. This makes it one of the first major North American video-game companies to take this step, which could bode well for future organized labor pushes in the industry.last year. It covers around 150 people working in various departments throughout the company, including brand marketing, games as a service, localization, sales and quality assurance.
There are already some provisions in place for workers as part of the contract, including a minimum pay increase of 4 percent in 2024, 3 percent in 2025 and 2.5 percent in 2026. There are also layoff protections, codified benefits like health insurance, a severance inclusion and a commitment to credit all workers on games.
“We’re hopeful that in the midst of extensive layoffs, workers across the video game industry will see organizing as a pathway to improve working conditions for all of us,” wrote Jasmin Hernandez, a member of AEGIS-CWA, in a statement provided to Engadget. Sega wasn’t exactly happy about the push toward labor rights and unionization. The company faced an unfair labor practice complaint after it announced plansbiggest worker-formed organization
in video games. Avalanche Studios, Raven Software and several small development studios have all also unionized in the past year or so.