios, Bethesda Game Studios, and Sega of America have unionized as part of a growing movement to demand better treatment of workers within the gaming industry, and this announcement atGDCis being seen as a step in the right direction for many.
This push has now culminated in the reveal of the first industry-wide North American video game union during this week’s Game Developers Conference 2025. United Videogame Workers is organizing alongside Communications Workers of America to build community and solidarity among video game workers and set up large-scale education campaigns about labor organizing in the industry. This new union is a direct-join organization, meaning that anyvideo game worker in the United States or Canada, be they an artist, writer, designer, QA tester, or programmer, can join regardless of their status or whether other employees at their company have joined themselves.
As stated in a recent UVW-CWA press release (viaIGN), the union’s first primary focus is the recent wave of video game company layoffs at companies like NetEase andThe Callisto Protocoldeveloper Striking Distance Studios, with workers sharing a petition addressing the subject at GDC. UVW-CWA is also planning to host multiple panels at the ongoing conference, as well as a rally and launch party to increase awareness and celebrate the official formation of North America’s first industry-wide video game union. A booth will be open on the GDC 2025 show floor to offer attendees a magazine with information about how to join UVW-CWA.
United Video Game Workers Announced at Game Developer’s Conference 2025
Announcing this new union at the Game Developers Conference is quite fitting, as some of the first talks aboutunionizing the video game industrytook place at GDC 2018. A roundtable discussion at this event led to the formation of Game Workers Unite, a movement aimed at building a unionized gaming industry.
Many publishers and developers have formed unions in the years after this fateful meeting, and now the gaming industry has its first major union for workers in North America on the heels of major layoffs and anongoing voice actor strike. The formation of United Videogame Workers is a promising step forward in ensuring that the talented employees who work hard to create the titles that gamers enjoy are treated fairly in the workplace. More information about UVW-CWA and how to join this new union will be presented throughout Game Developers Conference 2025.
