The video game sector is thriving and it has generated £2.87bn for the UK economy in 2016. With growing accessibility to games and yearly blockbuster releases, there is increasing pressure for developers to produce successful games – but at what cost?

 

Game Workers Unite is an international grassroots organisation that has launched last year advocating for workers' rights in the games industry. The organisation’s UK branch is the first gaming workers’ union in the country, and hopes to tackle issues such as excessive overtime, sexism and the lack of diversity.

 

The video game sector is regarded as a “hobby” industry, where people should consider themselves “lucky” to be doing a job they “love”. It is highly competitive, and employers use this to their advantage.

 

Declan Peach, founder and vice-chairman of GWU UK, says that they plan to campaign like regular trade unions would. “We want to do it as a collective bargain, so we want to get a significant portion of that studio unionised and then demand policies. If they don’t meet our demands, it’s not always necessarily a strike. It can also be a bad press campaign and protests,” he says.

 

Peach did not disclose the union’s full plans for fear of losing any advantages, but he adds that the union will focus on strategising more methods this year.     

 

Game designer, Hannah Nicklin, believes it is vital to share what GWU can do. “It’s opening up conversations about what solidarity means and why it’s important for workers to talk, communicate and discuss conditions. It’s important to get together and say to people who are contributing to these conditions that it’s not ok,” she says.