French video game developers staged the first-ever industry-wide strike this week, rallying against deteriorating working conditions and significant job cuts.
The video game industry, once buoyed by booming sales during the COVID-19 lockdowns, is now grappling with tough times, marked by layoffs and studio closures.
Amidst these challenges, the video game workers’ union (STJV) called for protests in cities across France, including Paris, Bordeaux, and Rennes. The movement has even crossed borders, with workers at Ubisoft’s Barcelona studio joining in.
"We're expecting a pretty significant turnout," said Vincent Cambedouzou, a STJV delegate at Ubisoft's Paris offices, as several thousand demonstrators were expected nationwide, out of a games workforce of between 12,000 and 15,000 in France.
Lay-offs, working conditions
Organisers are calling for a halt to layoffs, better working conditions and more transparency on business structures and finances.
"There's people taking terrible decisions and getting our industry into the state it's in now," Cambedouzou said. "Then they ask us to pick up the tab."
Previously rare, labour conflicts have hit several major games industry players in recent months.
In October, about 1,000 Ubisoft employees protested changes to work-from-home policies. Ubisoft, which employs nearly 18,000 people worldwide – including 4,000 in France – has been facing financial challenges, with its stock hit hard by a series of disappointing releases and delays. On Thursday, the company will announce its third-quarter financial results, after issuing a profit warning.
France's Ubisoft faces three day strike as unions protest over remote work decision
Meanwhile, smaller developers like Don't Nod are also dealing with labor disputes. The studio, which has 250 employees in Paris, is facing protests over plans to lay off 69 workers. Managers told French news agency AFP that they had reached a deal to "prioritise voluntary departures and limit compulsory ones".
After walkouts at other small studios, "the logical next step was for everyone to mobilise at once," Cambedouzou said.
The global video game sector has emerged from a long "creative, craft" period to become "an industry like any other," said Julien Pillot, an economist specialising in cultural industries.
Workers are "waking up with a hangover [...] realising that they've become labourers just like anyone else," he added.
Beyond the sector's economic woes, unions want to shine a spotlight on sometimes toxic workplaces.
The STJV has over recent weeks published anonymous testimony from many employees documenting harsh treatment and sexism in different companies.
(with AFP)
