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Game Developers Look to Bridge Communications While Others Look for Unity

Catwell

image

(Image credit: Gamedev.world)

 

This post is mainly about unionizing in a technical field. Could this concept move over to the other engineering fields?

 

A new game developer’s conference is set to launch later this year, which is designed to unite talent from all over the globe without having to travel to a specific venue, and without the need to speak a foreign language for that matter. GameDev.World is the brainchild of Vlambeer indie game co-founder Rami Ismail and voice actress Sarah Elmaleh (FFXV, For Honor, CoD: Black Ops III), and was set up to address several of the flaws associated with game conferences- place, price, and language.

 

Traveling to different countries can be challenging, even for AAA CEOs, as the global visa applications can be denied on very short notice, something Rami knows all too well after trying to organize an event in the US last year. Price is another issue; not everyone can afford to travel to another country, pay for a hotel, food, and cost of admission to the event itself. Perhaps the most limiting factor is the language divide- trying to convey ideas or processes can (and often is) be challenging if you can’t speak someone else’s dialect.

 

GameDev.World mitigates those issues by being a virtual conference where developers can gather to talk about their projects using their native languages and at a place of their choosing. The event will take place on June 21st through the 23rd, and will be presented live (and as an archive afterward) with real-time translation via subtitle in eight different languages, including English, Español, Français, Português, Pусский, Chinese, Japanese, and Arabic. There are already 30+ speakers confirmed for the event, from both independent and AAA studios, and each will have a Q&A session after their presentations.

 

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(Image credit: GDC)

 

Staying on the game developers trend, the Game Developers Conference (2019) State of the Industry Survey shows that nearly half of its respondents favor unionization, which isn’t surprising given the climate of the community. A few instances drew attention to that fact, including Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser’s comments stating developers put in 100-hour workweeks to push Red Dead Redemption 2 out the door, and Telltale laying off a few hundred employees.

 

According to the survey, nearly 4,000 game developers responded, with almost half (47%) supporting unionization. The survey also found that 44% worked more than 40-hours per week on average, and slightly over 1% hitting over the 110-hour mark. When asked if video game developers would unionize, only 21% said yes, while 39% said maybe, and 24% saying no.

 

According to an Engadget interview with GDC’s vice president Simon Charles, the survey team added the questions because developers were asking for them, stating, “Since this is the first time we've started asking about the support for unionization among developers, we can't say for sure what the trajectory of support may or may not be. But we have seen a keen interest in discussing unionization from the game developer community. This is reflected in the fact that we now have a number of sessions that will be addressing the topic.”

 

GDC runs March 18-22 at San Francisco’s Moscone Center and will be attended by the UK’s trade union Game Workers Unite, along with other labor union organizers, so it will be interesting to see if unionizing game developers will gain any momentum or become a lost cause.       

 

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  • I heard this discussed on a recent Game Dev Unchained Podcast and it is interesting the game developers are considering unionizing.  This gets discussed in many areas of the Tech Industry in the US and not just games. But, considering many, if not the majority, of states in the US are Right-to-Work states, companies in these states are not required to hire someone from a union based organization and there is no requirement for a person to be forced to be part of a union to work in a particular industry.  However, IMHO, if Game Developers, namely those in California, want to continue to lose jobs to other states and other countries, then that is what they will face if they do unionize. 

     

    I believe the game developers being more vocal of the issues in the industry and calling out companies that abuse the current labor laws will eventually force these companies to make changes, although it does seem that many have already done so.  The other option would be to go the route of TellTale Games which was a very bad situation, but in all reality it was just business.

     

    Then again, you do have the Carmack's that will just bang on a keyboard until they pass out just to get a polygon to move in a new and interesting way.

Comment

  • I heard this discussed on a recent Game Dev Unchained Podcast and it is interesting the game developers are considering unionizing.  This gets discussed in many areas of the Tech Industry in the US and not just games. But, considering many, if not the majority, of states in the US are Right-to-Work states, companies in these states are not required to hire someone from a union based organization and there is no requirement for a person to be forced to be part of a union to work in a particular industry.  However, IMHO, if Game Developers, namely those in California, want to continue to lose jobs to other states and other countries, then that is what they will face if they do unionize. 

     

    I believe the game developers being more vocal of the issues in the industry and calling out companies that abuse the current labor laws will eventually force these companies to make changes, although it does seem that many have already done so.  The other option would be to go the route of TellTale Games which was a very bad situation, but in all reality it was just business.

     

    Then again, you do have the Carmack's that will just bang on a keyboard until they pass out just to get a polygon to move in a new and interesting way.

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  • in reply to jomoenginer

    Jon,

     

    Are you a game developer? If so, what is the work environment like from your experience?

     

    I know a few people in the industry that feel like they are overworked and underpaid. The types of abuse that unionizing would help prevent, to some extent.

     

    C

  • in reply to Catwell

    I do not work in the Game industry, but I did study Computer Science to be a game developer.  I do work on my own stuff on the side and have kept an ear and an eye on the industry for many moons.  The topics discussed recently are really no different than the way things were back in the '90s

     

    However, the issues that have been discussed regarding the Game industry is really no different for any other Tech field.   If one is on salary, then there is no guarantee that you will work only 40 hours a week. I've had my fill of putting in over 12 hours days at a company for multiple weeks just to get a product out, but there usually is some sort of comp that is given at the end.  I've also worked at a company where my job did not stop after leaving the office and continued working remotely to accommodate other Engineers from sites in other time zones.  It was just part of the job and I enjoyed it.

     

    I know of folks in the film industry where it is not uncommon to go into "Crunch Time" to get a movie edited and sent out before release and many days sleep were missed or certainly shortened.

     

    The Game industry is not alone but certainly is a special case. I think the 100 hour week maybe an overstatement or really just a corner case. Game Dev does have a high burn out rate though.