In this new contribution to the series on work in the cultural sector, Le Devoir looks at the specific challenges of the video game industry, this time from the perspective of employees.
If a video game were created about jobs in the video game industry, the 2023-2024 version of that production would take place in a universe, if not pre-apocalyptic, then at least very high tension.
According to the website Videogamelayoffs.com, more than 11,250 layoffs were recorded worldwide in three major waves (January, June, November) last year. Zhaoxi Guangnian (Nuverse) thanked more than 1,000 people; Epic Games, creator of the hugely popular Fortnite, 830 employees; Unity Technologies, more than 1165 professionals in several harmful bleeds. The ax has fallen on certain companies operating in Canada and Quebec, including Ubisoft, Digital Extremes, Bioware, Lumi, Blackbird Interactive, Rovio, Sega, Adglobe, CyberConnect2 and Phoenix Labs.
The new year has increased the recommendations. In January alone there were 6,000 new layoffs in the industry. Activision Blizzard alone, a subsidiary of Microsoft, has cut 1,900 jobs in this globalized sector; Unity, 1800. And the specialized streaming service Twitch, owned by Amazon, has at least 500 others, almost as many as Riot Games (530). Montreal's Eidos studio, which was purchased by Swedish group Embracer in 2022, laid off 97 employees at the end of January. At the end of 2022, the same group bought Square Enix's studio in Montreal and quickly closed it.
This backlash follows the hiring boom during the pandemic. The lockdown stimulated the use of screen entertainment and the recruitment of employees to meet actual or expected demand. A return to some sort of normality would partly explain the current difficult times.
The withdrawal statement seems plausible in the eyes of Charles (not his real name), a mobile game developer who, like all employees interviewed for this article, requested anonymity. “The pandemic has struck […], so the sector started hiring a lot of people. Except that people have returned to work, to their habits. And now companies are laying off their employees,” he says.
Charles is one of them. He was fired from his job at the end of 2023. He worked in this field for around fifteen years and is not yet sure whether he will return. “It's ironic because I have experience and the studios complain about the lack of experienced staff. Except experienced people cost more…”
He also notes that layoffs lead to depressed and anxious employees voluntarily leaving again. In the last studio where Charles worked, half of the 2019 staff remains. The industry still employs around 14,000 people in more than 300 studios in Quebec.
Basically capitalist
Timothé, an artist specializing in special effects, recognizes and contextualizes the evidence of recent hiring and poaching. “This explanation – let’s say organic – of the sector artificially inflating itself with the pandemic and now replacing itself seems a little naive to me,” he said. There are still explanations that can be attributed to global strategies of frantic accumulation and acquisition by large international corporations that rely on the promise of a quick return on capital. If the yield is not enough, we cut it. This increases the value of the share in the short term. In the end, it is the employees who pay. We hire them, we fire them. »
Another employee, Karine, who works in game design, summarizes the situation more broadly: “It is a very technical industry that has a progressive aura, but above all is fundamentally capitalist.” »
The Great Purge is creating “heartbreaking collective and personal” situations, summarizes Antoine, a game designer at a studio in Montreal. And “the presence in Quebec of large numbers of workers recruited from abroad reinforces the dramatic situation,” he says. People with a work permit have three months to find a job after being laid off. They then have to leave Canada. It is a major source of stress. »
Some of the employees interviewed are activists with the Game Workers Unite (GWU) Montreal, founded in 2018. The organization brings together people from the video game industry in Montreal to volunteer their time to unionize in the industry. The GWU website couldn't be clearer about the reasons for this desire to unionize employees: “Stories of mistreatment and mass layoffs are commonplace here. That's enough ! »
Work regrets
The testimonials balance the competitive advantages of their “young and modern” industry, from “the constant and stimulating technological evolution” to “the beautiful creative imitation,” including its openness and accessibility. However, they do not hide the equally significant disadvantages.
The question of schedules returns like a recurring theme. “On paper we work seven to eight hours a day. But in reality, there are many studios where people can work up to 60 hours or more a week, especially in times of crisis, says Karine. The pressure and demand are extremely high as we reach the end of production. That's why we do a lot of unpaid overtime. »
Working conditions vary from studio to studio. “Many studios subcontract: they have others do parts of the work,” explains Antoine. In general, conditions in contract studios are significantly worse. At the lower end of the scale we talk about a test “farm”. Employees work on demand, without fixed schedules. They are paid minimum wage or slightly more, and the legal requirements are extremely onerous as employees work on prototypes about which they cannot reveal any information. »
Confidentiality and non-compete clauses are ubiquitous and restrictive. And lead to abuse, according to the comments collected. The work is often done without recognition.
The sector is also described as very hierarchical. There are indeed studios that operate like cooperatives with egalitarian relationships, but others, particularly large companies, have adopted a pyramid structure that cascades decisions from top to bottom, GWU activists say. “The culture at a horizontal level often remains pleasant, but due to the strong hierarchy it can be difficult to get people to listen – for example when an employee wants to denounce harassment situations,” summarizes Timothé. The blockage is clearly noticeable. An omerta begins. »
Relationships with product customers would also make employees' lives more difficult. They complain about harassment from players on social networks, again without always receiving support from their companies.
Towards unionization of the sector?
GWU activists therefore want to unionize the sector to better regulate the balance of power. They point out, in passing, that the industry was founded with the financial support of generous government programs that could apply pressure, if only to enforce Quebec's labor laws.
“It will be too difficult to fight individually, everyone for themselves,” says Antoine. We must regroup, protect ourselves and restore the balance of power. » He wants the same compensation for the employees laid off here as the unions in the USA received after the layoffs at Sega and Microsoft (Zenimax-Blizzard).
Employees at Keywords Studios in Alberta became the first in Canada to unionize in the summer of 2022. Labor relations then deteriorated. After a year of attempts to negotiate an initial collective agreement, management The studio's boss fired the 16 employees, who responded by picketing and complaining to the provincial labor office.
“We believe that it is too early to describe their maneuvers as a failure,” Antoine concluded. They are striking and have won a case before the Alberta Labor Board that sets an important precedent for remote workers. »